Fight Club Reader Response

Fight Club Reader Response

The movie Fight Club is based around a concept articulated by Tyler Durden to a 'lost generation' of men as, "You are not your job. You are not how much you have in the bank. You are not the contents of your wallet. You are not your khakis. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake". This ideology represents a counter-culture to the typical American pop culture and creed. As demonstrated throughout the movie, this 'revolution' is a fight against the widely accepted and conventional wisdom that inhabits the media and has an unparalleled affect on the outcome of our society. Fight Club is a reflection of the suffering experienced by the 'Generation X' male who feels trapped in the world of the grey-collar working-class. The world that he inhabits is filled with materialism and distractions. Additionally, these males are part of a smaller group of men raised in single-parent families often devoid of a male role-model, living in a time period where there is no great cause for the average North American male to fight for. No purpose. This all constructs a loss of identity and reason in the male that is eventually resolved through enlightenment brought on by Fight Club; Self-destruction vs. self-improvement.

In the movie, the main character is introduced to the audience without a name and the ambiguity of the situation only becomes more entrenched in their minds as the movie progresses. The narrator comes to us without a name because he represents 'any man'; anyone of those 'Generation X' males living is our society at the present. The narrator is a thirty-three year old man employed as a recall coordinator for a major automobile company. He lives in a condo that is furnished with all the comforts of modern society, namely mass-produced furniture brought on by the 'IKEA' craze. He owns a car and has obtained a 'respectable' wardrobe for himself (or so he thinks) over the course of time. Despite all of these things, however, he is not satisfied with his life. He feels unhappy, unfulfilled, and is trapped in the depths of chronic insomnia.

In an attempt to resolve his insomnia, the narrator becomes addicted to support groups for the eternally ill, or people living at 'death's door'. As the narrator explains, "If people thought you were dying, they gave you their full attention. If this might

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