Fight Club: Resource Pack Fight Club: DVD Contents & Key Books BF! Online Catalogue Entry including periodical references Articles/Extracts . Fight Club: a few quotations ‘Smith, Lavin, Film Comment Vol.35 No.5 (1 Sept 1999) p.68 McCullough, John, Cine Action No.65 (1 Dec 04) p.44 Gronstad, Asbjorn, Film Criticism Vol.28 No.1 (1 Oct 2003) . Adair, Gilbert, The Independent (14 Nov 1999) . Empire (1998) review Total Film review Ed. Schuchardt, You Do Not Talk About Fight Club Ben Bella Books, Dallas 2008 9. Sight & Sound (Nov 1999) p.16 10.Sight & Sound (Dec 1999) p.45_ I]. Fight Gob — Ae essey ~ Gl Towet yr 12. A gels rem mnpease 15, Roger Eb ae ae Nee So al, pole cols co ae Eight Club ~ neler ~ Kevin Hegel PNODPENS teyts a Stoke Una: anit iv) 16 Philip Freach — recite U2. Contenporteg Cinema y COnturption + Méygoliaty HY Till Nelms inks ta gilm Syedies,FIGHT CLUB: DVD CONTENTS & KEY BOOKS DvD Fight Club 20" Century Fox / 800003W8NM / Region 2 PAL Edition Details: Audio commentary by director David Fincher, actors Brad Pitt and Edward Norton and actress Helena Bonham Carter * Multi-angle featurettes with commentary * On Location featurette * Seven deleted scenes and alternate takes * Two theatrical trailers » 12 TV spots + Dust Brothers music video * Edward Norton interview transcript » Storyboards © Visual effects stills * Paper street house & costumes and makeup artwork # Pre-production paintings « Brain ride map * Booklet with production notes BOOKS ‘Swallow, James; Dark Eye: The Essential David Fincher; Reynolds and Hearn, 2006"BID Online - Titles Page 1 of 6 FIGHT CLUB Summary Director David FINCHER Production Company ‘Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Monarchy Enterprises BLV. Regency Enterprises Fox 2000 Pictures ‘Unson Fllms Taurus Film country USA, United Germany Genre: Drama Release Date 1999 Copyright Date 1999 Production Start Date Jun 1998 ‘Transmission Date Nov 2000 Material Micro Jacket Press Book Unfiimable small pressbook held: Information folder held. Posters stils Production Company ‘Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation/Monarchy Enterprises 6.V./Regency Entertainment (USA) Ine Fox 2000 Pictures ant Enterprises present a Linson Flims production a David Fincher film in association with Taurus Film Dolby Colour by Technlcalo with Panavision cameras and lenses MC: Super 35 [2.35:1] MC: Dolby elgitsl surround EX/DTS/SODS Library Synopsis rama. A young man, the narrator ofthe story as well as one of the main protagonists I rst seen attempting to kl himself then moves back six months to the perfod during which, as a possibie cure for incessant insomnia, the narrators doctor force: attend regular group sesslons of cancer victims in order to put his own problems Into perspective. He becomes obsessed with more sessions and meets a woman, Marla, with whom he strikes up a friendship, At te same time the narrator makes the 2c ff Tyler Durden, who makes soep fer a living, After an evening spent at @ bar, and an ensulng fight which bonds the friendshi the two men, the fight becomes & regular occurrence and escalates Into an event that attracts ever-growing Interest from oth are sworn to secrecy. Cast (54) Cre s (205) Events (1) ‘S6th Mostra Internazionale d'art Chematogratica ‘nominated Releases 2000 1999 Film 139min Colour (Technicolor) Dolby Digitel Surround EX, Dolby Digital, Sony Dynamic Digital Sound Periodicals (74) n conversation with David Fincher ( Author: PIERCE, Nev) Filmmaker David Fincher discusses his career, the making of his flm and working with Brad Pitt. Plus 8 "Top 5 David Fincher b from five of his films. hetnelimmery hf ore niehueh-renarts/titlacttities ian ?filter=Credits&ianerv=5062364c0... 12/11/2009BID Online - Titles Page 2 of 6 Empire n235 (1 len 2008) pages 163-168 tus. Article in English Keywords: ARTICLE, INTERVIEW “A Hero Will Rise”: The Myth of the Fascist Man In Fight. ( Author: BARKER, Jennifer ) Club and Gladiator LUterature/Fim Quarterly v36.n3 (1 Jul 2008) pages 171-187 Mus. Article in English Keywords: ARTICLE ‘The top 10 best-dressed characters ( Author: O'HARA, Helen ) ‘A listing and brie ertique of the ten best-dressed characters In flim Empire 9228 (1 un 2008) pages 168-168 lus. Article In English Keywords: ARTICLE, FILMOGRAPHY Boy's own stories ( Author: MILLER, Henry K. ) Examines Indiewood! or the Frat peck’ films being created by a generation of American comedians and directors. include sth fof the Sundance Film Festival, Its history, thematic concerns end kay flms and filmmakers. Sight and Sound vi8.n3 (1 Mer 2008) pages 16-19,2122 ius. Artiele in English Keywords: ARTICLE ‘The Feminine “Nature” of Masculine Desire in the Age of... ( Author: HAMMING, Jeanne ) *.--Cinematic Techno-Transcendence". Focises on 12 MONKEYS, OARK CITY, FIGHT CLUS and The MATRIX, . Journal of Popular Fm & Television v35.né (I Jan 2008) pages 145-153 ius. Article in English keywords: ARTICLE Rushes: Fistful of five: Unrellable narratives A selection of five films where the narrators are unreliable: JANGHWA, HONGRYUN, The USUAL SUSPECTS, FIGHT CLUB, LOL and Oas CABINET DES OR. CALIGARI, Sight and Sound vi7.n1i (1 Nev 2007) pages 11 lus. Article In English Keywords: SHORT ARTICLE | [At Home/DVD Reissue: Fight Club: Definitive Edition ( Author: BROWN, Kat ) Empire n214 (1 Apr 2007) pages 154 ius. Article In English Keywords: DVD REVIEW Cloaked Classification: The Misdirection Film and Generic... ( Author: FRIEDMAN, Seth A. ) *.n.Dupllety. Discusses the "misdireetion* fm as a dlsctint type rather than as a member of its original genre. Examines MAC The USUAL SUSPECTS, The SIXTH SENSE, UNSREAKABLE, CITIZEN KANE, FIGHT CLUB and PULP FICTION. Journal of Film and Video v58.n4 (1 Dec 2006) pages 16-38 Mus. Article In English Keywords: ARTICLE Out of the Past, Into the Supermarket Consuming Film Noir ( Author: DUSSERE, Erik ) On the relationship between film noir and the American cons- umer culture, portraying the underside ofthe American dream | ‘three flms which feature the supermarket: DOUBLE INDEMNITY, The LONG GOODBYE and FIGHT CLUB. Film Quarterly v60.nt (1 Oct 2006) pages 16-27 ils, Artile In English Keywords: ARTICLE Ways of Being Close to Characters ( Autor: EDER, Jens ) Using David Fincher's FIGHT CLUB as @ case study, shows five different ways of ’being clase! to a protagonist, drawing on the from such flelés as para-proxemies and pare-s0c ll interaction. Fim Studies n8 (1 Jul 2006) pages 68-80 lilus. Article In English Keywords: ARTICLE 201 Greatest movies of all time A listing of the top two hundred and one films as chosen by the reader's of Empire magazine. With comments by acters and fl Empire n201 (1 Mar 2006) pages 77-68,90-101 Tlus. Article in English Keywords: ARTICLE ‘The soundtrack of our lives “To celebrate its 200th leaue Empire select thelr favourite songs from film soundtracks covering the period of fs 200 Issues. Empire 1200 (1 Feb 2006) pages 140-141 Ilus. Article In English Keywords: ARTICLE, ADVERTISEMENT Decade Deathmatch: The 90s Results of an online debate to decide which decade Is the best for lms. Includes a timeline of events from the 90's and a ram ‘subjects from technology, award winners and top ten films. Empire ni198 (1 Dee 2005) pages 143-146,149-151 lus. Article In English Keywords: ARTICLE, FILMOSHAPHY Fight Clubs, American Psychos and Mementos: The scope of... ( Author: FERENZ, Volker ) “Title ends: “unreliable parration In flim’. Drawing on previous contributions, examines the meaning of the concept of unrella narration in films as civerse as Fritz Lang's YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE, BARRY LYNDON, The CASTLE, end FIGHT CLUB New Review of Flim and Television vi.n2 (1 Nov 2005) pages 133-159. article In English| Keywords: ARTICLE ‘edium and Torture: Fight Club, Globalization and... ( Author: MeCULLOUGH, John ) *...Professiovials in Crisis". On FIGHT CLUB as antl-capltalst cultural artifact. inesction! n65 (1 Dec 2004) pages 44-53 ills. Arce In English Keywords: ARTICLE Remote control: RWB: masterpiece ( Author: RICHARDS, Olly ) DVD review and analysis of FIGHT CLUB. Empire n483 (1 Sep 2004) pages 170-171 illus. Article In English Keywords: DVD REVIEW, ARTICLE http://mmsry.bfi.org.uk/web-zeports/titles/titles jsp filter=Credits&query=506236é&co... 12/11/2009BID Online - Titles Page 3 of 6 Punk cinema ( Author: THOMPSON, Stacy ) Reimagines the concept of “punk cinema", denoting an ident fable aesthetic, bolstered by a correlative economics. FIGHT C1 discussed es a fm thet features nelther punks nor punk rock but espouses an anticommercial Idealogy. ‘Cinema Journal v43.n2 (1 Jan 2004) pages 47-66 lls. Article in English Keywords: ARTICLE ‘One-dimensional men: Fight Club and the poetics of the body ( Author: GRONSTAD, Asbjarn ) ‘n examination in FIGHT CLUB of Is traditional theme of masculine kdenty threatened by the feminisation of US eulture, but With the new visual articulation of the ‘blank fcton’ style of wrkers like Jay Melnerey. Film Critcism v28.nt (1 Oct 2003) pages 1-23. article in English Keywords: ARTICLE ‘Sidewalk Sunbather ( Author: WALSH, Alan ) ‘Traces Guy Debord's interaction with cinema, lecking brief at FIGHT CLUB, Film Treland n94 (1 Sep 2003) pages 20-22 ius. article In English Keywords: ARTICLE ‘Singling Out The Double: Objectivity, Subjectivity And.. ( Author: NAGLER, LIht “nAlterity in Kleslowski's "The Double Life of Véronique" As well as ‘Double vie de Véronique’, the author also étes fms such ‘Solaris, ‘Der Student von Prag! and "The Fight Club’ to discuss the doppelganger in film. Post Script v22.n3 (1 Jul 2003) pages 8-20 lus, Article In English Keywords: ARTICLE Spotlight: Essential DVDs ( Author: HARKNESS, John ) Brief detalis of ertics' choice of essential DVDs, Cinema Scope nié (1 Apr 2003) pages 50 ilus. Article In English Keywords: DVD REVIEW ‘Time and point of view in contemporary cinema ( Author: TRIFONOVA, Temenuga ) ‘An essay on the relationship between the real events(visual) and the narrative (story) aspect of the film (the polnt of view fro the story Is told - often in flashback) as represented in recent fms dealing with (self-) deception. ineAction! m8 (1 Jun 2002) pages 11-31 lus. Article In English Keywords: ARTICLE ‘Tha man who wasn't there: narrative ambiguity In 3 recent... ( Author: NAYMAN, Tra) ‘A consideration of narrative ambiguity In three popular Hollywood films: The USUAL SUSPECTS, The SIXTH SENSE and FIGHT Creative Screennriting v8.n2 (1 Mar 2001) pages $7-60 lus. Article In English Keywords: ARTICLE Home movies ( Author: LEIGH, Danny; MaeNAB, Geoffrey ) ‘Sight ang Sound vii.ni (1 Jan 260%) pages 62 lus, Article In English ‘keywords: DVD REVIEW Brutalised bodies and emasculated politics: Fight Club,... ( Author: GIROUX, Hnery A. ) Article tie ends *..consumerism, and masculine violence", “Third Text n53 (1 Jan 2001) pages 31-41, Artie in English Keywords: ARTICLE Fight club ( Author: RICHARDSON, David ) Film Review 1600 (1. Dec 2000) pages 80 ius. Article in English Keywords: DVD REVIEW Remote control: DVD ( Author: NEWMAN, Kim ) Empire n138 (1 Dec 2000) pages 142 illus, Article I English Keywords: DVD REVIEW ‘Top films 2000 ( Author: CARTMEL, Andrew } Brief reviews of the editor's cholce of films of 2000. ‘StarBurst vSpec.n46 (1 Dee 2000) pages 6-10,12-16 ius, Article n English Keywords: ARTICLE, REVIEW Fight club Fim Review vSpec..n33 (1 Dec 2000) pages 83 Ilus. Artic In English Keywords: DVD REVIEW Video reviews: retail ( Author: MacNAB, Geoffrey ) A note of the release in the UK of video of FIGHT CLUS, Sight and Sound vi0.n1.1 (1 Nov 2000) pages 69. Artcie In English Keywords: NOTE Home Video - Getting exercised over FIGHT CLUB ( Author: CROWDUS, Gary ) Review of the film on fs video release. CCingaste v25.né (1 Oct 2000) pages 46-40 ila: Article In Enollsh Keywords: REVIEW DVD playback ( Author: PIZZELLO, Chris } ‘American Cinematogrepher vi1.n9 (1'Sep 2000) pages 22,24. Article In English Keywords: DVD REVIEW Video to rent ( Author: NATHAN, Zan ) Empire n132 (1 Jun 2000) pages 128 ius. Article In English Keywords: VIDEO REVIEW Video reviews: rental ( Author: LEIGH, Danny ) himne//mmery hfi ore.nk/weh-renortsititles/titles. isp Mfilter=Credits&auerv=5062368c0... 12/11/2009BID Online - Titles Page 4 of 6 ‘Sight and Sound vi0.n5 (1 May 2000) pages 64 illus. Article in English Keywords: VIDEO REVIEW Film music review: new films ( Author: DUFF, Simon ) Music from the Movies n26 (1 Apr 2000) pages 30 tls. Article in English Keywords: SNDTRACK REVIEW Additions and corrections [Adaitional imograghie information on The FIGHT CLUB: certificate 18, length 138 minutes 56 seconds. Sight and Sound vi0.n1 (1 Jan 2000) pages 68. Artic in English Keywords: NOTE ‘A world of hurt ( Author: MARTIN, Kevin H. ) ‘On the use of effects to visualise the narrator's view of the word in FIGHT CLUB. ‘Gnefex na0 (1 Jan 2000} pages 114-131 Illus. Article In English Keywords: ARTICLE Film Tutt | Flim della Stagione n43 (4 Jan 2000) pages 23-24. Article In Tallon Keywords: CREDITS, SYNOPSIS, REVIEW Reviews ( Author: WHITEHOUSE, Charles ) Sight and Sound v9.n22 (3 Dee 1999) pages 45-45 lus. Article In English Keywords: REVIEW, CREDITS, SYNOPSIS Fight club ( Author: EDWARDS, Stewart ) Frlm Review (1 Dec 1998) pages 25 Ilus. Article In English Keywords: REVIEW Menace IT society ( Author: WISE, Damon ) Interview with Davis Fincher who talks about the making of FIGHT CLUB. Empire 26 (1 Dec 1999) pages 100-106 lus. Article in English Keywords: INTERVIEW Soundtracks ( Author: JEFFRIES, Neil ) Soundtrack review for FIGHT CLUS. Empire ni26 (1 Dec 1999) pages 162 ius. Article In Engst Keywords: ARTICLE New films ( author: SMITH, Adam ) Emplre ni26 (1 Dee 1995) pages 16-17 lus. Article In English Keywords: REVIEW Tet strikes Seven (On French broadcaster canceling a planned screening of SETEN after controversy over David Fincher'siatest fm FIGHT CLUE Screen International 11235 (19 Nov 2999) pages 12. Article n English Keywords: NOTE Fox's fighting talk On the marketing campaign in Spain for FIGHT CLUS. Screen International 1235 (19 Nev 1899) pages 13. Article in English Keywords: NOTE Fight Club takes BBFC blow ( Author: MINNS, Adam ) On FIGHT CLUS being the second major US studio tile to require cuts to quailty for an 18 certincate. ‘Screen Intemational n1234 (12 Nov 1999) pages 2 lus. Article In English Keywords: SHORT ARTICLE Fight Club ( Author: GORIN, Francois ) ‘Telérama n2600 (10 Nov 1989) pages 57. Article In French Keywords: REVIEW Fight Club ( Author: DOCKHORN, Katharina ) Fllm-Echo/Fimwoche n44 (6 Nov 1999) pages 51 ilus. Article in Germen Keywords: REVIEW Genieten van geweld ( Author: OOSTEROM, Chris ) Skrien 238 (t Nov 1999) pages 16-17 illus. Article In Dutch Keywords: REVIEW Real news: cruising for a bruising ( Author: WISE, Damon ) (On the reception ef David Fincner’s FIGHT CLUS at the S6th Venice Film Festival. Empire n125 (1 Nov 1999) pages 53 ius. Article In English Keywords:. ARTICLE ‘Anarchy in the U.S.A. ( Author: PROBST, Christopher ) Director Davie Fincher and clnematographer Jeff Cronenweth discuss the style and technical detals of ther collzboration on F ‘American Cinematographer v80.n11L (1 Nov 1989) pages 42-53 lus. Article In English Keywords: INTERVIEW Fight club ( Author: KATELAN, Jean-Yves } Premiere n272 (1 Nov 1998) pages 50 illus, Aiticl in French Keywords: REVIEW IN THE MAINSTREAM: Psychological thrillers on the screen ( Author: various ) http://mmsry. bfi.org.uk/web-reports/titles/titles jsp filter=Credits&equery=5062368eco.... 12/11/2009BID Online - Titles Page 5 of 6 Reviews of The SIXTH SENSE, FIGHT CLUB and ANALYZE THIS in the context of psychological thers. Cine and media nS (1 Nov 3998) pages 16-18 lls. Artic in French Keywords: ARTICLE, REVIEW Cineforum n399 (1 Nov 1999) pages 39-40 illus. Article In Itallan Keywords: CREDITS, SYNOFSIS, REVIEW Fighting talk ( Author: FULLER, Graham ) Ecward Norton talks about David Fischer's FIGHT CLUB, Interview (1 Nov 1999) pages 118-121 lus. Article in English Keywords: INTERVIEW So good It hurts ( Author: TAUBIN, Amy ):~ A review and analyss of David Fincher's FIGHT CLUB Is followed by an interview with the director who talks about meking the Sight and Sound v9.n11 (1 New 1999) pages 16-18 lus, Article in English Keywords: REVIEW, INTERVIEW Fight club ( Author: FUCHS, Andreas ) Flm-Eeho/Fllmwoche n42 (23 Oct 1899) pages 28 lus. Article In German Keywords: REVIEW Dead battery ( Author: SCHWARZBAUM, Lisa ) Entertainment Weekly n508 (22 Oct 1999) pages 58-60 llus. Article in English Keywords: REVIEW Fight Club opens top ( author: GOODRIDGE, Mike ) On the opening of FIGHT CLUB. Includes alist of Brad Pitt top ten wide openings. ‘Screen Intemational n1732 (22 Oct 1999) pages 21 illus, Article In English Keywords: SHORT ARTICLE, TABLES sajamin ) Blood, sweat & fears ( Author: SVETKEY, Feature article on FIGHT CLUB, Entertainment Weekly nS07 (15 Oct 1999) pages 24-28, 31 lus, Arile in English Keywords: ARTICLE Dans ta gueule! ( Author: SCHNELLER, Johanna ) David Fincher, Brad Pitt and Edward Norton talk about FIGHT CLUS. Premiere n271 (1 Oct 1999) pages $4-101 illus. Article In French Keywords: INTERVIEW Fight Club ( Author: MARSHALL, Loe ) Screen International ni227 (24 Sep 1899) pages 20 illu, Arle In English Keywords: REVIEW FILM REVIEWS ( Author: ROONEY, David ) Variety (13 Sep 1599) pages 47 illus. Article In English Keywords: CREDITS, SYNOPSIS, REVIEW Inside out ( Author: SMITH, Gavin ) Interview with David Fincher on FIGHT CLUB. Review ofthe film (pp.58-60). Film Comment v35.n5 (1 Sep 1999) pages 58-62,65,67-68 llus. Article In English Keywords: REVIEW, INTERVIEW ‘Trailers ( Author: JOLIN, Dan ) Total Film n31 (1 Aug 1999) pages 16 tus. Article In English Keywords: PREVIEW Brad Pitt & Edward Norton ( Author: SCHNELLER, Johanna ) Interview with Brad Pit and Edward Norton on THE FIGHT CLUB Premiere v12.ni2 (1 Aug 1999) pages 68-73, 100 illus. Acie In English Keywords: ARTICLE Fight club ( Author: CALCUTT, Tan ) Film Review (1 Jul 1995) pages 38 ilu. Article n English Keywords: PREVIEW “Unmiseablel" (On why FIGHT CLUB is ‘unmissable’ Empire ni21 (1 Jul 1598) pages 104 ils, Article in Enalish Keywords: ARTICLE Prevue ( Author: ROBERTS, Andrew ) Fade In v5.n2 (1 Jul 1995) pages 15 Illus, Article In English Keywords: PREVIEW Script comments: Fight Club ( Author: DIVINE, Christian ) ‘A comparison of two drafts of the screenplay by Jim Unis for FIGHT CLUB. First draft dated 2nd October 1996, Second draft d January 1998. ‘Creative Screanwrting v6.né (1 Jul 1999) pages 4-5 illus. Article in English Keywords: ARTICLE Future films Empire n119 (1 May 1998) pages 46 lus. Artile In English Keywords: PROD, DETAILS Bttn/immon hf nen nbhueh ronnwteltitlachtitles den MilterCraditeRmervesNiy*6&en 19/11/9000BLD Unline - ‘Istles wage 0 010 Preview of the year 1989 ( Author: WESTBROOK, Caroline } Brlef description as part of a preview of fims of 1999. Empire ni16 (1 Feb 3999) pages 113. Article in English Keywords: SHORT ARTICLE Petite mis aux poings entre Brad Pitt et David Fincher ( Author: MIKANOWSKI, David ) On FIGHT CLUB. Premiere n20 (1 Oct 1998) pages 120-122 lus. Article In French Films in production “The Hollywood Reporter v353.n7 (23 Jun 1998) pages 23. Article in English Keywords: CREDITS (© British Film Institute 2008 5062364co... 12/11/2009 http:/mmsrv.bfi.org.uk/web-reports/titles/titles jsp Mfilter=Credits querFIGHT CLUB: A FEW QUOTATIONS Society in a Fincher film is an urban nightmare labyrinth disrupted by the seething, denatured and corralled male ego it was built to control. The difference with Fight Club is that nearly every other male in the film feels the same way as the protagonist. The Fight Clubs bring all men together, and what they seem to want to do is hit one another, hard, with bare knuckles, to get a sense of empowerment, When Jack's grip on his self-control loosens, the film enacts a brilliant twist no caring reviewer ought to reveal. Inventive as it is, however, it also marks an escalation towards the fantastic which loses in conceptual momentum what it gains in dramatic thrills. .» Fight Club is all of the following: a conspiracy thriller that never leaves the splashy imagination of a paranoid narrator; a value-free vessel that offers conflicting views on Nietzschean ideas about men and destruction; a dazzling entertainment that wants us to luxuriate in violence as we condemn it; a brilliant solution to depicting the divided self as a protagonist ... Charles Whitehouse review: Sight and Sound, December, 1999 = the film disrupts narrative sequencing and expresses some pretty subversive, right-on-the-zeitgeist ideas about masculinity and our name-brand, bottom-line society ~ ideas you're unlikely to find so openly broadcast in any other Hollywood movie. Fight Club sets up a conflict with a violent potentially murderous being who is, as tthe id is to the ego, the doppelganger of the protagonist ... Tyler's nihilism and incipient fascism are not the values Fight Club espouses, though Fincher complicates the issue by making Tyler so alluring and charismatic. Tyler is posed as an object of desire and of identification . As in Scorsese's films, the male body is feminised through masochism. You prove your masculinity not by how much pain can inflict, but how much you can endure. Fight Club is an action film that's all about interiority. it pushes the concepts of subjectivity and identification to extremes to suggest a male identity that’s not only fragile but frangible. Amy Taubin So Good it Hurts; Sight and Sound, November 1999,Film Grnment ol 35 6. (1 Sep 44) psy SMITH, lin NSIDE OUT gavin smith goes win david aueiat ; t's temptifig to describe David Fincher’s stunning, mordantly fimny, formally dazzling © mew iiovie Fight Club as the first fila of the néxt penttiry andhTeave it at that. It certainly dig deSest retesses of its” Bartel of the gun that is inserted; ‘Ainitor” or ‘a’ niajor car mai a tht daly ose castial eynicism and cornuption af éaipo- ‘Yate America), this unnamed protagonist _encountets and falls in with an elusive, “slightly outrageous trickster individval- {st called Tyler Durden (Brad Pi). For all his ixoni¢ distance, the non- * conformism of Norton's ‘character pales Sn comparison...Durden ‘with, his dit- Iandish self-presentation and ers ‘Nietzschean pronouncemenits, is ev ‘Hg our safari He asrven t nobody, sees through the kypocrisies ‘agreed deceptions of modem life, $8 FILM COMMENTtasomniac who doesn't know when he’ sleep, Fight Club takes things one step reyond into new realms af dissociation nd movie mindfuck. Suffice to say fewers might wonder just what they an trust: Is ‘Tyler Durden projecting bis movie? And just how reliable is sis Hipped-out narrator anyway? To be sure, this film is the culmina- on of a-recurrent Fincher scenazo: pressed straight white masculinity srovm into erisis by the irruption of an toarchic, implacable force that destabi- es a carefully regulated but precari- as psychosocial order. In Alien’, raven-headed, celibate, all-male penal >lony of killers that anticipates Fight ub’ “space monkey” cult of violent exaltation of disenfranchised mas- culinity through abjection and destructive transgression. ‘Fincher’ films seemingly repudiate the values hel paid to uphold in his 1¥ com- rmercials. AIl his features, Fight Chub especially, seem tobe reactions to or cam~ rmentaries upon the seductive, fabricated realities, spectacles of consumption, end appeals to narcissism and materialism of commercials. The dreamlike suspension, relative freedom from conventions and for- rats, and formidable technique that cis- tinguich Fincher’s sensibility have been honed or aequied from commercials and ‘music videos, with their rootinization of spectacle and “style,” conceit-based con struction and permissiveness in tems o Ireaking dow film grammar conventions. (Fineher's 1989 Madonna video “Oh Father” demonstrates the potontil acs: thotle discipline end integrity ofthe form at its best) His features apply these qual- ities fo more complex, rigorous aestheic: of Ali? with ts minimization of wideshots '! ‘and spatial resolution; the gliding, hollow’ _ sleekeness of The Game; the luxuriating J." in painstaking degradation and gloomy deg of Fight Club and Seven. ight Club bolongs to a distinct { fasment of both dread and rupture in ~Amicrican mainstream cinema, also man-, fested in The Matrix and traceable at ‘-Ieast as far Back as Verhooven's Starship Troopers. The acceleration and dissli- don potestially ushered in by digital cin chi aré only # partial manifestation of.” | solete masculinity if, disturbed: first" this Theie'' kind of diszociative hyper~ ~eilisin operating ia Fincher’ il, and a tts deranged artist dad Old Testament * ongex, Morgan, Freeman's troubled, = ai emal detective seems to act with the ic understanding that an older oi ation of culture, values, and reason t he defeids has been’ all but sub- ged in e Bosch-like world of eorzup- ‘mocking sense of fx and liminality in i abinides ‘and values both formally and conceptually. its recourse to evident ital” imagery has Jess to do with ‘expanding the boundaries of what ean be ‘Yistalized than with a derangement of or insolence toward cinematic codes and Conventions concerning authenticity and the narrative representation of space and a and chaos. The sterile, controlled time. (Ia an early, defining scene, Finch- verse of Michael Douglas's uptight Lionaire tycoon in The Game un until he is stripped of everything relies upon to define himself — ugh in.the end, masouliné power { privilege remain intact, indeed ffirmed, by the ordeal. In Fight 3, sweeping through the main char- 2r's tidy, aizlese life like a tomado, xt Durden is a galvanizing, subver 2 force dedicated to revolt against inauthenticity and mediocrity nodem life, seeking a nihilistic 60, ere protagonist, ironically contemplating his consumerist lifestyle, moves through his condo as it transforms around him into a living Tkea catalog ‘vith prices floating in space.) Is Fight Club the end of something in cinema, or the beginning? Zeitgeist movie ‘or cult item? Whether you ind the stte- oftho-art cinematic values ofthis curent rament liberating or oppressive, racical cor specious, of lasting significance or entirely transitory, as the lite gil in Poltergeist says: they're here. —G.S. hat did you set ous to do with this film? Tread the book and thought, How do you make a movie out ofthis? It seemed Kind of like The Graduate, a seminal coming of age for people who are com- ing of age in their 30s instead of their late teens or early 20s. In our society, ids are much more sopbisticated at an carlier age and-much:less emotionally capable at Inter age. Those two things are sort of moving against each other. T don’ know if its Buddhism, but there's the idea that on the path to calightenment you have to kill your par ents; your god, and your teacher. So the story begins at the moment when the Edward Norton character is 29 years old. He's tried to do everything he was taught 16 do, tied tot into the world by becom- ing the thing that he isn't. He's boon told, you do this, get an education, got good job, be xesponsible, present your self in a certain way, your fariture and your car and your clothes, you'll find happiness.” And ke hasn't. And so th rovie introduces him et the point when he’ killed off his parents and he realizes that they're wrong. But he's still caught trapped in this world he's created for mmaclf. And then he meets Tyler Duz- den, and they fly in thé face of God — they do all these things that they're not supposed to do, all the things that you do in your 20s when you're no longer being ‘watched: over by your parents, and end up being, in hindsight, very dangerous. ‘And then finally, he has to kill off his teacher, Tyler Durden. So the movie is reslly about that process of maturing.Js the nlarrator a kind of everyman? Yeah, defintely. Every young man. Agnin, The Graduate is good parallel. wvas talking about that moment in time ‘whesi you have this world of possiblities, all these expectations, and you don't know ‘who it is you're supposed to be. And you choose this one path, Mrs. Robinson, and itturns out tobe bleak, bu its part of your initiation, your tial by fe. And then, Bj choosing the wrong path, you find your ‘wey onto the right path but you've created this mess, Fight Club is the Nineties inveree of that: a guy who does not have world of possibilities in font of him, he has no possibilities, he literally cannot imagine a way to change his life. Like The Graduate ith elo «satire A. stylized vision of our Ikea.pre- sent. It is talking about very simple concepts. We're designed to be hunters, and we're in a society of shoppin ‘There's nothing to Kill anymore, th nothing to fight, nothing to overcome, nothing to explore. In that societal emasoulation this everyman is created. Bler says, “Selfimprovement is mastur- bation. Maybe self-destruction is the answer” Thaté a pretty redical statement. totally believe in thet. Hove the way ft was couched. Tn the book, Tyler's already been on the journey. He's wait- ing impatiently for the narrator to make the same trp that he has. And that was a thing we consoiously got rid of. One of the things that Bred brought to it — and think it was really amaxt —was, you don’t want to be pedantic. You don't want to have a guy going, “No, don"t you understand, this is important and this is bullshit” You have to have a sexy that’s going, “Well, Ican see your point, but it seems to me... You ean look. at Tosing all of your stuff both ways. Yeah, it’ all of your stuf, yeah, it took you years to collect; yes, they were all tasteful, interesting choices. But there's snother side to it, and the other side is, you don't have any ofthe responsibilities to that. Or to dig deepen, you find nsiilites to that iniage of yoursel® But # up to you~ maybe I'm wrong.” You abe he npreian thet he making it up as he goes along. Kind of.saying, “We're both on the ‘seme path together, there’s éomething in ime that says it might be interesting if you just hit me. [don’t know whore i's ging, it’s no big deal; if you relly don't want todo it, you don’t have to.” Were you incolved with the adaptation from the start? ‘Yeah, pretty much. A lot ofthe typical development-speak was being thrown around: “You can't have it alin voiceover because voiccover’s « crutch.” The first draft had no voiceover, and I remember saying, “Why is there.no vo?” and they were saying, “Everybody knows that you arly use ¥0 if you can't tell the stor.” And was like, “Its not funny if there's 0 roiceoves, its just sad and pathetic.” I remember having a conversation eatly on ‘when we were discussing what the fel of the first act should be. Iwas saying, “I's not a movie, its not even TV, isnot even channel-changing, its like pulldown win~ dows. Its like, ppp, tke a Took at it, Bip, pall the next thing down ~ its gota be downloaded, Its gotta move as quick as you can think. We've gotta came up with « way thet the camera can illustrate things at the speed of thought ‘And that’s one of the things that ‘was interesting to me, how much ean you jump around in time and go: Wait, let me back up a litle bit more, okay, no, no, this is where this started, this is How I met this person.... So there's this jumping around in time to bring you into the present and then leaping back to go, Let me tell yeu about this other thing. Its almost conversational. It’s as erratic in its prosentation aa the narrator is in his thinking I think maybe the posibilties of thie kind of temporal and spatial freedom Point to a future direction for movies. ‘Well, kind of do too in «weird way — justin the amount of freedom aver con- Tent, and'also how those different things sre apportioned. You don't necessarily have to make everything so concisely, arratively exentil. There are a lot of scenes tha, slthongh they feel nazratively redundant, ae part ofa thomatic build. What was the thinking behind she open- ing shot? ‘We wanted a tile sequence that stated in the fear center of the brain, [When you ahear] the sound of a gun being cocked ‘that’s in your mouth, the part of your brain that gets everything guing, that realizes that you are fucked — we sce all the thought processes, we see the synapses firing, we see the chemical electrical impulses thet are the eal to arms, And we ‘ranted to sox of follow that out. Because the movie is about thought, it's about how this guy thinks. And it's fem his point of viow, solely. So [liked the idea of starting amovie fiom thought, from the beginning ofthe first feer impulse that went, Oh sit, Tin fucked, how did I get here? Whas was your attitude towards the use @f Cot to azcomplish these impossible eainera moves? ‘Tome itwas a selfish means to an end. twasn’t about, Oh it would be cool to try ‘something lke this. Inthe book there are these long passages af descziption cbout how nitrogyeerin gets made, and what could have happened to cause the explo- sion at the narrator's condo, and we were ving, How do we ilustate that? “The police would later tell me the pilot light could have gone out, letting out just a lit- tle bit of gas” —but you can't just eut to a stove, youve gat to became the gas. I always loved the threatening nature of the telephone in Scorsese's Afer Hours. Every time the phone rang, the camera rushed right ati es somebody picked it up, and you did't wane to ind out who was going to be oa the other end. Well, if we were talking shout how this tea smells, we'd just push in so we knew we were talking about the tes, and show you the steam coming up, and then follow the steam and see that there’ other people fn the room, and end up on somebody sniff- ing. There's a way to tell that story as a ‘narrator telling you that stuff. That's what makes Chuck's yit- ing so fanny — there's this eynical, sarcas- tic overview, and at the came time when he gets into detail about how things are done, it’s sort of won dexfully compulsive. Here's something you need to know, here's the recipe for apalm. Wis the sisual equivalent of stream af consciousness. That’s it, that’s what the movie is, ifs a stream of con- sciousness, And that’s the thing that makes st so fan to follow Because he's just doling out information as he thinks of it We tke the frst forty minutes to literally indoctrinate you in this subjective paychotic state, the way he thinks, the way he talks about what's behind the reftgerator, and you go there. He talks about tho bomb, and you zip out the window and the camera just dropa thirty stories and goes through the sidewalk, into the underground garage, through the bullet-hole in the vvan, and out the side. We take the fist forty minutes to [estab- lish], This is what you're gonna, see, this is what he's gonna say, those two things aro inextrea bly tied, this one comments on that one, And then we get to 0 point wwhere we go: Oh yeah ~ remember ‘where we were taking you end showing ‘you this whole thing? You only saw this uch of it~ the other side of itis, this is what was going on. [WARNING: If ‘you haven’ seen Fight Cab yet and teant to have an optimal viewing expe rience, skip over the next section.] nave 10 say I didn’ se the twist coring. ‘You can't. I've had this argument with people who go, Yeah, well, I knew. And I 40, Bullshit, how could you possibly know? ‘We spent tons of money to get two diferent people to make sure that you wouldn't know. The point is not whether you're stu- Pid or smart because you didn't se it eom- ing, the point is that that’s the realization that this guy comes to, Bu if you tick peo- pl, its an affront, and you reslly beter be careful about what you're doing. A wise friend of mine once said, “What people ‘want fom the movies is to be abe to say, I knew it and its not my fault” And its so trve. I've hed this argument with a couple people we've shown the movie to. Like, “Fuck you man, this is Like The Game, you're just looking for some way to dick ‘with me.” Ws not about tricking you, is = retaphor, isnot about ereel guy who real- Iyblows up buildings, is ebout «guy who's Jed to feel this might be the answer based an all the confusion and rage thet hes euf- fered and it’s rom that frastration and bot- Aled rage that he creates Tyler. And he gpes through @ natural process of experimenting ea Poort eee nswith notions that are complicated and have moral and ethical implications thet the Nictzthean tbamensch doesn't have to answer to. Thal why Nietzsche’ really great with colloge freshman males, and tnfortunately doesn't have much to Say to, soinebody ia their easly thirties or early fortes. And that's the conflict at the end ~ you have Tyler Durden, who is everything you would want to be, except real and empathetic. He'snot living in our world, he's not governed by the same forces, he is anideal. And he éan deal with the con- cepts of our lives in an idealistic fashion, bat i doesn’t have anything to do with the compromises of real life as modern man knows it. Which is: You‘ not realy nec- essaay toa lovof what's going on 1s built, it just needs to man now. Taank you very rach, here's your Intemet access. Is the Edward Norton character ever named? Tn the screenplay we call him Jack. In the credits.t says “The Narratox” Did you. see him in terms of the litercry Adevize ofthe unrelicble narrator? ‘Oh, he’s totaly unreliable. How does that affect the staging —how do you hint a it? We had tons of litle res about Mylex. ‘ler is mot seen in a two-shot within a group of people. We don't play it over the shoulder when Tyler gives him an idea bout something that’s very specific, that’s ging to Jead him. I's never an over the shoulder shot, its always Tyler by himsele ‘There's five or six shots in the fist two reels cf Tyler, whexe be appears in one frame, waiting far Edward Norton's character. When the doctor says to him, You wanna see pain, swing by First Methodist Tuesday night end sos the guys with testicular ean- cer, that's pain ~ and, boop, Brad appears cover the guy’ shoulder for one frame, We shot him ia the environment with the peo- ple and then we matted him in for one frame, so thet Tyler literally appears like his epliced-in penis shots, just dink, dink. ‘You oan see it on DD. We did a lot ofthat stuff. When Edwards on tho airplane and thiey have that litle promotional Mariott television loop, when theyre showing all their banquet facilities, there's this shot of all these waiters going “Welcome!” and Bras in the mile of those waiters. T didn't know what the flash frames ‘were but T took them to mean that the movie. we're watching has been tam- pered with by Tyler Durden. ‘True. Same thing, At the end, when the buildings blow up, we spliced in two ‘remes of a penis Do you see links to Tae Game in which he goes on this journey where everything is Striped away and nothing is what it seer He's humiliated. Yeah, they're cousins. Its a “Twilight Zone episode. ‘That's all its supposed to be. Tn Fight (Club it’s even worse — having to contend with somebody who's powerful and you look up to them and his ideas become all too questionable, but then to find out that they are indeed your idcas, that this is your mess, thet you are the War oi row ereizage in terms of style? arid was definitely one ofthe things ‘we wanted to do. We didn’t want to be afraid af color, we wanted to contral the coler palette. ‘You. gp into 7-Eleven in the middle of the night and there's all that green-luorescent. And like what ‘zeen light does to cellophane packages, we wanted to make people sort of shiny. Helene wears opalescent makeup s0 she always bas this smack-fiend patina, like a corpse. Because she is a traly roman- tie nihilistic [Cinemstographer] Jeff Cronenwoth and I talked. about Haskell, Werler’s American Groffti end how Ba Jocked, how the nighttime exteriors have sortof mundane look, but it still has @ lot of different colors but they all seem very true, they don’t ceem hypentylized. And we talked about making ita drty-looking movie, kind fi of gainy. When we processed it, we stretched the contrast to makeit Lind fugly, a litle bit of underexposure, a litle bit of recilvering, and using new high-contrast print stocks and step- ping all overit soit has a dirty patina, What’ ressering? Lower-scale enhancement. ‘Rebonding silver that’s been bleached away during the processing of the print and then rebonding tt the pric. What does that do? Makes it really dense. ‘Tho blacks Docome incredibly rch and kind of diy. We did it on Seven a litle, just to make the prints nice, But its really in this more for making it ugly. ‘We wanted to present things fan real- {stically, except obviously the Paper Street house ~ there are no Victorians with 18- foot ceilings on the West Coast. [Produc- tion designer] Alex McDowell and I Tooke at books of [photographer] Philip- ‘Lorca diCoreie because it just fl ike the motellife world that you see. Marie's apartment, which was a set, was literally Tike photogzaphs of a room at the Rosalind ‘Apartments in downtown LA. We just ‘went in and took pictures of it and said, We talked about making it a dirty-looking ~ movie, kind of grainy. When we processed it, we stretched the contrast to make it kind of ugly, a little bit of underexposure, a little bit of resilvering, and stepping all over.it so it has a dirty patina. een Edward Norton“This isi, build this" As much as possi- hble we tied to incorporate real affice buildings, just went down and said, “All right, put some cubicles in and’ well shoot” Kind of a low-budget approech Where did the Mea catalog scene come from? That was the mement sshere I new Ted never seen c movie like this before In the book he constantly lists his possessions, and we were like, How do ‘we show that, how do we convey the cul- mination of his collecting things, and show how hollow and flat and two- dimensional it is? So we weze just ke, Let's put it in a catalog. So we brought in a motion control camer and filmed Edward walking through the set, then Sled the eamera pan seross the et, then filmed every si ioce of set dressing and just slipped them all back together, then used this type program oo that it ‘yould all pan, It was just the idea of living in this fraudulent ides of hap- ppiness, There's this guy who's liter ally living in thie Ikea catalog. Did you have o sense of biting the hand that feeds you, given that ‘you direct commercials? Well, I'm extremely cynical about commercials and about sel ing things and about the nercissis- tic ideals of what we're supposed to be. I guess in my heart Iwas hoping people are too smart to fall for that stuff, But it's unfortunate that it had to be presented in such a low- budget way. I would have loved t0 hhaye done @ whole sequence of it. What gets you going as a drecr? T don't want to be constiained by having to do something nev. [look at ites: What ae the movies thet I want to see? T make movies that other people aren't malking. Pm not interested in the Hero With a Thousand Faces — there's a lctof pocple that do that. A fiiend of mine used to say there's a pervert on every block, there's always one p neighborhood who's kind of qu “You're looking for that one pervert stir. What’ the mest creative part of directing? Thinking. Its thinking the: thing up, Gesigning all the sets, and its rehesrsals, and then the creative process is fuckin’ cover. Then its just war, its just literally, ‘How do we get through this day? Tes 99 percent polities and 1 percent inspiration. Pre had days of ehooting where I went, Wow, that’s what itis, that's what itt like to be making a movie. Every- thing’s clicking, people are asking questions, and the elock’s ticking, but you feel like you're making progress, But most ofthe time it in't that. Most of the time i's, How do you support the initial intent of what itis you set out to do, and not underent that by getting pissed off and loting your attention get away on that? I's priority management. Its problem solving. Oftentimes you walk away from a scene going, Wast’t whet I thought it was gonna be. Often. Bat its also knowing that you don't have to gett exactly the way you seit. There are times when you, as the director, need to say to the actor, | “Be seliish, make me do this. Create | a hurdle for me to jump over instead of me creating a hurdle for you.” 6RARE MOVIES & VINYL LPS “5F WE DONT HAVEIT, WE CAN FIND I” ideo: foreign, -6, B's, TV, we| bave them allCaalog’$ Deserve catalog $10 On Vinyl LPs: Movie Soundtracks, Boadway Snows, TY, Nostalgia, import, personalities merel SoundtackCast Valueguide: $10. RTS(FC2, Box 93897,Les Vegas, NV 89193 Phone:(702) 896-1300 _ wawtevideo.ape-com You want tobe able to provide some- thing, and you're pissing down a fucking well. It will suck you dry and take everything you have and, like being « parent, you can pour as much love as you want, and your kid still says, “Just let me aut right here, you don’t have to take me all the way.” You're working to ke yourself obsolete. Pm not going to Movie Star News PORTRAMS. PINUPS - TELEVISION HORROR- COLOR PHOTOS - WESTERNS Theuznas EY sans ‘< aon oa ‘gor Emad oe Ft ‘sg arn ee ee an SUE Uae ects THE BEST FILMS YOU NEVER SAW. ges Het us. la vhs cine bs come” Phone or wee fr fee blot nd It of is. 1-800-258-3456 Home Film Festival? 90 Bag 200, Seton, A TESOL srmbomeliinfestialcom ES SUMMER 2000 June 5-July 28 ES MASTER OF FINE ARTS MUSICPSRFORWANCE ART-FUMYOE ‘WRTING-PHOTOCRAPHY SCULPTURE-PAINTING ee sea Seamer 1 Sse wih sy fo a ipa eae Socoms ae AQANDALEON MUDSDN, NEW TOR ED (D1) 73868 +f mi hare make Periona ~ my movies are faily obvious in what the people want and what itis that’s happenings it's not that intemalized. What’ internalized is how you process the information from the Bingules, subjective point of view. And that becomes the subtext of it. Tm not Elia Kezan; I'm probably not sping to reinvent an actor for the audi- ence or for themselves. But I pay metic- ulous attention to getting the exviron- rect right so that the people have to do Jess work to prétend to he that person. It makes sense ~ seeing them next to thet | desk, and with that Hight. Michael Dou- alas and I went through this on The Came a lot. He would say, But you need to be able to make this tur, so that Inter on ‘you can do this. And I would say, “You, know whet? That may be naratively essential, but I don't believe that some- body wotld do that at this point. So go head and take the producer cap off and bo the selfish actor and make me deliver wots argurd it to make it make sense: ‘You don't have to help me tell my story. ‘You don’t have to got riled here, "cause you're going to get riled over here. You don't have to let people know what your potential is for losing control.” There ere tixies when you, as the director, need to sey tothe actor, “Be selfish, make me do this. Create a hurdle for me to jump over instead of me creating a hurdle for you.” ‘Any example where something turned out the way you wanted i? No. (Zaughs.] I think the master in Seven where they walkin and see big Bob on the table with his face in spaghetti — that was what I thought it was going tobe. What about in Fight Chub? T went into it thinkisg, Grow up, stop toying to fucking control everything and just let go. Thy to give the guidasice where you can end be smart editorially about ‘what you allow to happen — directions ‘that you allow things to go in, o you doa't ‘create a fucking morass for yourself. But don't ty to orerthink it, because isthe kind of thing that’s got a lt of rats init, and those truths are going to come through no matter what you do. You have a respénsibilty to the Schedule and the budget and those things, but you're not really esponsible for making everything happen. Create a good environment, cast the thing as well as you can, and get the hell out ofthe way of those people. This is & movie about 26-to-S-yearalds, and 1 think that there's a definite generational division between Brad and Edward. They're definitely about a diferent kind of thought process, T thought, There's 2 thing that Edward Norton’ going to bring to this hats going to be really important, tnd he's safeguarding his generational input, he's the earetaker ofthat. Apart fram the fact that directing pays the Bills red you enjoy it~ Tdoo't enjoy iat all. hag. So what need does it stg in you? Filminaking encompasses everything, fran ticking people inta investing in it, to patting on the show, to tying to distil down to moments in time, and spe reality bat send this other mestage. Is got every thing. When I was a kid I loved to draw, and Loved my electric foctball sets, and I painted litle things and made soulpruzes and did matte paintings and comic books sand ilugvated staf, and took pena, had a darlacom, loved to tape-recerd staf. H's all of that It not baving to grow up. I's four-dimensional chess, ts strategy, and its being painfully honest, and unbeliew- ably deceitful, and everything in between. When Iwas a kid I would spend hours in my bedroom drawing. could never get ry fucking hands to doit the way Thad it in my head. Tused to slvays go, Someday ‘youll have the skill to draw exactly what ‘you see in your head, and then you'd be able to show it to eomebody, and if they ike it, then you will have been able to ‘transfer this thing [in your head] through this spparats to this, end then you'll uly ‘now your worth. And I gave up drawing, and thei painting and then sculpture and ‘then acting and then photography for things that were that much more difficult to get that idea in your head out there. Its Kind of a masochistic endeavor: I ‘know that if I can pat all this together, record the sound the way I want to hear it... You know, we had such a hard time getting the timbre af Edward's voiceover, because it has to sound like « thought. We ended up using five different miero- phones trying to get this sound. You lis- ten to it and it doesct sound like a thought, it eounds like a guy talking to you. The voiceover in Blade Runner, if ‘you listen to it, sounds like a guy record- oon ale ie sound ike xy read ing prose while he’s sitting on the john. How do you avoid that? So is all those ‘thing, its so challenging. 8McCULLOUGH , Jahn ann TORTURE FIGHT CLUB, GLOBALIZATION AND PROFESSIONALS IN CRISIS BY JOHN McCULLOUGH mei: Fight Club and Social Meaning In this essay I discuss David Fincher's Fight Club (US, 1999) as a provocative anti-capitalist cultural artifact, one which articulates a widely-resonant and resistant “structure of feeling”. This is significant because, in the midst of the celebratory discourse of globalization, and the daily operation of transnational capital, includ- ing speculative investment, out-sourcing, downsizing, “restructuring,” and the militarized expropriation of labour and natural resources, it is necessary to remind ourselves that most people in the world are not immune to the degradation of life in capital, and are attracted to dystopic stories about the end of capitalism. In many cases, it could be said that the people of the world share sentiments with those heroic (and some- times mad) social agents (like the central characters of action films, Including Fight Club) who would bring the system to Its knees. In Hollywood, populism and popular nihilism rule the day, as cultural producers and audiences anticipate the latest spectacle that can be “plowed up real good,” as the SCTV film reviewers used to exclaim. Right Club, despite its art cinema “look,” is one of many films, made throughout the lat decade of the 20% century, wich con- nect with their audiences by telling stories about a flled American Dream. With its various depictions of male characters who discuss, decide and destroy elements and signs of daily consumption (eg. Martha Stewat, Ikea, Starbucks, BMW), the film is easily recog- nized as anti-consumersst, but its anti-capitalism has been 1éss commented upon, and its other meanings (in particular, its'sex- Jsra) have been understood ina variety of ways. For instance, fans have taken the film's depiction of the “fight club" as an endorse- en rent of masculine violence, with the most zealous acolytes report- ely setting up their own “fight clubs,” in the wake of the film's nencron 45release, Cultural critics have also misunderstood the film's mean- {ngs and Henry Giroux, in particular, was moved on several occa- sions, to dismiss the flm as an opportunistic gloss om antl-con- sumerism, and a darion call for macho pranksters of the world to unite? Yet, other cities considered it an inspired critique of mas- ccullalyy. The confusion in determining the value of the film is symptomatic, [ think, of the indetermlsiacy in general, ofthe peri- 0d of globelization. That the cultural work of the period would be incoherent, multivalent, incomplete, and tentative seems entirely consistent with what we know about this historical conjuncture. In general, though, we can understand these types of dramas to be about professionals in a caisisiddled capitalism. ‘Often, the crisis which threatens contemporary professionals hhas class-based origins but, in the world which these films con- struct, lass relations aze dificult to articulate, principally because ‘the class designation of professionals, while easy to represent, is ‘eificut to fully comprehend. That is, professionals seem to occu- py a place of privilege in capitalism, and this is often represented ‘as middle class indifference to class struggle, although profession- als aze reguledly minors to it, oz victims of it (sometimes both). Moreover, while they populate the upper echelon of capitalism's bbierarchies and the state's bureaucracies, professionals also recog- clze that their knowledge is being instrumentalized, and this engenders a degree of disharmony in relations between awnezs and professionals. Bat, typically, professionals are understood to 2e “organlzation people” and “team players” who, like Smithers in The Simpsons, conform to established power relations in society. Fight Club isa story about the delusions of professionals n the ‘New World Order’. Tt ie an extraordinary representation of the cepressed rage of middle America, which has intensified since the (oss of the Vietnam wat. This social anxiety has been fuelled by a rasiety of socal movements, induding feminism and the civil ights movement, but is also involves confusion about post- ‘ordism and post-Keynestan econoralcs, as well a frustration over hhe collapse of the American Dream, Usually male and white, this inger and dislusion {s expressed as “populist reseritment,” and nocludes such cultural artifacts and phenomena as the FOX televi- ‘ion network, Michael Moore, Resear, John Carpenter's They Livel, he yuppie horror film, professional wrestling, reality television pro- yemming, tv talk shows, “shock jocks” like Rush Limbaugh, Toward Stem, azid G. Cordon Lay, male rampage films, COPS., ‘id nhilist slacker entertainment. The anger and distrust expressed 2 such culture is dizected at economic disparity, lack of effective tadership, various forms of alienation and oppression, broken comes, the increased role of consumption and shopping (Le, the >aalled “feminization” of America), the loss of communities and deal networks, ecological devastation, and a general sense of ‘ystopia and collapse, an both personal and social levels. While anti-cstablishment critique is emblematic of much ‘ollywood film of the last 25 years, what makes Fight Club progres- vvels that it portrays violent masculinist resistance to capitalism 5 both attractive and misguided. On the one hand, this explains xe fllm’s success with large numbers of young white males,but it ‘so explains why their partial reading, ot entire misreading of the lin, led to’ re-enactments of the “fight cubs.” The film does not vocate such a solution and, in fact, makes t clear that the para slitary reaction (both in the film anid in real Life) is a masculine sntasy, and a dystopic, mysogynist endgame. In short, the “fight ub” is psychotic behaviour. Nonetheless, the films criticism of onsumerism Is an often humourous and effective cltical strategy, hhich connects good ol’ American libertarianism to class struggle. re subversive lifestyle, pranks and actions (eg, golfing in de- dustralized urban zones, recycling fat as soap and explosives, ‘ineacrion. manipulating workplace rules for personal gain, vandalism) align freedom with wban resistance. The film makes clear that the [F “clubs” are typically organized around an affinity structure thats ‘white and white collar working class. This has serious and obviow limitations, but the fllm’s success with “its” audience is saggestive fof the seveity of disenfranchisement felt by this group of worker, {in globalization, Ba Norton's character, for instance, is profoundly confused about his identity, and the film draws attention to thi bby providing alter egos, as well as not providing a fixed name for ‘his character, who is variously kmown as Rupert, Jack, Cornelis, ‘and, in the end credits, simply as the narrator: One of the alter. ‘egos, Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pit), makes the point that Fd Norton’s identity cxsis, his “multiple personality disorder,” is a result of the larger social crisis that surrounds, and gives historical signification to, his personal story. For example, “Martha Stewart” 4s presented as the pre-eminent ideal of bourgeois order, bat Tyler says that she Is only apparently an ideal of control, because "she i. polishing the brass on The Titanic” which, he gleefully exclaims, is ‘all going down". In 1999, when the film was released, but espe-_| cially now, with Mactha in jall, this dialogue rings true. The refer cence to Stewart Is not air innocent aside, nor is it shaped solely by the protagonist's idiosyncratic personality, and itis not « cheap or. ‘obvious joke ebout bourgeois lifestyles. It can be read asa slogan, a manifesto, and, at the very least, as critical comment on the state of contemporary clas relations. From this perspective, the film should be seen as a “totality,” a ‘ctional representation of a whole contemporary wotlé, which, Jhas the appearance of crisis, but the essence of the system called capitalism. Each ane of the elements, then, becomes a fractal unit Of a caitique of capitalism. For instance, Ed Norton, sitting 2 la Rodin's "The Thinker” (1880), on his tollet, ordering by phone} from the Ikea catalogue, speaks volumes about the constipating: effects of capitalist relations. Iam tempted to call this a “dialect class struggle! that moment that unites making crap, buylng crap and having a crap. And, because the composition of the shot recalls this particular sculpture, the filmmaker encourages ws to=| reflect on the ways that our conscious lives, our “thinking,” bats been colonized by the crap we produce and consume. Fight Clubs about these Kinds of ideas. , partz, Movies and Professionals in C1 ‘Today's movies offer no utopia, since everything you'd ever want, they say, Is here for sale. Mark Ceispin Maller Crises are thus reasoned out of existence here by forgetting oF denying the firs elements of capltallst production: .. the relation of money or commodities to wage labour. Kael Mares ‘As Matk Coispin Maller polnts out, the movies have become @ showcise, a display window, forthe accumulated products of ca? ital, to which the mice class is routinely represented as hav. ‘ng privileged access. But this psvilege comes ata high cost, andi is the cisis that Mace describes that inspires my overview of rovies about the middle cass. Typically, we can understand the rnlddle class to occupy a variety of identities, jobs, and pay scales but for the purpose of this essay, T assume 2 profound corsespom dence betweea professional, white collar labour and middle cst {dentity. Moreover, he middle class lestyle which i foregroundedin popular US entertainment fs routinely predicated on the cun- sumer habits associated with professional income levels. But pro- fesiouals range widely in terns of thelr Mdentities as workers and consumers, and my argument ie that the cise: which fesdonils have 2 lot to do with thelr ambivalent class struggle. As Esk Olin Wight and others have discussed, this smnblvalence is central to the identity crisis of the middle class in generals In movies, this identity cassis represented in a vari anid in a variety of extraordinary crises and spectacles, Here, clerks blow up buildings, architects fall from the sky; doctors get il an “players lose. In fact, the rises themselves are commosities that, hhelp to “reason out of exiktence," as Marc explains, the real con- ‘radictions experienced by professionals in contemporary capltal- sm, including their expesience of daily life as both tedium and torture. For instance, the professional in cvs flm tell us quite cleatly that torture (often selfinficted) is a rte of passage for the Amnericen middle class, Invariably, these films are structured 25 ‘extreme crisis narratives, with heroes who are given extaordinary tasks, whch they execute with 2 maximum of stress and pain ‘These heroes are tortured before our eyes! But we realize that tor- ‘ture is always preceded by an unbearable landslide of tedium, and ‘ko fab he that, asthe central character tom between tedium and torture zeal Ideological cantradictions (associated with globalization) att being worked-out on the screen. “The tedium of prafessiomal Me ie typically evident in the op=> ing scenes of these fis, exing the story's exposttory sage, 0: A& [fie One. In many cases, chi tedium costs with the repretentstion’ | por of privilege that have become synonymous with middle clas fe “fe fn the movies. Professionals’ houses, cars and leisuretime activities | he sre depicted as excessive and opulent, but this excess is also no | ain malized because tis never the tope of conversation. For exampl®) ? eop as we meet Michael Douglas’ character in Disconae (US, 1994 [bet Bany Levinson), sbffing about, fa a rush to get mundane 885 |' tha completed, with childrea and spouse running interference, WE | Zor ‘cannot avoid the abundance (af property) that cownists with the" ont tedium of preparing for another day (of torture) atthe office. AS | Chi ‘well the films often attempt to portray the various degrees of oO" f isc fessional status as indexed by the objects which each profesional | “Cro cows, For instance, Bd Norton's cisracter in Fight Chub is deine | Cry, as a midlevel technocrat, and the things he owns are demarcated | car as less expensive’ than those things owned. by, for instance, Michael Douglas's Gnaticer character in The Gane (US, 1997, David Fincher), but they are absolutely comparable to the thingsnetich we assume Douglas’ character owns in Falling Down (US, pa, Joe! Schumach), or those owned by Grifin Dunne’s char. fat in Afer Hours (US, 1983, Martin Scorsese). The eudience’s to discern differential status between these characte Is @ ation, a5 well a: © reineciption, of its own consumer PSepring, For Instance, In fms about profesional, the auc Firs ability to ducer sable nanative and character meanings is Fon contion of thelr wn understanding of and commitment ———ag Ee" tollows tha: profsionals in the movies should be under ood as repeesntties of privege,legtimating the as socey Pom which Shey emerge. But te spay of wealth Le, the fod, fhe wardobe, te cafed bodies, the Rare, the lots and condor jpntums, te Kitchens and living rooms, the vehicles ane person technclogy i aot only @ representation of the legacy of 2 yepemonic das relations, but the beginning of 2 ctique of those us eatlons - because we aso understand that el this wealth and eraty i abou to be callenged in violent fs spetacies. These Poces routinely tel ws that the prfesinals Who defend such yeah are not recs in cont end thelr pesonal well-being (peontingent on the maintenance of normative cptlt proper Fo slations In Aaroozled (US, 200, Spike Les), Damon Wayan's FStivsion watr/producer Pine Deacroixexpiains that while he os hs Jo, he ean afford to quit because he wl be sued fox ‘of coattact, and thus unable o maintala his Hesyle Soria, Delacres wants to avoid losiag his clock towes con Eninium, nd yet the cires he ses in mob make it obvlons although he lives im 8 cock tower, sll doesnot “know dnt ae Is" Audienecs realize thet these characters have vce modities of middle dass living that are on display. Curiously, ile these flms get ur thinking about buying things, they also as im the language of Fight Club, “the things you own, own In translating these dense case-based stories, popular movles or i tiso tell us that professionals are special types of workers, as well sbaliztion) ai. | as being “special” people. In Fearless (US, 1993, Bay Levinscn), the architect nec, played by Jett Bodies, walks away from & plane cash and finds himeslt alienated from his middle dass life and fiends. He pusnics a spiritual quest, alded in part by Rosle Peezs Working clas character a co-survivor of the plane cash, In ordex for both of them to come to terms ws the tausha ofthe crash, he concoct & radical form of DIY therapy which sees him slam ‘ming his hixucy vehicle into a brick wall. There are several zefer- faces to God snd redemption in this scene, and we are led to Dolev that the thezapy s succesful, but the sequence also implies that destruction of one's abjecs, and tress to lf, are necessary components of middle cass emancipation. Tis theme is worked out ad nauseum im Sims featsing professionals in cists: in Fight sat in the oper ‘oxy stage, of At representations snide dase life sstime activites fess is also nor vn, For example, ‘sure (US, 199 mundane tks stexference, We exons with BE at the office AF | Oub, Ea Narton’s character ts also liberated by a car crash, winich "degre | ated anti expen in tem tthe can 12s patestoal | Crnenbeags Cask (Casi, 1999; and tn Wet Dreams ay (club ie denned sre demarcated 4, for instance, ime (US, 1997, le'to the things Come (US, 1998, Vincent Ward), Robin Wiliams’ doctor des in a cac crash, but is thus reunited with his chfdren who have alzady fiten to heaven in their own smashup. In Pacific Heights (US, 1500, Jola Schlesnges), the yuppies finally get possesion ofthe tear house only to have it pessass them, eventually Uberating themselves by killing tenant and selling the house to another teasuspecting (Le, uninitiated) par of urban professionals, Bamry Grant has observed that the flim culture which depicts these pro~ fessionals often portays theiz crises as hore and he argues that, ‘smile this eyce of flms borrows from the sauenure of classe ‘mezican horror fms, “yuppie Homo” is particulary focused on ‘monstrous oes" that include job hungry females, inner cty ree dents, the working class, and “tmateal feu" including the ‘seeming oxymoron of the tele luxury home," Aviva Briefe) and Slanne Ngai have alto described the ways in which posessions Ihave engendered fear forthe middle dass, “as if fear itself were a commodity included in the total package" As Grant says, “oecause of the valorization of conspicuous wealth in the yuppie worldview, tie monsters in yuppie bomor films tend to threaten rmatedality more than mortality.” ‘In most of these films, when a professional survives reat, to life or Mfestyl, they aze represented as redeemed, In Regarding Henry (08, 1991, Mike Nichols) and The Docor (US, 1991, Randa Haines), the profesionals played by Hartson Ford and Wim Hirt respectively, are revitalized through threat of death; In “Americans Beauty (US, 1999, Sar Mende), Kevin Spacey’s executive ‘gains esteem by throwing decorum to the wing sis the case with SocKoroker Stlla/Angela Baset i How Sala Gat Her Groove Back (GS, 1998, Kevin Rodney Selivan), Mog Byan, Jeff Bridges and Nicholas Cage's characters all guin iberation from the tedium of| their profesional lives in, expectvely, You've Got Mall US, 1998, Nora Ephron), The Fisher King (US, 1991, Tey Gillam) and The ‘Faily Man (US, 2000, Brett Ratner. Their nchaacerstie display of vulnerability is intended to suggest that they are "etingthem- selves go" or “losing i” inorder to find a *kindley, gents” ver ‘son of themselves rebom. In Fors, Jef Brest the jackpot “because be is reborn as a spistuaiaed yuppie but, Because he | aso the recipient of« huge legal settlement tht derives fro same plane crash, he comes out of bis css both spstualy and finan- dally blesed. In Fight Club, Ea Norton's character fees transcen- Gent when he claims tht “losing everything was freedom” and, in ‘The Game, the clichéd theme of constant threat in profesional lives, is sed as 2 running gag. In a scene In which Michael Douglas’ characteris tapped n te back seat of 2 dsiveress cab, wwe share his extreme panic, which ultimately prepares us to also share his relief, when be exapes and is metaphosicaly baptized fand rebom, after the cab has plunged into San Francisco Bay. ‘While some of these Sims feature wemen, by and larg, these ‘movies are attemps to redeem zocently delegated male priv lege in the North? The overwhelming impression is that profes sional men’s lives ae fraught with diiculties and hardship, even in the face of extantdinary privilege For instance, while cab rides axe a lonary for most ofthe world's population, and actually quite 2 banal component of daily if (especially forthe drive) tt seems normal” in these fms to se cab dessin Afler Hours and The Game) ae potential ses of catastrophe ‘These are clesry extreme image constructions, both in tecms of the wath and sulfesing on display, but I would argue that the fms have found an audience because thelr characters successfully represent and transcode middle dass audience's own confusion and misunderstanding about thelr place in the woe. The recent ‘work of Nora Eplizan, fr instance, has been very poptlay and it {sno surprise that i has featured middle dass professionals and entrepreneurs exclusively, Her caer wock, by contrast, was dedi- tated to stories of working class women's Lives, culminating in her Script for the counter-hegemonic lm SUbwcod (US, 1983, Mike Nichols), which told a story of corporate negigence that took aim at de-regulation and *Reaganisa.* Fpron's career took of in the11990': and this can be stituted to ner sucess in telling stores About professional characters and their cise, the very group that ‘supported Rezgan and neo Hberal economic reform. For example, ‘the populaity of Seeples In Sete (US, 1993) Hes not only in str ‘power or effective screenwriting and direction, or even im the ‘hacpy ending, batin ts ality to negotiate, for middle cass ade ‘ences, the tedium of single parenting, dating and office cultere, by ‘presenting a namative that reproduces (dd redeems) the tre ‘which i siaglé parenting, dating and office culture. [Not surprisingly, the stieapt to redeem profeisionalchazactess actually engender peculiar mon lessons, which sometizhes st ‘ewiorardly with mainstream ideas about appropriate socal behay- Sour A notorious example is Indacent Propsal (US, 1998, Adsian Lyn), in which Woody Hamelson’s architect character agonizes cover Whether he should bulld his dream house or pimp Bis wife, played by Deint Moore, ‘he Sim's lesson isnot so much that this fs iredeemable bebaviout, bat tha such torturous ethical dlem- ras are the price of escaping the tedium of home ownership, ‘Similarly, sulcide and nea fatal wounding are sometimes fepre sented a acceptable strategie ia the pusificetion of professionals, and these reactlons are mot represented as moral or decisively cor rapt Dut ai instrumental to professional happmess znd integrity. ‘The Sims almost seem to coax us to “aelp” professionals, by hurt- ing or killing them ane, forthe middle class, the professional in “cons fim serves as something of survival gue for gloaliction- rast: Our Own Private Fight Club “Freedom's Just another word for nothing left to fose.” itis Keistofferson, “Me and Bobbie McGee” (One of the more resackable fms about white collar cists s Fight Club, and its also a film which offers itself as potential socal it fcism, in the shape of popular entextinment. 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Wosy SHO soyesedos yeu) opseisqo ou soBu0y ou st Apoq amp ‘nwountpoquia Jo sassaooxd ur paseq f{snor1o8 is Jo Aydosoniyd mou v suorsraus oznojoq s odussed [eA 2q 0} OM T FEY UW] “BuDAUTIN Jo epout Bout Apoq ou Suzan pure aySnouy Bu1Xpoqura so ssaoord yep ot 405 soydeyaut [ensia jevondooxe we sopraoud oys Susuodo s,r04outsy “uss ¥ 2tt032q 0} Jop0 ur aoua[OrA atp pure about are nor so bad! “They should be... ifxor embraced, a last well thought of So thar was our of saying .,.Nochar iciweover justdhae che spirt of Tyler Darden is kinda ell our there. ‘Yeah — Tvler Dardea is alive and well aad in the theatre while you're acrualy watching. his movie.”| DAVID FINCHER WAS ONCE QUOTED AS saying, “I]ust do my work snd ty to live it down.” He remembers that and laughs, “That's tkoe,” he says. “And its still tre. T jose ry coger howne as early ae can, do as {good a job as I can, and when irs all over wich, Tjost ...go ero hiding and try to live i all down.” He's aleady tired of the controversy. He's tired of seeing Pirrand Norcon’s worke being buried in an avalanche of eiticiem. He's bored by people who haveo’t ead Palahniuk’s ‘mmch more scathing novel and cannot seveven a fraction of dhe wit and intelligence in Unis’ arnazingly faithful script. "Making rmories is crap shoot," he sighs. “This movie wat written five years ago. Nobody saw Columbine coming, nobody saw any of that 5 empire ‘Nobody knew chat there would he a new tying to live down his latest movie, be'll be thinking abour bie ext. There's nothing planned as yet, but he'd definitely like ro. work with Pitt ‘again, and certainly vith Seven writer Andcew Kevin Waller, who gave Fight Club a final polish in the ran-up to priacipal photography. “Ifits wrong fora man to love ather men,” Hincher sagt a wey smile, “then it’s probably wrong, for me to talk about Andrew Wallsex™ He'd wanted ro make ‘Walkers most recent film, MM, later made by Joe!| Schumacher and starring, ‘Nicolas Cape as a private eye hiced by a millionice’s widow to verify the authenticiy ofa snuff siovie, They'd even talked about doing i-asa sequel toSeven, with Morgan Freemaa recur, to play Detective Somerset, but the buzz abour Waller wat t00 stroog and Fincher wasa't quick enough. He was specially intrigued by ‘Walker’ original ending, in which Cage’ character Js so appalled by the things he sees, he dives his car into a concrete embankment at 7Omph. “was like, ‘Hn, inceresring, Andy, but noc particularly emotionally sailing." Like every artist wosth his salt, Fincher jst wants to leave a body of work. “I'm thinking abour the seack of lasers F would put by smy bed,” he says, “ready for the day when the Grim Reaper shows up tnd says, ‘OK, your timeis over’ You wanna be able wsay...7 His voice becomes’ pathetic, neevous auives, Lut... bur of funny! And this one's quite well done. He laughs. ©. Can gota few more weeks?” 1 did this — chis i sore Tigh i reared on Hoveber 1 endive om“Ty don't + For Edward Norton, £don sho plays the fmt drat, the notion that hema shld star deae ofan joc garde as fig ht ‘nngerou by some i leary hageach “rac in gor ws nied by foie of he copyent consequence, shoald abot tee seriton Lola becuse of tho Far tat some alior man would mest aye ea? Ie Tedious to sgt Ua the only tle of ct Should he (o present enagt or roman oF pose iungeeThaté more dangeroas to me than dhe role of danger a. completly legitimate rele of rt and fi art to held inl upto nr ws ad our dines a tryto canning th ete Pe Cater wh jst Fas on the vileno us, says Noon. msg the pit of Fgh Clb “The book expresses thoughts that Ive ad rf feelin he eneng ofthe pop of wy ae. Toe alvag hough ha alot oF ng tht oe wee ten abot et generation bye arent gene “Xion were too spite orton ris of ts 4 Gen X, dacber is generation. Tve nevecreitedtomyfthal ula Biswas tbe first ching I read that [ said: ‘Veah, this expresses. ae depth ofthe mins and despa Ht 1 fel ina tof people he Ad yo krone shat people see to overkonk? every nny” Pi, coud reve tthe Hen of young sen sift an My es “Th ert at he Ft ta thal atoll pt rly exe Deshi caeine 4 Seti treapnattoce ¢ Sauteureitet ayer | Sateen [on | mines [ Gtgtaceibectiete { Stmeean SBlocetoagtccten oponanen Sense ever sect ghee? E auonsiyonemaiene? Eenteciearenmr i b ocaadneghat EiSedpeeal ci | Het tc telnet ci 0 ower at Ft sl Ete eroagee ange Hshouipunenepayepethh ve Hace aon fed docs at ie ing Te “Timah Hare Catt Tgp. Try card natok lige tat Fuse td br it Mase? Tarte dh ge heard a anique voles, a new voice andl with Fincher leding it L thought it wold be: very cseitng. I was'donwn to the durater of Tyler "Theres mbit whore he i ying “wert has ‘ss clasing cars aad elothes, buying shit. working [oh we bate md buyingshit wee dent need. “L aetually Fd that sore destructive that ome of the complaints we have ees hearing About viskenee. | find this tly damaging, this Kind of foeus on exterior beauty thingy, lots, curs The film attacks that rosin ad gives the dea that mane we ace healing in the wreng direction. Grudgingly. Fincher eventually avis that le’ rather pleased thatthe violence in ‘Eng en ‘chery’ gue tnset Tena cae ot ta vee hed he ndig jolt gle chiteratso dhe? __ eon rere he bat ‘voit lg tht yon de tdi Poe semen ds Teanga ty ge ak the perem he wero ‘nestle an hw thavea ee m with people startin clubs” "he in Bas el sek a eat. “Vm glad that it was violent becineaftera year ofstoxyhoarding 1 rehearsals and stlT you do get stressed and fart tower that tseenpletely tne.” ‘Which loop hick ts the questions at Vener: sant the fl responsi in prometiygam atn= feat ite core valioace young men ~eovld cesta? Paalnok has sid that Td rather Trae hem beating the erp ont of each other ‘an walking into MacDonalds with a sewnoih slntgun What ahovt Finger? "Ljatt hoped that the book sd rash thee film would deal with sone of rue fecings iat surg nen bane ont ter pew ia the work sand Hannan the ins ever steves to find a satin for il” bes. "Teor ehiakanrbody exer responsible forsomebexly else's behaviont 1 hind wo have to be responsible to Has that ‘ve preset i apniriont uraglamorsed way but 1 on? think the eiclenee i this mente is por iged ina gdamonns way. witlsegade tll peuple emulate what is aptig on?" dest low. I dan have a prablen with people sturting fight clubs. But f don't jk wer wade it wih any intention of getting people all sled up aed sending ew ext on the streets ET - Aa tun thoy se et ple Wiser thesingemetpostne enfeot ghee? 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And what makes Durden attractive to the narrator—his potency, wit, and sly subversion—are the same qualities that appeal to areadership of solitary young men. Critics of the film find it ridiculous that bulf Hollywood idol Brad Pit, playing Durden, can sincerely ines like "We are the middle children of history, raised by televi- sion to believe that someday we'll be millionaires and movie stars and rock stats, but we wont.” Henry Giroux alls it “a contradiction that cannot be overstated,” and Salon’ Andrew O'Hehir says “theres some- thing more than ludicrous about sitting in a theater while Brad Pitt preaches at you about the emptiness of materialism.” " ‘What these critics see as contradictory ot ludicrous, however, I see as comic irony to underscore the narrative drama, As attractive as ‘ler seeins (and that is the power of Pitts casting), his philosophies are a fantasy and a delusion, as Tyler himself turns out to be. Even after discovering that he and Tyler are one, the narrator denies their connection in the novel: “I love everything about Tyler Durden, his courage and his smarts. His nierve, Tler is funny and charming and forceful and independent, and men look up to him and expect him to change their world, Tyler is capable and free, and I'm not." Or as the films Tyler/Pit bluntly puts it “All the ways you wish you could bbe, thats me. I look like you want to lool, fuck like you want to fuck, Lam stuart, Iam capable, and most importantly, Ym free in all the ways that you are not.” An epitome of the American masculine ideal, Pict is a perfect Tyler, exactly the star most men would wish to play them (to borrow a conceit from Survivor) in the movie version of their lives. As a result, however, we must never take Tyler literally: te do so would be madness, as itis for the narrator, or fascism, a8 ft is for the members of Project Mayhem. Palahniuk’ moral fletion omveye—bot ultimately wams against—both, rritics, however, take Tyler, li ii aay coke a) vA - ike Pitt, at face value, Ina scathing {a} morally bankrupt and politically reactionary film, Representations of violence, masculinity and onder THE FICTION OF SELF-DESTRUCTION | 21 in Fight Club seem all too willing to mirror the pathology of individual, and institutional violence that informs the American landscape, extending from all manner of haté crimes to the far right’ cele- ration of paramilitary and protofascist subcultures, ‘Yet Giroux, I think, substitutes what the film and novel depict for what they ultimately prescribe. Fight Club ratls against consumerist conformity, but its alternative, Project Mayhem, which evolves out of fight club—the “protofascist subculture," to use Giroux’s term— takes far more of its members’ individuality—names, clothes, hair, identities—than consumer culture can, That is, until Big Bob—one Robert Paulson—is inadvertently killed by a police officer during a prank gone wrong, The narrator, now aware that his followers believe him to be Tyler Durden, attempts to put an end to Project ‘Mayhem, but realizes, echoing the language of fanatic religious mar- tyrdom (in anticipation of Survivor) more than fascism, “only in death will we have our own names since only in death are we no longer part of the effort. In death we become heroes.” The narrator, however, no longer believes this, and Palahniuk’s irony thug subverts Giroux’s reading—the book’s endorsement of violence, rather than the narrator, self-destructs. Giroux reading is understandable, Fight Club dares its readers to take Tyler—and his reactionary politics—at face value. But in addi- to rescuing Palahniuk from his detractors, he also needs rescu- ing from his admirers. More unsettling than Giroux academic denunciation is the popular readership that identifies too strongly with Tyler Durden, exemplified by the angry, misogynistic letters Salon received after it published Laura Miller's scathing review of Diary. Yet agait, fan reaction is understandable, if not excusable, considering Palahniuk’s constant second-person "you" construc- tions—"You drill the wrong holes,” “You dont understand any of it, and then you die,” “That old saying, how you always kill the one you love, well, look, it works both’ ways'—which appear on the first three pages alone. This direct address, in its grammatical imperative, de Laident linet Eakimen en imvermer and, “Raler = ana tn.2 1 YOU 00 NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB extension, between character and reader, around which the novel revolves. Like’ the narrator, Tyler is alienated, angry, and politically economically, and socially (although, crucially, not sexually) impo- tent. Judging by the online reviews and posts at sites like Ama- zon.com and The Cult, many fans emphasize how strongly they relate, Amazon.com reviews typically begin with a favorite Durden Quote, yet some readers seem not to notice thet he offers no viable or sustainable call for political creation, only metaphysical destruc- tion—which, when enacted, becomes self-destruction. In addition to these critical reactions and fan responses, there is Palahniuk’ own penchant for bombast, In a personal response to Miller’ hegative review, Palahniuk wrote back: “Until you can creaie something that captivates people, I'd invite you to just shut up.” * Palahnjuks interviews sometimes resemble Durden’ aphorisms, and his nonfiction has explored personal experiences with steroids, the occult, physical sbuse, and the circumstances surrounding his v's extraordinary murder. And, of course, there was the Enter- ‘ment Weehly debacle, Ik is thus tempting to read the narrators—and, by extension, the film Fight Club—as representative of Palahniik’s politics. The novels themselves, however, are not mouthpleces for their damaged narra- tors; they are critical of them. Palahniuk may be angry at the same violent social conditions that distur’ Fight Clubs nameless narrator, Survivor's Tender Branson, and’ Choke’ Victor Mancini, but Palah- niuks solution is not more violence—it is to write boo! Its reveal- ing that his letter to.Miller also states that “its easy to attack and destroy an act of creation. Its a lot more difficult to perform one,” which emphasizes creation over destruction, as his books ultimately do as well. (The letter, however, like the Valby incident, was obvi- ously self-destructive—as the letter even concedes, writers may be Dest off ignoring critics.) If Palahntuks solution is books, his books’ solution. is laughter and romance. A careful reader will, like the nar- ator, belleft unconvinced by ‘Tyler’ sophistry and instead notice that * only bis language, exemplified by Palahniules pumped-up, brutally funny style, is powerful. His solutions—to take the film’ tagline: + "Mischief, Mayhem, Soap"—ate not. THE FICTION OF SELF-DESTRUGTION | 23 ‘Tyler Durden’ indifference to suffering should not transfer onto the reader, who thay identify with his position but also recoil, by the ‘end, at his acts of violence. Even the narrator cannot remain morally neutral. If Fight Club embodies Girousts protofascism, it is only in vorder to condemn it, In their brutality’and futllicy, Tyler's followers, the nameless and faceless “space monkeys,” blur the lines, between. rebellion and conformity with the zeal of conversion, discdrding tie ‘wearing, Starbucks sipping, and IKEA shopping to instead become mantra-repeating blackshirts. The book’ crypto-fascism is not unambiguously 1960s-style anti-consumerism per se, ‘Tyler’ charisma (and Biad Pitt) notwithstanding. It is, rather, a call to rec- ognize that fascism is the endgame 6f a capitalist system that would reduce workers to drones and all personal identification to brand names and commercial transactions, Even family is impliceied in the depersonalized strictures: The narrator notes with his usual detach- ‘ment that his father serially divorced and started a new family every six years: “This isn't so much like a family as its like he sets up a franchise.” The book's political subtext, far from right wing, insinu- ates that our cherished bastions of American iberty—the free mar- liberal autonomy, and family values—come loaded with nascent totalitarianism. « ‘The book establishes this potential for violence beneath each of its bland, bourgeois exteriors: because of the narrators extortion, his morally bankmupt corporate workplace—which weighs the value of human lives against the cost of recalling a faulty automobile—finances the equivalently morally bankrupt Project Mayhem (this is more overt fn the film than in the novel); everyday consumer products like gaso- line, orange juice concentrate, or diet cola become reconfigured as napalm, among other chemical weapons ot explosives; from the med- ical waste dump, “liposuctioned fat sucked out of the richest thighs in. America” is rendered into expensive designer soap, to be sold “back to the very people who paid to have it sucked out.” The potential for danger and destruction lurks beneath seemingly harmless smerchan- ise and benign consumer culture. 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Although the motif of violence is enthralling, it is the homosex- ual themes that provide Fight Club with the haunting quality that truly sets it apart. Without them, and without what they appear to reveal about the author's own sense of being an outcast from mun- dane straight civilization, neither the book nor the film would be as emotionally powerful as they are. The disturbing note on which the book ends is altogether fitting, combining as it does the contempt of the fighter with the alienation of the flamer, And’yet, notwithstanding the way in which these twa diverse elements worked surprisingly well in producing an intrigu- ing novel, one remains rather skeptical that this is an alchemtc for- mula that can be expected to make something better out of the world. To paraphrase the great English philosophers, gay men lurking in cellars distributing fluids is no basis for a civilization. || be no condoms either in this climactic gang-bang. Ina In this piece, which was or published on Metephim, Chris Lendis argues that Fight Club is a smart new twist on the classic Greek tragedy, with Jack es a modern-dey Oedipus end Tyler Durden as his fether Laius. Landis lvas in Ohio and works as a financial advisor [perfect for intarpret- ing the philésophical aspects of fim). Landis has several essajs on Metaphim and he loves birthday parties. i In the tale of Oedipus, Laius, the ruler of Thebes, sends his son away to be killed afier an oracle tells Laius that his son will someday Kail him. The child is spared, however, and given to the ruler of Corinth. The ruler and his wife are unable to have children, so they raise Oedi- pus as their own, never telling him of his adoption. Years later, edi- puis is going off to seck his fortune when he learns of a prophecy that says he will kill his father and marry his mother. So Oedipus heqds in the opposite direction of Corinth, the home of the family that raised hhim, because as far as he knows, the people who rule Corinth are his natural parents and going to the city of Thebes will ensure his family’s safety. As Oedipus'is traveling to Thebes, he encounters Laivs.and, unaware that the man is his natural father, kills him. 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Jack: No, I didn't, ‘TwteR: Never? Jace: No, ‘Tier: You're not into her, are you? Jack: No, God, not at all, Jack (Voiceover): I am Jacks raging bile duct. ‘Tver: You're sure? You can tell me. Jack: Believe me, I'm sure, Jack (Vorceover): Put a gun to my head and paint the walls with my brains. ‘Who wouldn't have that reaction when accused of having lustful thoughts about his own mother? A Truth Too Awful to Bear Jack believes he has safely separated himself from the possibility of a relationship with Marla, just as Oedipus believed by traveling in the opposite direction of his home in Corinth that he had safely avoided the prophecy that foretold he would kill bis father and marry bis mother. The irony was that traveling in the opposite direction toward Thebes was actually a necessary step before Oedipus could fulfill the prophecy. The happy little nuclear family Jack constructs in Fight Club includes a similar irony: Jack, ‘as Tyler, actually does become involved with Mazla without knowing it. Tyler and Marla have the relationship that Jack cannot have, but Tyler is Jack, and TYLER QURDEN IS A M*THERFACKEA | 155 once Jack realizes that he has been living a second existencé through sylex, he also realizes that he has been having sex with Marla, his * mother ‘After Oedipus realizes that he has killed his father and has been having sex with his mother, he blinds himself for what he has done. But when Jack becomes aware of the double life he has led, Fight (Club diverges from the Oedipus tale in that Jack is surprised but not bothered by the relationship he has had with Marla, In fact, efter this realization about his double life, Jack shows concern for Marla for the first time and’sends her out of town so she will be safe. Jack is suddenly thinking more clearly. However, Jack does travel a path Similar to Oedipus’ in that, after realizing what he/Tyler has done, he takes responsibility for his actions: and attempts to turn himself in to the police. Unfortunately, they are also corrupted by Tyler’ influence and so, after Jack escapes from the police in an effort to thwart Project Mayhem, he takes the only action he thinks is possible: he kills Tyler. Of course, since he is Tyler, this is actually an (unsuccessful) attempt to take his own life, This final scene. also harkens to the Oedipus myths conclusion, where Oedipus blinded himself because he could not face the truth. The irony is that after Jack has shot himself and killed “ler, he is able to see more clearly: He now seems to not require his father or Tyler or anyone else; love Marla and accept her love in return If You Act Now, You Get These Additional-Insights BoNus:ComMENT Fon OUR PLATINUM MEMBERS : The film seems to comment on the problems in a society where chil- Gren ate raised by a single parent and a ¢olor television, Unhappi- ness ensues when children believe that purchasing things wiill soothe their pain, because that same philosophy will follow them into adulthood: Jack: There’ always that. I don't lmow, its just when you buy furniture, you tell. yourself: thats it, that’ the last sofa I'm gonna need. 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How far do you think each one is true?Marketin: These different posters were used to promote Fight Club. What are the different.aspects each poster has focussed on? Is there a common fink between the posters and why do you think this is used? Does it give you clues as to the film-makers. intentions? What is the appeal of each poster and are they aimed at different audiences?Fight Club and Fincher How far do you think Fincher could be described as an auteur? Does his work have a particular mark that you can identify as his style? Compare some films he has made (use Imdb as a reference) and consider the similarities and differences. Dogs he work with the same stars, writers or production team? a Fincher seems to work in a variety of different genres (consider Alien 3, Benjamin Button and Seven) Does this make it more difficult to establish an author's mark on his work? What star qualities do the main actors in Fight Club bring to their roles? Consider other films you have seen them and what character traits they may have taken with them from these film to Fight Club.ght Club and censorship Wednesday, 10 November, 1999, 10:10 BBC The British Board of Film Classification has given the film rating, afier cuts to two scenes in which a man's face was beaten-"into a pulp" by Edward Norton's character, who then says: "I wanted to destroy something beautiful.” BBFC director Robin Duval said the violent content of the film was less than other films which had passed by with less fuss, He said: "Audiences who expect a large quantity of fist fighting and graphic violence are likely to be disappointed." But he added: "There are two scenes in which the board judged that the violence was excessively sustained and in conflict with the concern expressed in BBFC guidelines about taking pleasure in pain or sadism. "In both scenes there was an indulgence in the excitement of beating a defenceless man's face into a pulp. The board required that cuts be made in each case." The film has caused a storm of protest in the US, with the editor of the respected trade journal, The Hollywood Reporter, calling it "morally repulsive". Anita M Busch said the film, which was released in the US last month, had "drawn more gut anger from the industry than I've ever heard”. Others feel it could spark copycat violence, while it has also been criticised for purportedly showing how to make explosives and napalm. But Mr. Duval said the “instructional detail" was "unlikely to be harmful to an individual or society". This is an article written for the BBC’s entertainment website.Why do you think the BBFC decided to censor this particular scene? Why do you think they have allowed other more violent films to go through with less censorship? After watching the film do you think the 18 certificate is appropriate for Fight Club? Debate the importance of censorship in your class - Do young people need protecting from a film like Fight Club? What messages is it conveying to audiences that might concern Governments - is it just the violence that could be worrying'them? Or does the film potentially make political points? Fight Club was originally a book written by Chuck Palahniuk. See if you can find out what critics said about the book. Consider some reasons that books might not cause as much controversy as films.Sight # ‘ight Club’ is about he monstrous thrill of ‘iolence and the fragility of men - and that's not all, argues Amy Taubin David ¥inchers Hight Cubopensinside the fear cenize of its protagonist's brain although we oat realise thats where we ame until wee 20 mnger there, What we see ea seri dack space that ‘ems both confined and limitless, sis details tguely biomomphie, We are moving through the dace at a smooth, zegular dip. Our journey is slivened by flashes of light, pumping music and 1 flm’s titles, which are superimposed on the rainscape. Jost when we might start wondering bout what kind of place we're in, we're expelled in ‘rash and Inurled alongside th body ofa gun that's sifway jammed inside someone's mouth ‘What's exciting about Fight bis that it"screws round with your biohythms*—soborrowa phrase ‘om the Chuck Palahniuk novel ofthe same name ‘hich has been adapted with considerable fidelity y Fincher and sereeswniter Jim Ubls. Like the vel, the film disrupts marative sequencing, and presses some pretty subversive rightonthezelt- cist ideas about masculinity and our name-brand, ottorine soclety ideas you're unlikely to findso penly broadeast in any other Hollywood movie. ‘Self mmprovernent is masturbation, SelE-destrac: lon might be the answer” the slogan of Tyler Dur en, who is not Fight C's protagonist but rather be protagonist's significant other, doppeainge, Irerego ~ all that and more. Tyler is the embod sent of pure id with just enough Nieusche thrown 3 to make him articulate. (In the film Tyler’ voice ails off after the word “destruction, which he slivers with @ preguant, upward inflection and tneshirecat grin. The alteration tothe ine‘, sus- fect, concession tothe MPAA ratings board, which robably gave Fight Cuban ' beczase its members ‘att understand its ‘unamericn’ social critique) ‘Tyler (Brad Hit) has invaded the life of our pro- sgonistand narator Edward Nerton) whois mame. 258 nthe novel bot referred to as Jack in the film, hough only when is absolutely unavoidable. Jack +a depressed wageslave with tenible insomnia, a orrosive wit and a dieasvoczted perspective on his terile Kea life, Tyler encourages him to tum his So goointo man Ter “abt str fT Feforabout inthe ‘Chu, shove; Jack ard Nerton lings big rested tsi ser vetim Robert an (Meat Lat Ada) grup therapy ting frastration and botléd-up rage into action. After Jack and Tyler have ther fist heart-1phear, Tyler asks Jack to hit him Jack obliges and Tyler retams the favour. They discover‘Miat they are exhilarated ‘by this brute interaction. This isthe beginning of Fight Club, a secret society open to anyone who's sale and for which Tyler (the sefstyied anarchist) lays down the rule “The frst rule of Fight Chub is ‘hatyou don't talk about Fight Cub.” In Fight Club men erp of ther shirts and shoes and go one-on-one with bare Knuckles Prerythingis allowed short of killing your parte. Fight Club is s0 seductive as an ides and experience it takes on a ‘fe afte own ~ independent of Tyler and Jeck—and soon there aze Fight Clubs epringing up in base- ‘ments and paring les all over the city and then in other cities acess the country. Jack moves into Tyle’s house after his pefectly appointed condos destroyed in a mysterious explo- sion Tyler inhabits aapidated, decaying mansion ‘an the edge ofa toric-waste dump. Except on Fight (Chub nights, says Jack, they're Ozzie and Harviet. ‘Which int quite true because Tyler has many other, ‘ways of disrupting the socal contract A terrorist of the food industay, he works as 2 waiter in pricey restaurants where he pees in the soup. Moonlight ing as a projections, he eplices single frames of poraography into squeaky-clean family Alms. ‘Tyler aleo celle Bis own brand of soap to upscale ‘department stores: its secret ingredients human fat ‘which he scavenges from the medical-waste bags of Tiposuction clinics. (This last transgression has ‘ought accusstions of antiSemitism on the film, ‘butif you've everlived nA, where women havefat suctioned ont of thelr bodiesas casually as they goto the hairdresser, your fist association would not be with Nazi concentration camps, Misogyay, maybe, anti Semitizm, no) One might as they're making soap Tyler kises Jack's hand and then bums the ‘imprint of hislipsinto jack's skin with pure lye route to feeling selfdestraction is ‘what bonds Ter an Jask~ 2 bond no woman can set asunder, not even Marla (Helena Bonham (Carte), a Goth queen with the opalescent skin of a ‘heroin addict and the belligerent mamner of judy Garland atthe star ofa bender. Marla is after Jack Dutshe fucks Tyler while Jaclorks ouside the door asifbe's@ child spying on the primal soene. ‘fe not Marla who causes Jack to have second ‘thoughts about Tyler, zather, it's that Tyler’ ten dency tomegalomini spins out ofcontrol Without Jack registesing what's happening, Tyler transforms ight Club into Project Mayhem, a guerilla network that blows up buildings in order to undermine thé economic foundations of our creditcard society ‘When a soldier in Project Mayhem is ile, Jack realises he must break up with the person he's as lore tourheistohimeelé Bur Tylerienot easy to get 1d of Which is how Jack winds up where we came in with a gun in his mouth in an office building that has been targeted for demolition by Project ‘Mayhem Since Tyler's bombs are as zeliable a ck 4s 35 narrator this is what you might call if you ‘think about it caxefully an open ending. ‘There's a twist in the climax of Fight Chub that Thavexttuevealed. No one Te spaken to saw it cm ing and the experience ofthe film is quite diferent | when you know it in advance. Since the twist sub ‘vers what for 100 years has been an essential ‘premise of cinema thatit isan index ofthe phys cal world — to leave it out of this analysis does the ‘lm an injustice. Eepeially ence this premise will | became part of ancient history when film is tans formed em a photographic medium to 3 digital electronic medium —and Fight Chbienothing not | aglimpse of that future Like all Hneher’s previous films (Alle, Seren, | ‘The Gane) Fight Cub sets up a conflict with 2 violent, potentially murderous being who is, 35 the i is to ‘he ego, the doppelainger of the protagonict. Weak ‘ened bya totic and perverse society, the protagonist {is barly able to hold onto some shzed of moral com sciousness in the face of this anarchic force. (The Game, inchers least convincing fim, doesnt quite ft thispatter) Thus Tylers iliem and incipient | fascism are not the values Fight Cub espouses, ‘though Fincher complicates the issue by making ‘Tyler so alluring and charismatic. Tyler is posed as an object of desce and of identification — and Pitt, ‘who has never been as exgubite ashe is with a bro ‘ken nove and blood streaming down his cut body, emerges as an actor of economy and control who can sive attention merely by turning his hea. Forthe protagonist, who felsemasculated by his Dbuttoned-down, consumerist life, Tyler represents some deal offree-wheelingmale power Hewanisto ‘become Tyler orto be taken over by Tyler. There's a blatant homoerotic charge to this Wdentiication ‘which the film doesnt shy away from, As in Scos foe's fins, the male body is feminised throug sasochism. You prove your masculinity notby how such pain you can inflict, but by how much you can enduze Shot ina wecdresm hal light that gids the menis bodies as they pound each others hess into the cement, the Fight Club sequences are Poca Pitthas | blood |<<. such a perfect balance of aesthetics and adzena tetas) me aunts sey | ———— Tuwhats mos mmonave stow gu io | B@ing Brad Eneormnitemesal ich ocean Risen pce | is ig tH cermin i ccataliy iacotaiw md nerata | Gece a emer py yort Ermey lbnnicbmtdanfoviei tea | peop better Gustccramen sinae bee eet h peiy Sn mel et | GopaceOicaate eassaavar ase Biscrevalclnecnegh eeiniteatons | aefumwatyalomine omens ofthe sound and strangely muafled as ifchere were | who the narrator was Because he saike inside Jack'shead Fincher has retained thesay- | was me. At some paint in mye done with ils. "Vie had two ‘cameras one shooting I-sacond age humour and manic prose style of Palzhniul’s | ve sa If Teould just spend the ‘exposures and ona shooting st ‘ove, and Norton delivers ths interior manologue | extra money, Teaul gt that sofa 250th ofa second, We had this as if he were making itup on the Sy. ‘and then TI have the sofa problem ‘dea ofa kind of Francs Bacon Jn the opening scene, scons afer being ejected | handed’ As Lwas reading Chucks version of Mount Rushmore, ‘rom Jack's brain, we hear something abouta bob | book, Twas bushing and feeling Because after ‘Dott Look How, 2 the basement and suddenly we're plunged | horrible How did this gy know ‘rough the window, down 3o storeys, through the | what everybody was thinking? ‘hore’ nothing ele te do. eat ask people to simulate uel. sidewall into the basement through bullethole is | And ls know, ast from BD | es top embarrassing” che van with the explosives and then out the other | personal experince, that they said, Yeah, lets a” ‘Aftor the shooting of ‘ide. The sequence, which is digitally created fora | Teould choos t be someone Fincher felt the movie needed | teonagersbytoerapers last spring series of sil photographs, s both astonishing and | ele twould bo Brad Pitt." ‘tw move very quell and to _at Littleton High Schoo Fax >daly mundane inthe sense that ite fair represen. | Because he ad sucha terrible | jump aroundin tine and space. | became nervous about Fight Ch. ation of the visual component ofeveryday thought | time-drcting ‘Aar’forFox, | "Wecldn't set outta lenve the | The rease was postpone: the processes, Stil, one needs a new vocabulary to | Finckorwashorifed that Fox | audnce nthe dust, but we ‘marketing campaign made the Jescxibe the vertiginows depiction ofspace and time | 2000had bounht Palahiks | wanted tobe random access. | movie look He a gooty comedy. 1 Fight Clb Pans and tits and tacks jst won't do. | novel Nevertheless, be pursued | So we talked about hon we "ntthough the book was written ‘Fight Ci isan action film that's all aboutintes- | the project "Itold them thatthe | could get people togowith this. | five years ago I thie the movie fs arity. It pushes the concepts of subjectivity and | movieTsaw wasrt Trainspotting. | At the begining ofthe bole bout Littatn in more ways than ‘entification to extremes tomuggest émaleidentity | Thevealact of sedtionisnot to | there’ agrest speech aboct how | anyone wold car to adress. Jhat’s not only fragile but frangible. Jac is so filed | do the 3.ilfon version itsto | the dynamite is wired together | Do tink that poope who are with selfloathing and repressed rage he's desperate | otha big version Iworted on | and st to go off. How do you | frustratedarel disenfranchised get out of his own skin and into someone else's. | the script with Jn Uis for about | show that? Wouldtit be great | should Bow up bulding? Na. And Fight Club is not the only recent Hollywood | eight months Head written | you could see Edward looking | De care people who are xovie to place us inside someone’ bain. 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We took | are. ink the movie mora ad ‘oute ‘nto Malkoviehis brain isthrough his asshole. | Without the narration the story | them from every floor. And then | Hts responsible. But the scariest, Fincher and Spike onze, who directed MaKovici, | tsjust sad and pathetic From the | wermapped them ont simple | thing aout Littlaton stat two se colleagues in the prediction company Prop: | script we put together schedule, | geometric shapes and dian 18-year lds woald thin “OK. ‘ids Films, soit'snotcurprising they sharean idea | storyboard abudget.Twent | incredibly fast camerarmovement | We're going in and we're not 1 two. And pethaps these flms are no more than | back toFoxwith anunabyidged- | over thom, and itjust drops. And | coming out. In order to make other turn of the srew in Frankenstein or heady | ditionary sted paclage.tsaié, | youthik,"Wow, Leanmakeit | this statement, we have to give svistions on Race Off Dutt doesseem transgressive | Were the thing. $60 milion. 1ts | gos astoras-scwlyasTwant. | up eurlives They haven tad puta brain on the screen as anexhibit—especially | Edward.TEsSrad.We'e going to | Lean make t go through the wall’ | alife yt ~how can they kow ‘en the exhibit is connected tothe loss of sel, in | startinside Eéwardsbrainand | Ifyou look at frame by frame, | theyte prepared to give up? ‘ticular the loss of the masculine self. Richer | pul out. We're going to blow upa | the camera goos trough the wall | That people woud defor such nds Fight Club with the Pixies recording of Where | fuclng plane Youve got 72 hours | into ajanitor’s room that hasa | trivial stations car. And dy Mind’. That's not al that's gone missing, totellus youre interested’ And | calendar with naked gs. They | no enewants to lock at that.” gh Cb’ ozens on 12 Novernber nthe siete: Marla ceharmune The wet- “ie ng ee Jes type dream half hur ecie light gilds the men's bodies as they pour each i other's headsFanny & Elvis ‘nited KGngdomyrance 1999" Spar newiewemsis = cate cer mie Sorckesly eo = Ehakgee etme Tepe “utopber Munda “Tender by Kha Presey, Sues See Eioune” ayia s Beit eew Thane cenrattinhe Sear conga int ee Sout, | Slat 4 Stacey Slama feces SS atria Renee’ EXRGDORS on Sorter os Rieter Eelbomtan =o See nee Sm ean ono =a Shc" Sade me Syones Singeumels 3c Soicond ee See Sse Senne Soom So Soa” Ses Con Se, aa ES Soe Soe moe Ee cueme: = oo = Se Seep 2. : Soe a = x a ee (Aapllowings doctors eppaintment (Dacwhich shestoldshe as ayear lefton er biclogial odin which to Yecome pepaant novelist Kate Dickson dbivestotet her usbané Rob On the svay she crashes into car selesman Dave ‘Parke aguas They argue Nextshe acoversHebisleaving her or 20yea0 tid Smantha—Dave' wie. Needing ‘money, Fate dies torent oot another cfherroome (gay actor Andrew already dodges wth he) Dave aowhameles, ‘ngs round the il forthe Fag ‘Unable op, Kate relate ts Dave stay ese her spare oom. Kate vists afer dinicbuteant Mfordth eatment Herfoey ade ‘wards Davemalt ser spanding2 Arunken but chaste nigh within, They beginaeltonship and Kate gets pregnant But when Dave discovers ate fnmforingacoatite Rob he mistakenly ‘hinks chest loveshim andlecvesher Months ter, onthe eve ofthe new sillenniam, Dave tums up2t Kates Inoue tattempt reconciliation Heavily pregnant Kate oer nt laboun Dave Fishes hes tobespital she gveskists to ins Fanny and His and falls back in love with Dave (ay Ray Mellor iepeiazs bestow SD terwatng the terion sxe Bond Goldand Playing the Fld Populr wit szaiences these were accesible, finely ‘cafed dramas, which winsingy ‘combined the charaterbased concerns tfscap opera witha sly dah ofsodal realism, SoMellors debut festreas ster dzeto,iog His comes asaparticlar disappointment. A hnsres romantic comedy ts oet ‘nrtcne tothe smug, thiysomething opis (Cold etsy) schedulers are folond ofthese daye than anything's Aone inthe past ‘But Romp & Bhs biggest surprises how uncomfortably dose toeeate Mellor makes her protagonist Kate, the fosry midaledass novelist who falls for ough damond Dave. Bver eonscons ofheradvancingbiological dock, Kate spends most of her tine eithe launching ‘roody larches a the nears avaliable saan or ubjectng Dave to sy, waspish fisoftempes The presence of Abo) Fuhubus jennifer Seundens 2s Kate's ay Merary agent eoggess Mellorsbbing fate middle-aged malaise was meant fnthecpinitof Ab ae chesty brand fasine botlacking Szundex! comic hulienetheendresutiscocertoa sxlfentisid sneer than tolerant gin, ‘The clumsy depletion ofate and Dave's growing intimacy mos clesty ‘lusts Mellor’ disregard for her ‘Ganctes, Naturally in te best romantiecomedy tradition, Kate ad Dave Bate one another oom the oxset But theirenmuing thaw ssothinly developed Mellor ends up advancing some faity morthedax viewson te ‘fare ofromantc love Inreaingy esperate fora baby, Kate finally throws herelatDave when she discovers her fathered watch of ia previous smarlages Dave only relents when b's ssrre that, whateverhappens he wost hhavetopay child malnienance From thenon the two arin loveand fed to ‘etagether~an inevitability longtime cerning thank tos convalste sepeaon Mellor clumsy arranges alway throagh the lm. ‘Sothereyouhaveita definition ofl which sfighteningly cynical almost ‘eo Darwinlan in is cope. With Mellor sunableto convince us ozherwise, Kate snd Dave stations ems predicated ‘acasiely on grounds bialogial ‘empathy (andmarrtive neces) For supposedly feegood romantic comedy this mst be ast. ward Lavrenson f Som (Dec 44) RIES Baer rN ae, Fight Club ‘alee 5 =. ety itn a = Ee aN = Eas Sa git een Sewcpeete ere eSeeananase soir axoscuno 46)