FM4 - Single Film - Critical Study: Fight Club

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Extract
Throughout history has existed a prevalent theme of men and women being reliant on one another, despite the significant—though changing, and usually artificial—inequalities in areas such as education, career power, and political influence. Marc Antony of Rome stabbed himself to death after hearing rumors that his lover, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, had committed suicide; she, after receiving news of his death, induced a poisonous snake to bite and kill her. Queen Victoria’s reign over England was highly influenced by her husband Prince Albert, and she went into mourning for 40 years after his death. Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, famous criminals during the American Depression, repeatedly faced a threat of violent death during their spree of robberies, and eventually were killed together as a result of their crimes. John Lennon and Yoko Ono collaborated on many musical and artistic projects until his death, after which she founded three major memorials for him (Biography.com). These couples all display a similar trait: a certain degree of dependence on one another, suggesting that a combination of masculine and feminine qualities are needed in order for each person involved to achieve their full potential.

This notion is still present in modern culture, as evidenced in the film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Fight Club—a film which is, ironically, loosely associated with male independence. I argue in this essay that Marla Singer and the narrator’s (Jack’s) respective femininity and masculinity are dependent on that of the other. Jack cannot be masculine while Marla exhibits overly masculine traits; Marla cannot be feminine while Jack exhibits overly feminine traits. Thereby, this film exerts the necessity for long-established gender constructs, suggesting that two people of opposite sex cannot peacefully coexist while both display the same stereotypical gender traits, and that neither can achieve proper ethos until they are together and exhibiting their assigned traits. This argument is presented in three points. First, I describe the film adaptation, its background, and my feminist methodology of representational critique. Second, I focus on three elements in the film: Jack’s feminine traits of borderline-obsession with furniture and the need to cry; Marla’s masculine traits of fearlessness and brazen obscenity; and their transformation together throughout the film. Third, I conclude with the implications of this argument on rhetorical theory, particularly in terms of traditional gender constructs.