Does anyone understand "Fight Club"?

[FallenAngel411]

Just rented it with some friends of mine...well, we rented it mainly for Brad (lol) but I expected it, from the title, to be typical male ego I-AM-A-GOD crap. And yet, it wasn't. I actually liked it for some strange reason, and I can't pinpoint why. None of my other friends liked it though (guess I'm just a strange girl :p ). I have this gut feeling about it, but I can't seem to put my feelings about it into words...is there anyone out there who's seen it that comprehended it? I know there's some really deep stuff hidden under all the gore and testosterone...

The ending also freaked me out. It felt too incomplete...like the movie was missing another forty minutes. Edward Norton's character probably just ended up in jail for life, lol.

[Zell's Fists of Fury]

The movie was perfect in everyway. It needs nothing added to it. You friends should be ashamed for not loving it. I hate them. So much.

So very much.

[Mindflare]

Though, I've never read the book, they say it makes the ending a bit more final. I loved the movie, and some day, I may actually read the book. There is so much to draw from that movie, it was so well written. Amazing stuff, I think.

[krissy]

the book has a very different ending than the movie i though. yeah. more ending ending in book, but if it wasnt for the movie, no one would have read the book.

fave movie 4 eva.

[Doomgaze]

The book's better, but the movie's still very good. It made sense to me, though - just watch it a second time, it should all fit.

[TheAbominatrix]

The book ending has the narrator (hereafter referred to as Jack, but that is NOT his name) on top of a building set to explode, with Marla and the support group folks trying to talk him down. The building doesnt explode, and Jack shoots himself... and wakes up in 'Heaven' (a psyche ward). Project Mayhem is still going strong.

The author preferred the movie ending, and so did I. It's supposed to leave you with a lot to think about.

[gokufusionss1]

tyler durden is dead, the "hero" wins that's where most films end.
Never accuse fight club of being incomplete.

[Pure Strife]

The movie was perfect in everyway. It needs nothing added to it. You friends should be ashamed for not loving it. I hate them. So much.

So very much.

And to think, the whole film would have never happened if that doctor at the start had given him those sleeping pills.

[jrgen]

It's one of my favourite movies.
Not incomplete in any way.

[TheAbominatrix]

Well, Tyler isnt really dead as he never existed in the first place. Jack takes control of his life, <i>including</i> the part of himself that created Tyler. Tyler was in him always, I think there's a little bit of Tyler in all of us, that part that we bury deeper everytime we hold in our anger, everytime we deny aspects of ourselves. I think that's what the author (Chuck Palahniuk) was trying to convey. Notice Jack's acceptance of the situation... see the odd way Marla is looking at him... see the way Jack takes charge of things (ordering the Space Monkeys around). He took the ultimate control by attempting to take his life, and elimated the need for Tyler to exist as a seperate entity. Jack was ready to take control of things, and he no longer needed Tyler to do it all for him.

[Zell's Fists of Fury]

I prefer the name 'Rupert'

[TheAbominatrix]

I use Jack because it's the one he speaks of most often, though he doesnt refer to himself as Jack. The whole "I am Jack's raging bile duct." and so forth.

His support group names are awesome, too.

edit: Oh and I just noticed something in the first post. Jack ending up in jail is very unlikely, thanks to the Fight Clubs. So many people are loyal to Tyler Durden that, even if he <i>was</i> convicted and sent to prison, he'd have guards on his side to bust him out, or at the very least to make his stay extremely comfortable and give him continued access to Project Mayhem.

[gokufusionss1]

when i said tyler durden i obviously meant the persona of tyler durden, shooting himself in the head was as much a cycological act as an physical one.

[TheAbominatrix]

Tyler Durden's being shot in the head had nothing to do with physical. Only psychological. Only because Jack had the presence and control of mind to take that control. He could have destroyed Tyler many times over, without a gun, if he had only taken control of his life.

[Rostum]

I love this movie, it leaves you with a fair bit to think about.

[eestlinc]

It would be nice if the whole credit-based monetary system were to topple, but I fail to see how destroying buildings would accomplish that.

[TheAbominatrix]

It's not the buildings, but rather the computers and the files inside the buildings. If the credit companies no longer have their records, they dont know who owes who what, so essentially everyone is back at zero.

[eestlinc]

yes but you think there aren't backups? It's a good concept, and a good movie, but it is a little contrived.

[TheAbominatrix]

Yeah, but where would all the back ups be? I mean, that's an excellent point, but I cant think of anywhere the back ups would be except for in the buildings themselves. Obviously every company has multiple offices in different parts of the country, so if one building went down the network would survive. But if you got all of them at once, it might just do it.

Definitly a bit contrived, and it probably wouldnt work, but there's the possibility that it might.

[Doomgaze]

You ALWAYS keep the backups offsite, in case something happens to the building. That said, losing the headquarters of several major credit companies in one night would have a massive effect, possibly even bringing about the desired outcome.

[TheAbominatrix]

Yes, but where exactly is offsite? In another one of their buildings? If it's in one of those, it's screwed, obviously. If it's somewhere else, the damage is still high, but at least the records are backed up.

[fire_of_avalon]

yes but you think there aren't backups? It's a good concept, and a good movie, but it is a little contrived.
I saw it as more of a metaphor than an actual realistic endeavor. The whole purpose of fight club (the actual club, not the film/book itself) was to get back to square one, back to primal nature, back to where everyone was given the exact same potential as everyone else. Destroying the records was, like Ashley said, putting the records back at zero in a physical manner, but it's not meant to be taken literally. No, there would be no way they could really destroy all of the records, because apart from physical, there are also digital copies spread who knows where. No, I think the destruction of the buildings, while literal to the characters, was figurative for the audience.

At least that's how I saw it. Feel free to tear me apart.

[jrgen]

I only like it because of the penis.

[eestlinc]

most companies hire a disaster recovery company like <a href=http://www.sungard.com/>SunGard</a> to host their offiste backups and operate as an alternative work headquarters should some calamity befall the actual building(s).

[MecaKane]

I use Jack because it's the one he speaks of most often, though he doesnt refer to himself as Jack. The whole "I am Jack's raging bile duct." and so forth.
He's called Jack in the DVD extras, too.

Yes yes, super awsome movie that I want to make babies with, super awsome book that I want to make babies with. It also makes more sense of that one secene where Jack and Tyler were in the car and Tyler was yelling at him about confessing something he wanted to do before he died, it was just a project mayhem guy in the book who was driving and yelling.

[TheAbominatrix]

most companies hire a disaster recovery company like <a href=http://www.sungard.com/>SunGard</a> to host their offiste backups and operate as an alternative work headquarters should some calamity befall the actual building(s).

Ah, makes sense then.

Of course, who knows if Mayhem got THAT too. They do have people from every sort of business. Leaves one with a lot to think about.

I like to believe that it worked, at least .

[FallenAngel411]

I've watched it a second time...

And a third time...

Then I bought it...

And watched it again with commentary.

:love: I love Fight Club :love:

It's right up there with Heathers.

(If anybody has not seen Heathers, starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, DROP EVERYTHING AND WATCH IT NOW. It is BEAUTIFUL. Especially if you're into the whole dark comedy...yeah, lol)

And I officially agree--the ending was damn good. As long as you ignore the improbability of it. Kinda sad that Tyler's gone, though. :cry:

[Doomgaze]

Offsite probablly means in a vault in another CITY in case of nuclear attack or something... Or in the Net Admin's basement. That's another good place.

[TheAbominatrix]

Yes but this didnt all go on in one city. I'm pretty sure the attacks went on nationwide. For example, if you wanted to erase Citibank's records. Just theoretically, and ignoring the backups offsite. If you just blew up the Citibanks in one city, it would do any good. Their headquarters would all have the same information in different cities, yes? So I think that the ending left open the possibility that it happened in many places, since it'd be futile just to hit all in one city.

Still, the possibility of them succeeding is still not 100%.

[krissy]

this is being taken too far

but by the dogma and mantra and whatever of project mayem, it wouldn't really matter would it? you're making headway towards the goal anyway

why bother going for perfection

baby steps

[TheAbominatrix]

No, it wouldnt matter. It causes mayhem regardless. But the question still exists as to whether they succeeded in wiping the credit records or not, and the speculation is interesting.

[Neurotic]

Squee. 'Fight Club' is one of my favorite stories ever. I read the book a few years ago and didn't think much of it...(It took me some time to adapt to Palahniuk's original writing style, which I've since adopted into my own writing.) But -- I then watched the movie out of curiousity and loved it -- which lead me to re-read the novel and fall in love with it.

...Since then, 'Fight Club' has become my personal favorite novel, somewhere high on the list of favorite films.

Has anyone ever read any of Palahniuk's other works? 'Survivor' is particularly good.

[TheAbominatrix]

I've read all of his non-fiction, excluding Lullaby. Survivor is wonderful, I think it may be my favorite, it's tied for that position with Invisible Monsters. Diary is awesome as well. I love how his books start often at the end, or in the middle of action, and then work from the beginning. Invisible Monsters especially, the way in jumps around constantly, and you dont learn some very very pertinent information until rather late in the story, while if it was going chronologically, you would have learned it relatively early. Oh and I forgot Choke, which is really freakin weird and excellent. I've yet to read a book of hus that I didnt like.

Yay for Palahniuk.

[Shlup]

Fight Club is my faaavorite movie, even after reading the book. Everyone always says the book is better in these situations, but I thought they were clearly seperate but equally good.

The movie changed little things in the book and made them better. There are a few things in the book that would've been cool in the movie, Marla's mom, and pretty much all the stuff with Marla that they left out of the movie, but that would've made the movie pretty long. o.O

[fire_of_avalon]

I obviously need to go to the library.

[Jack]

It was a great film. Especially since it's about Love IMO, rather then violence as some have suggested. Perhaps that's why you love it?
As is Heathers. Winona Ryder is excellent.