encoded notions

The movie, Fight Club, woke me from the dreamworld that I used to inhabit and instilled in me a need to challenge my every assumption. It’s a movie that can lobotomize a brain like a eggs in mixer, forever changing the owner’s perception of practically everything. Though I still walk and talk like I did before viewing it for the first time, I see and understand things in a vastly different way. I have fewer desires now, and the ones that remain have intensified. The count of my material possessions has dwindled down to a core of things that fit the person that I am, rather than defining the person that I should be. My inner sense of self-assertion, power, and vision has increased, even if only by a slight amount. Some days, I can almost sense a presence that feels like my personalized version of a Tyler Durden.

I suffer an onslaught everyday of my life, whereby the entire world lets loose a deluge of worthless trinkets, trendy clothes, best-selling books, hit movies, and popular music upon me. Trying to swim to the top of the swift current is tiring. The never-ending flow of both new and reworked discrete packets of culture pour endlessly from the mass-culture machine; the stream itself tries to seduce me by whispering sweet nothings in my ear. It wants me to be a unique person; it wants me to define my self-concept with a particular selection of these culture packets of popular junk. Everything in that stream was created for the sole purpose of being consumed, for that is the tragic fate of any consumer-driven society. I, like so many others, am gently forced towards unconsciously choosing a particular cookie-cutter life under the advertising guise of Being Unique.

The need and desire for material possessions is impressed upon us by our consumerist culture. As we grow more dependent upon our stuff, we slowly lose sight of what should truly be important to us. As Tyler Durden says, “The things you own, end up owning you.” Our possessions become our baggage, our clutter, our Pigpen dust cloud.

Fight Club takes a violently drastic approach to simplifying the lives of others and enlighten them. Tyler wants to give civilization a fresh start, because it is becoming too distant from the people it envelops. Since people are too resistant to change, no one will listen to reason, and therefore Tyler can justify the destruction of several major credit card companies. “If you erase the debt record, we all go back to zero. It’ll be total chaos.” As with most scenarios and situations, one must descend into the throes of anarchy before new order can arise. After anarchy, Tyler sees the world as entering a more self-sufficient stage of development. Each man would rule his own destiny and service no one. A world of true individuals.

The movie offers two differing views on the nature of individuality. The first view applies to the Space Monkeys (members of Project Mayhem). They have voluntarily surrendered their uniqueness to fight for a larger cause. No one wants to die having lived a worthless life; people wish to feel purposeful, like they are making a difference in the world. Project Mayhem was Tyler’s method of harnessing that fundamental desire to progress his lofty aspirations by offering a chance to play an integral part in the correction of civilization. Each member of Project Mayhem was “ready to sacrifice himself for the greater good.” Once that sacrifice was made, however, the individual’s identity was restored to acknowledge their accomplishments.

Instead of sacrificing his identity to a join a collective, the Narrator fabricates a new identity (Tyler) to repair the holes in his current self. His life is bland. He doesn’t like anything about it, and through Tyler he adds worth to his life by creating both Fight Club and Project Mayhem. “Little by little” the Narrator lets himself become Tyler Durden: more aggressive, assertive, and freer than the Narrator ever was.

The comforts and conveniences commonly associated with today’s lifestyle are not without their downsides. There are wrappers and boxes, interfaces and flashy advertisements, instant food and portable juice boxes, pain pills and soft pillows. These things personalize our lives and put us at distance with the cold, hard, painful reality that is shared by everyone. Tyler’s Fight Clubs stirred something deep within its members. Each punch to the head, kick to the abdomen, and slap to the back drew them slowly out of the slumber induced by the chloroform of their acquiescent lives. To engage in hand-to-hand combat with another human being is to have a “near-life experience.” The sweet smell of reality and the cool taste of freedom can permeate the senses for a few moments when enduring physical pain. Reality is very difficult to ignore when a gasp for air is masked by repeated gurgling through a mouthful of one’s own warm blood.

After Fight Club evolved into Project Mayhem, Tyler gave each member the chance to be more in touch with reality than he’s ever been. A chemical burn with lye on the back of the hand, or as Tyler calls it, “the greatest moment of your life.” When one gives into the pain and accepts it, they also accept their life’s true situation by association. With pain and truth come enlightenment.

Fight Club raises the important question: “Can the world be better?” No one will know until some strong-willed and far-sighted individual takes the initiative to make a difference and roll the dice of chance. I’ve walked away from the movie with a seed planted in the depths of my mind. I can feel it, lurking behind my judgments, behind my decisions. Can I do something to change the world and make it a better place like the aspiring Tyler Durden did? I don’t think that I’m the only Fight Club fan with a similar seed. Perhaps the movie was meant to gather together people who want change. People to join a real Project Mayhem…

References:

• Fight Club. Dir. David Fincher. Perf. Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham Carter. 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. 1999.