1. Nietzsche and Fight Club
To what extent can you apply the ideas/
philosophy of Nietzsche to Fight Club?
Key question
2. Freidrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
• One of the most influential moral philosophers of the modern
era. (He is German)
• Famously announced that ‘God is dead and we have killed
him” and ‘that which does not kill me makes me stronger’
• Key concepts such as ‘Nihilism’ ‘master/slave morality’
‘ubermensch’ were seized on by the Nazis to back up their
Fascist politics and the cult of their leader, the Fuhrer.
• A decadent culture is a nihilistic one. A culture without values
and without the ability or strength to form new ones
• The meaning of our lives had become unstable thanks to
Darwin and the loss of religious faith.
3. In some ways you can apply the ideas of
Nietzsche to Fight Club
1. Nihilism
2. Ubermensch
3. Slave/ master morality
4. What is the film saying that is wrong
with society?
• Capitalism
• Materialism
• Loss of identity
• Isolation and loneliness
• Advertising
A decadent culture.
Nihilism states that this is a culture without values
and without the ability or strength to form new
ones.
5. Nihilism: the rejection of all religious
and moral principles
Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless
and that nothing can be known or
communicated. It is often associated with
extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that
condemns existence.
A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no
loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps,
an impulse to destroy.
“God is dead”
6. Tyler is a Nihilist
• "You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake, you are
the same decaying organic matter as everything
else...all part of the same compost heap. You are not
how much money you have in the bank. You're not
the car you drive, the contents of your wallet".
Nihilistic chant said by Tyler.
• Fight Club seems to suggest at times that society
needs to embrace the ideas of Nietzsche and
redesign society accordingly.
7. Nihilism and FC
Jack lives in a society where everyone values
what they should be or own. They are afraid to
be what they want to be, and stick to their
boring routines.
Nietzsche solution to this state is…
8. The solution for this=‘Ubermensch’ or
the Superman
Nietszhe said we should reject:
• Christian morality (humility, pity, meakness)
• Modern democracy (compromise and commonality)
• Traditional values/ cultures
As they were producing a decadent culture, the meaning
of our lives was unstable.
• We must find our ‘ubermensch” a solution to freedom
from everything.
• Nietzsche thinks that we shouldn’t be content with a
state of mediocrity, but instead strive for perfection.
9. Enter…Tyler Durden as the
‘ubermensch’
Tyler offers people an outlet. In fight club they
learn to defend themselves, and gain
confidence.
10. Tyler the ‘ubermensch’
• Tyler forcefully gives Jack a chemical burn on his
hand and lectures him while he writhes in pain,
• "Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have
nothing. What you're feeling is premature
enlightenment. You have to consider the
possibility that God does not like you; he never
wanted you. In all probability he hates you. We
don’t need him! Fuck damnation! Fuck
redemption!“
• Rejecting God for rejecting us is empowering for
Tyler, as Nietzsche famously said, "God is dead".
11. Ubermensch, Tyler and ‘Narrator’
• Tyler pushes Narrator to become more than he
is. He wants to strive for distinction from the rest
of the world.
• Nietzsche argues that the only way this can be
achieved is by accepting responsibility for one’s
actions and values, and always trying to surpass
one’s old self by continually taking risks.
• As the übermensch Tyler offers the weak an
outlet: violence and anarchy. He enters Narrator’s
life and philosophically evaluates his pathetic and
passive lifestyle and pushes him (and others)
towards becoming the ubermensch.
12. How does Fight Club contradict
Nietzsche and his social messages?
• Is Tyler really the solution to the problems of the modern
world – what new meaning does he offer?
• Tyler has power which he has gained through dehumanising
others as the ubermensch
• What happens to Tyler and his beliefs in the end?
13. Slave/ master morality
• Nietzsche believes that there are two types of
moralities: slave morality and master morality.
– Slave morality are “the abused, the oppressed,
the suffering, and unemancipated, the weary, and
those uncertain of themselves” (Nietzsche).
– Narrator is slave – evidence? This is an issue in
our society
14. Slave morality= Jack
• Jack regards himself as a slave
• Tyler refers to the members of his first FC as
‘slaves with white collars’
• Jack is powerless and sickly
• Heavily mediated life, shallow consumerist values
have destroyed his sense of personal worth.
• Depression/ mental illness are a result of his
descent into nihilism.
• Unable to find true meaning in his life.
15. Master morality= Tyler (Jack?)
– Master morality- great, noble human beings who
“…determine what is good and what is bad on the
basis of their own values…” (Stewart,). These
individuals do not follow set values and morals;
rather, they create their own. They see killing,
“suffering,” and “hardships” as a means to an end: if
it leads to the betterment of society or greatness,
then that is what must be done.
16. Morality and Nietzsche
• Tyler says to the Narrator, “all the ways you wish you could be,
that's me. I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna
fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in
all the ways that you are not.”
• At this moment in the film, the stark contrast of the Narrator’s
slave morality and Tyler’s master morality is shown. While
Narrator is proverbially chained down, he uses ‘Tyler’ to
assert his power, and he asserts this through “Project
Mayhem.”
• This film seems to be suggesting that we need to overthrow
the way our society is organised
17. Challenging Morality
• Project Mayhem would destroy the Slave Morality. Tyler
wants the members of Fight Club to be their own masters:
“man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men
who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see
squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas,
waiting tables; slaves with white collars.”
• BUT: Jack rejects Project Mayhem
• Tyler’s moral values are confused, negative, nostalgic
• Jack dispenses with Tyler and reformulates his values- finds
love with Marla.
• Jack is the ubermensch
