FIGHT CLUB

1. FIGHT CLUB A Marxist Analysis

2. Quick Reminder • Marxism is a movement that grew up around the philosophy of Karl Marx • It is a reaction against Capitalism • It seeks a fairer distribution of wealth among the under classes • It believes in the ultimate dissolution of centralised government • It is different from Anarchism, though they share many of the same beliefs

3. The World of the Film • ‘Jack’ works in a regular job, lives in an apartment and buys Ikea furniture • Fincher sets him up as an everyman – someone everyone can relate to • He is shown as being a slave to a system where everything has a price “I flipped through catalogs and wondered: What kind of dining set defines me as a person?”

4. The World of the Film • In this world, people are commodities like anything else: • “A new car built by my company leaves somewhere travelling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.”

5. The World of the Film • He is a drone: an unmotivated worker going through the daily routine of life • His life is consumed by ‘shit we don’t need’

6. The World of the Film • This state of affairs is – according to Jack – the fault of the corporations (like Starbucks) • “When deep space exploration ramps up, it'll be the corporations that name everything, the IBM Stellar Sphere, the Microsoft Galaxy, Planet Starbucks.”

7. The World of the Film • Fincher puts forward a cynical view of the world in which people are at the mercy of big corporations and have no individual power • We are taught to consume from an early age to keep the wheels of capitalism moving • We are so desperate to keep the things that we have that we mindlessly conform to this paradigm without every challenging it

8. Enter Tyler Durden • “Fuck off with your sofa units and strine green stripe patterns, I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let... lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.” “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. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.”

9. Enter Tyler Durden • Tyler is Jack’s alter-ego. Tyler is Jack as he wishes he could be “If you wake up at a different time in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?” “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.”

10. In Tyler We Trust • Tyler is presented as emancipated: free from normal social conventions • He pays no taxes as he has no legitimate earnings • He is committed to bringing the old order institutions (like banks) down • He wants all men to be free from normal social conventions – like him: • “It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.” • He wants anarchy

11. In Tyler We Trust • “In the world I see - you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway.” • Notice the ruins of great financial centres: Rockerfeller, Sears, etc. • Notice the intrusion of the natural world (elk, forests, vines)

12. A Socialist State • “You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.” • The ‘all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world’ is a reference to the working class, the proletariat, the normal people who bring revolutions about...

13. What Tyler Wants • Corporations to be torn down • For man to get in touch with his primitive (animal) side • No more advertising, consumerism or money • An end to the established order of rich and poor • All men to be truly equal

14. What Tyler Wants • “It's getting exciting now, two and one-half. Think of everything we've accomplished, man. Out these windows, we will view the collapse of financial history. One step closer to economic equilibrium.”

15. Is Fight Club a Marxist Film • No • Jack fights against Project Mayhem – he is the character we are invited to empathise with the most • We are shown the abuses of power by Tyler – will his world be any better? • Although the terrorists succeed, Jack/Tyler end up dead (fair enough – they’re terrorists), but also Marla (who is an innocent bystander) Yes • It presents a cynical view of capitalism • It champions the working man • We follow a group of people who want to destroy financial institutions and are invited to share their point of view • In the end: the terrorists succeed

16. The Final Word • Fight Club has Marxist elements to it and we can certainly use Marxist criticism to analyse it • The film criticises the capitalist world in which we live, but the alternative it offers is not seen to succeed • Tyler is more of an anarchist than a Marxist, as he does not believe in the social state