2. Release
• Fight club is a film published by Twentieth Century Fox and released in 1999, it
is a 139 minutes long. David Fincher directed the film; he worked on films
such as Gone Girl (2014) and Zodiac (2007) amongst many others. The film is
based on the book of the same name, which was written by Chuck Palahniuk,
published in 1996. The main actors in the film are Edward Norton (Jack) and
Brad Pitt (Tyler Durden).
• The novel and film both followed the same path as each other in terms of
sales and public response. When released the novel was banned in few
countries due to it’s content including instructions on how to create bombs
and its description of terrorist attacks. However this in effect worked in the
books favour as it led the creation of a cult following for the novel. When the
film was released it wasn’t censored however it was a box office disaster and
initial reviews were terrible, this led to the film gradually achieving cult status.
The reason for the critical failure was due to the themes the film tackled.
These themes included misogyny, homoerotism, anti-establishment,
emasculation, fetishized violence, sadism and masochism.
3. Audiences
• The target audience for the book is clearly white men that feel lost from the
crowd. The men are represented by the narrator who is called jack which is a very
normal name that will resonate with the majority of common people. Another link
to the normal everyday man is the fact the film never actually uses a name for the
city making you believe it could be anywhere.
• The charters within the story are marketed for an audience within Generation X.
These are people who reached adulthood in the 1980s, this was popularized by
the novel Generation X: Tales For An Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland.
Generation X are the generation after ‘Baby Bloomers’, who were born in the years
after WW2. Baby bloomers were labelled as being optimistic, the opposite of
generation X who are categorized as pessimistic, they lack energy, drive and
maturity. This is exactly how jack describes himself.
• It could be argued that the film is an attempt at redemption and fighting for the
dignity of generation X. This is the start of a theme where the director presents
the idea of rather than just fighting for something destroying the currently
established ideal, making anyone who believed in it question their understanding
around it.
4. What Was Happening At The Time?
• This noir style that Fincher used (I will discuss in more depth on the next
slide) mirrored pretty much perfectly between the time Fincher used it in
the 90s and when it was originally used in the 40s and 50s. Both were
eras that the US were successful economically and militaristically. America
had both times just come out of some form of war with one of the worlds
super powers, Germany in the 40s and the 90s being the USSR.
• Around the time period of the book and film being published the US
economy was booming. One reason for this boom would have been down
to the collapse of the soviet union in 1991 with the fall of the berlin wall.
• The film questions how the protagonist could live in such time of
prosperity but still be struggling through his life. The majority of the film
is spent dismantling trust and belief for the capitalist and consumerist
ethos that has just defeated communism, trying to get the audience to
agree that the American Dream is now even less achievable than it was 50
years previous.
• However rather than suggesting that fighting for this belief and ideal David
Fincher suggest that it should be completely annihilated.
5. Director Style
• Film Noir is a term that was given to a style or genre of film that is
heavily focused on three key moods pessimism, fatalism, and
menace. It was originally used to label American thriller and
detective films made between 1944 and 1954. This style heavily
influenced Fincher in his film making; his films such as Alien 3,
Seven and Fight Club are often regarded as modern Neo-Noirs.
Fincher uses these fading styles in Hollywood and twists them to
manipulate his audience, giving his films a large and looming sense
of nostalgia.
• This links to the previous slide where I discussed the increasing lack
of ability to fulfill the American dream. Fincher uses the nostalgia
of the noir to show that the American dream is fading, however he
twists his film to show his solution is destroying it all together
rather than to fight for it.
6. The Endings Link To Reality
• The ending of this film is made far more shocking and
far more unsettling by the events of 9/11. The Film
ends with jack blowing up office blocks of the credit
card companies in new york. This showed the
audience that jack had merged with his masculinity,
this is show to the audience through the death of Tyler.
The link between this scene and the future 9/11 attack
is undeniable and earie, and as a whole such a film
could not be made today. This is because after the
9/11 attack America has strode to appear dominant
and secure and anything that undermines that persona
feels like an attack.
