‘Despite the gesture of destroying symbols
of corporate power at the end, Fight Club is a film about power and control,
not liberation.’ How far do you agree?
When looking at Fight Club, power, control and liberation are themes that cannot be ignored. I think that, how far I agree with the statement made would depend entirely upon which aspect of the film I was looking from.
For example, right from the beginning of the film we can see that Jack has ‘become a slave to the Ikea resting unit.’ This gives a strong suggestion of the consumerist values of western culture, how materialistic society has become. It has developed a strong consumerist ideology. It would seem to me that the burning of Jack’s apartment (unknown to the viewer at the time but it is in fact himself that causes the fire) is a symbol of his rebellion against this mainstream ideology. He becomes ‘freed’ from the idea that he needs material possessions to ‘complete’ his life and himself. I would be inclined to say that it is in this respect that Fight Club is about liberation. It is about removing yourself from the ties put in place by society and the ideology that is imposed upon us. This Marxist idea that is strongly shown through this escape would suggest that the film is about liberation.
However, the character of Tyler has very much control over Jack. This would lead me to agree with the statement that Fight Club is about power and control. We can see right from the beginning of the film, this kind of power Tyler may have, the splicing of Tyler’s image flashing at important aspects of the opening suggests we can expect him to change the way Jack acts, as it could almost suggest to the audience that he is part of a fabrication of Jacks mind (although this is not clear until we have seen the ending). Nietzsche’s theory of nihilism is quite relevant to this film. Despite Jack’s journey being one of what should be self-discovery, Tyler’s power over Jack’s actions turns it into one of self-destruction. Unaware of what he is in fact doing to himself, Jack goes along with the plans of ‘Fight Club’ and is sub-consciously having his path altered into destruction and not into freedom. One of the more prominent scenes to display this controlling idea, would be the scene in which Tyler lets go of the steering wheel of a moving car and Jack tries to take control but Tyler convinces him to just ‘let go’. This scene clearly shows the audience of how controlling and powerful Tyler is towards Jack. He can convince to effectively drive himself to death.
In this scene Tyler also says, ‘we are not special’ I feel that this is quite contradictory to the message he is trying to get through to Jack. He initially begins by getting him to rebel against mainstream ideology and be different, and this turning into ‘we are not special’ throws many different ideas at Jack and it is only when Fight Club turns into Project Mayhem that Jack finally sees what’s happening. He finally begins to see the control this figure has over him. This begins a whole new liberation process; he needs to free himself of Tyler’s influence and free himself of his nihilistic personality to regain his own control and have his own actions overwrite that of Tyler’s.
Another theme that runs throughout this film is one of masculinity. In modern western society, women seem to have more relevance than ever before. This is shown through the femme fatale-like character of, Marla. At the very opening of this film, Jacks voice over tells us that “Marla is at the root of it all”. This warning of her is inflated more by the constant diegetic alarms/bells that sound every time she appears in the frame. (Marla is an anagram of ‘alarm’ suggesting she is a clear threat.) It would seem that masculinity if questioned throughout this film and Marla is a character that threatens to undermine Jack’s masculinity. The character of Bob is another example of how men are being feminised, (after having testicular cancer, the medication has given him breasts). The Fight Club initially starts out a form of liberation for them, only men are allowed. It allows them to fight with only there fists, to regain the feeling of masculinity that is considered to be lost in modern society. The underground nature of this club, (literally in the sense that it takes place in a basement) brings the men together. ‘We are still men. Men is what we are’. Again I would suggest that in this sense, Fight Club is about liberation, regaining the male status. Almost taking them back to caveman roots. Nevertheless, Fight Club once again, simply becomes another form of control and a new ideology to conform to. Everyone needs direction, need somebody for reassurance.
Fight Club is considered to be quite a post-modern text, continuous self-referential scenes, most clearly the scene in which Tyler is working as a projectionist. Fight Club also refers to several other ‘cult’ films, one shot in particular is notably famous to be an imitation of the rape scene from A Clockwork Orange. Nearer the beginning of the film Jack says ‘a copy of a copy of a copy’ this almost suggests that a post-modern text is nothing more than a mixture of themes, shots and meanings taken from other texts. This could be a suggestion of how society moving. No longer moving forward, just moving in circles picking up parts of the past to mix into a ‘new’. I feel that this post-modern aspect of the film would suggest that liberation cannot be accessed because there is no way forward out of a society of ideologies that are imposed upon us subconsciously. With that in mind, I would tend to agree with the statement that Fight Club is simply about having power, may that be over a society, a gender or one person.
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