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Writer's pictureMayank Kumar

The Things You Own End Up Owning You-The Trivial Story Of Fight Club


It was 24th December 2016, I was in my hostel room. Tomorrow 25th December 2016 was supposed to be a national holiday on the account of Christmas but our coaching institute thought that scheduling a test on a public holiday would make them look more sincere towards their students. These large educational corporates knew how to toy with the minds of Indian parents. So there I was, in my small dingy cell-like room with my roomie surrounded by books on all sides. The level of my irritation could be compared to a volcano that is about to explode. Well, just then my friend Palash came in asking " Movie dekhega? Mind fresh ho jayega." Well, Palash was the savior, there was nothing significant that I could mug up in one night, you see although JEE paves your way to engineering colleges the examination doesn't work like exams in engineering colleges. And that sight of books around me was killing me. So I did what was best for my future, I agreed and asked, "Kaun si?" He said, " Well I have one called FIGHT CLUB." I went to his room expecting a refreshment from this tight schedule, I came out with a troubled conscience and a completely fu***d up mind! I regret watching the movie that day, you see what I scored in that examination the other day was equivalent to what Tyler made by selling soaps….close to none.


But Fight Club without a doubt is a masterpiece. You cannot think of a film which can play with your conscience like this one. From the outside, it seems that the movie is all about fighting like UFC or WWE, at least it was marketed this way. But it altogether a completely different thing, a topsy turvy game with your mind and the targeting the highly mobile corporate world.

Now, this article is not about the film, it's more about the things you didn't know. My objective would be to get you a step closer to this Fincher masterpiece.


ABOUT THE FILM

Fight Club on 10th September 1999 in the Venice International Film Festival and was released on 15th October 1999 for the United States, directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It is based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film's box office run was quite underwhelming, and it was not able to recover its initial making cost. The reviews were also mixed. But all of them were on the same page regarding one topic- that this was not a usual Tom, Dick and Harry cinema, it was different.

But over time with the film being available on DVD, Fight Club became a cult classic. Too many, this was the beginning of cult cinema. The film became one of the most sold DVD movies and ultimately Fox recovered their loss and earned significant profit.

This is all the conventional info that I will be giving you, for more you can visit the Wikipedia or IMDB page of the movie. As of now, let's talk about the trivial aspects of the movie.


THE FIRST RULE ABOUT FIGHT CLUB IS …..


WARNING- The description below may include a no. of spoilers. In case you have not seen the movie and plan on seeing it then you may skip this part.


The idea for the original novel came from the societal blocking that is heavily evident in the corporate world. Author Chuck Palahniuk first came up with the idea for the novel after being beaten up on a camping trip when he complained to some nearby campers about the noise of their radio. When he returned to work, he was fascinated to find that nobody would mention or acknowledge his injuries, instead of saying such commonplace things as "How was your weekend?" Palahniuk concluded that the reason people reacted this way was that if they asked him what had happened, a degree of personal interaction would be necessary, and his workmates simply didn't care enough to connect with him on a personal level.

Now, this is a very common one – there's a Starbucks coffee mug in every scene of the movie. There was supposed to be another scene in the movie where Durden destroys a Starbucks outlet, but Starbucks pulled out of this with concerns over their reputation. Ultimately a shop named Gratifico Coffee was destroyed.

Another fact that will intrigue you is this- as the movie progressed the narrator (Norton) had to grow himself thin to show the impact of growing insomnia. While Tyler(Pitt) grew larger, more buffed up and the stronger reason being he was the narrator's ideal image, it was the narrator perceived himself to be. Like Tyler himself quotes, " I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I'm free in all the ways that you are not."

In the scene where Tyler and the Narrator go to the liposuction clinic to collect fat for their soap, they hide behind a dumpster with a sign that reads 'Infectious Human Waste'. Earlier, Marla refers to herself as 'Infectious Human Waste' to the emergency services respondents.

Almost towards the end at 59th min of the second hour where the narrator asks Marla to leave on a bus surrounding feature the posters of movies of all the three main characters- Seven Years in Tibet (1997) (starring Brad Pitt) is visible, although the sign letters say "Seven Year In Tibe" as if the theatre didn't have the required letters. Other marquees (in the far background, and not visible) reportedly said The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) (starring Edward Norton) and The Wings of the Dove (1997) (starring Helena Bonham Carter).

The narrator refers to himself as Jack at several places, for example, "I am Jack's... complete lack of surprise." "I am Jack's wasted life." "I am Jack's smirking revenge." But the narrator's name is NOT JACK, it is later revealed in part 2 that the narrator's name is Sebastian.

The famous line 'the first rule of fight club is you do not talk about fight club' is functional both to the plot and to remind any reviewers who had already seen the movie not to ruin the plot twist.



THE BIG BUILD UP


Before I start this section let me remind you of the eight rules of fight club-

The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club.

The second rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club.

The third rule of Fight Club: Someone yells "Stop!", goes limp, taps out, the fight is over.

Fourth rule: Only two guys to a fight.

Fifth rule: One fight at a time, fellas.

Sixth rule: No shirts, no shoes.

Seventh rule: Fights will go on as long as they have to.

And the eighth and final rule: If this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight.

Now you may not believe this but the big reveal, in the end, was well planned. There were several moments in the movie where clues were given to stage unveiling of the mind-boggling end.

"When you wake up in a different place at a different time, can you wake up as a different person?" at the point where the narrator completes this sentence the camera briefly shows Tyler, even before Tyler meets the narrator.

When the Narrator is calling Tyler Durden on the payphone and turning over the Paper St. business card in his hand, there is a phone number written on the back of it (555-0178). This was the Narrator's home phone number when he still lived at the Pearson Towers condo. Signifying that the narrator and Tyler shared the same phone no. and the same condo!

When Tyler and the Narrator hit the first car with baseball bats, Tyler hits first, but the alarm is triggered only after the Narrator hits. The airport valet lends Tyler and the narrator the car while addressing "Mr. Durden" he is looking straight at the Narrator.

On the airplane, the Narrator mentions that they have the same briefcase. And although Tyler opens his briefcase, we never see the contents of the Narrator's briefcase. Also in this scene when the Narrator meets Tyler, he asks him what his name is, but then he never offers, nor is asked about, his name.

When Tyler Durden calls The Narrator back in the phone booth, the camera slowly tracks in towards the phone. On the left of the phone, a notice can be seen saying "No incoming calls allowed." And one of Tyler's odd jobs was of projectionist indicating the fact that he was a projection. When The Narrator is getting stitched up at the hospital he says, "Sometimes Tyler spoke for me". So Tyler tells the doctor "he fell down some stairs", then The Narrator repeats it to the doctor.

The narrator, Tyler, and Marla were never in the same room. Also, Tyler asks the narrator to not mention him in front of Marla. The Narrator wanders the house while Tyler and Marla noisily have sex upstairs. When the detective calls and the Narrator answers the phone, the sounds of the lovemaking instantly stop. When Lou sees the Fight Club members in the basement of his restaurant, Lou punches Tyler in the stomach. When Tyler gets punched, you can see the Narrator double over slightly as if he too was punched in the stomach. A few shots later, Lou kicks Tyler in the face while he is kneeling, and in the background we see the Narrator's head go back at the moment of impact.

And these are only some of the many trailers that were shown before unveiling the big picture. All in all Fight Club was one hell of an art piece, carefully crafted with small and intricate details.


CULTURAL IMPACT

Fight Club was way ahead of its time, it still is ahead of time. I can guarantee you that thirty years down the line when a kid like me would watch this masterpiece he would not be able to think clearly for a long time.

Fight Club opened up a discussion about the deteriorating morality of the corporate world. How the rapidly growing corporate world was responsible for the degrading lives of their consumers, how companies run away from their responsibilities, and how these things ultimately lead to a tarnished society.

Fight Club also triggered the rise of underground fighting communities, which still today is a serious phenomenon in America. Apart from this Fight Club also inspired many robberies and artistic criminal actions like the ones shown in the movie. The film was suspected of influencing Luke Helder, a college student who planted pipe bombs in mailboxes in 2002. Helder's goal was to create a smiley pattern on the map of the United States, similar to the scene in Fight Club in which a building is vandalized to have a smiley on its exterior.

Fight Club was not just any other film, it was a work of art like a million-dollar Picasso painting- great but hard to understand.




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