'Explore the contribution of visual style to the overall themes of Fight Club.'
Fight Club’s visual elements most definitely support its overall themes. I am going to be discussing certain themes in which I feel visually contribute to the narrative/themes.
Consumerism is a big theme in Fight Club, it could be argued that the need, and pressure to conform to modern day society, and spend a lot of time, money and effort buying and fantasizing over consumer goods could be responsible for Jack’s mental illness. At the beginning of the film there are lots of extreme close-ups of Starbucks, Krispy Crème branded packaging, which are American food and beverages but now also seen as fashion icons. It is fashionable to be seen walking down the street with a Starbucks coffee, or decorating your home in Ikeas latest catalogue. The scene where jack is in his condo is extremely visually effective, as the scene takes on an advertising style showing lots of items that he desired, and perhaps have a positive effect on aspects of his deranged life.
As Jack starts deteriorating, there are flashes (in the office by the photocopier and in the doctors surgery) of Tyler. These can be easily missed but also add to the idea that as Jack is deteriorating, Tyler is coming into the picture, The visual style almost acts as Jack’s head, like it is weakening for the audience to see. Jack’s addiction to new furniture and constant buying in order to better himself doesn’t fulfill his need to sleep, and faced with insomnia, finds refuge in support groups. These support groups are visually stylized in order to find comfort, which Jack does. There is also a visual representation of Christ. When jack cries on Bob’s top he leaves a mark in the face of God, which invites religious terms and imagery into the picture.
I think the visual elements of the film also show a misogynistic viewpoint of Marla. Visually, she always looks dowdy and gaunt, and in terms of framing she often dominates the whole screen. She is seen as the ‘Femme Fatale’ and the reason for dominating the screen could suggest that she is trying to take over, and continue to steal men’s masculinity within the film which may be the reason she is viewed negatively and shot in dominating positions. Marla coming to the support groups ruins it for Jack, so she could be seen as one step towards Jacks nialism in which he destroys himself, and becomes Tyler.
Tyler is always displayed flamboyantly, in adventurous clothes, and acts as the alpha male in a sense. Therefore I think the visuals contribute positively towards him, and enforce the soon becoming homoerotic style between him and Jack.
Jack/Tyler start up the fight club, and visually the look of the fights and the bare knuckle fighting could enforce the homoerotic argument, and show post modernism/hybridity as this use of genre (gliding shots, and in the closet sexuality) has been seen in experimental films by Kenneth Anger. There are also other examples of the use of hybridity when Tyler enters Marla’s room, to find a sex toy on the table, mirroring A Clockwork Orange.
One example of a visually powerful scene, was when Project Mayhem had the members of parliament on the floor in the toilet and there is a point of a view shot showing Tyler from a disorientated angle. This is also another example of hybridity as the same framing of the rape scene was used in A Clockwork Orange.
Irony was also used to further visual style. In the scene where Jack goes round to Marla’s flat to check for a lump in her breast, he leaves and on the wall behind him it says ‘I like myself’-which is ironic as he clearly doesn’t and subconsciously created another person in his head to make up for that.
Lots of visual styles are used in the film, such as advertising, and that of documentary. When Jack introduces Tyler, he is talking to the camera in a documentary kind of way that re-enforces a new style to the film.
When Jack enters his ‘cave’ in his cancer support group Marla is seen saying ‘slide’ this can be viewed as a misogynistic action, as from then on Jack slides downhill. Another important theme of the film is recycling. Marla recycles clothes, and Tyler recycles human fat in order to make soap. This theme runs throughout the film as Jack even kind of recycles himself for Tyler, the bigger, better version of him, and that’s made apparent in this quote ‘I look like you want to look, I talk like you want to talk, I fuck like you want to fuck’. Jack has recycled himself into Tyler as well as recycling fight club into project mayhem.
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