The Pnictogen Wing

Time to watch a documentary about the present day. I've been so ungrounded lately that I feel like I need to remember what year this is. This should work, right? Russell Mulcahy's Highlander II: The Quickening. ~Chara

I'm always in a great mood when Peeping Tom seems like a good idea ~Chara

I watched this when it was new, and I think at least one time after that (many years ago). I'm asking myself now, what am I wanting to get out of Fight Club?

I was never a huge fan of the movie, although I did enjoy watching it. Watching it now I like "Jack" (and Tyler) even less. I find myself waiting for Marla's scenes because she's the only person in the film who seems real and sane—which is an ironical thing to say about Marla, I know. But Fight Club did get to me anyway; in the past, I didn't like being reminded that, like "Jack", I had no idea what I wanted to achieve before I died. Now the question seems moot, and no longer frightening.

~Chara

Martin Scorsese knows how to make this sort of thing look grottier, although there's always been some debate about his depictions of toxic masculinity, especially after Hinckley attempted to shoot Reagan (sadly, he missed) on account of Taxi Driver and Jodie Foster. I don't think Taxi Driver glamorizes Travis Bickle at all, but such things are in the eyes of the beholder. I don't think GoodFellas and Casino make the gangsters look good but that hasn't stopped chuds from idolizing them.

Fight Club is maybe a little too good at depicting that special loser energy of contemporary fascism. It's telling, for example, when Tyler Durden monologues (in a dreary and familiar way) about how he and his pals are the forgotten children with nothing to fight for, no great wars, no great depressions—as if war hasn't been a constant in the world, and economic deprivation a ubiquitous reality. Durden's neo-fascist cult isn't for the truly oppressed; it's not for people whose sufferings are constant and without relief. He's appealing to that festering resentment that's now so familiar, especially from pasty cis guys: these are people who have actually achieved some sort of place in society, who are comfortable enough in fact to indulge a hobby like "Fight Club", but who feel like they've been cheated out of more and better. I don't think David Fincher means for us to take Durden's bullshit at face value but it's all just a bit too fun. I'm not surprised that Fight Club got so widely interpreted as some sort of MRA manifesto.

~Chara

You were looking for a way to change your life. You could not do this on your own. 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.

Before I say more, let me say that I've read Chuck Palahniuk's book, although it was a long time ago and I didn't read it very carefully. (I've always been apt to skim books that are too emotionally affecting.) The book is far more effective in getting across how dissociated and detached its narrator is, as I recall. One particularly creepy touch is that "Jack" speaks entirely through indirect discourse. Direct discourse uses direct quotations, like:

I told Tyler, "You're the most interesting single-serving friend I've ever met."

But Palahniuk's narrator speaks entirely like this:

I told Tyler that he was the most interesting single-serving friend I'd ever met.

This is indirect discourse: you don't quote your own words, you paraphrase them, usually with the help of the conjunction "that".

I watched this when it was new, and I think at least one time after that (many years ago). I'm asking myself now, what am I wanting to get out of Fight Club?

I was never a huge fan of the movie, although I did enjoy watching it. Watching it now I like "Jack" (and Tyler) even less. I find myself waiting for Marla's scenes because she's the only person in the film who seems real and sane—which is an ironical thing to say about Marla, I know. But Fight Club did get to me anyway; in the past, I didn't like being reminded that, like "Jack", I had no idea what I wanted to achieve before I died. Now the question seems moot, and no longer frightening.

~Chara

Martin Scorsese knows how to make this sort of thing look grottier, although there's always been some debate about his depictions of toxic masculinity, especially after Hinckley attempted to shoot Reagan (sadly, he missed) on account of Taxi Driver and Jodie Foster. I don't think Taxi Driver glamorizes Travis Bickle at all, but such things are in the eyes of the beholder. I don't think GoodFellas and Casino make the gangsters look good but that hasn't stopped chuds from idolizing them.

Fight Club is maybe a little too good at depicting that special loser energy of contemporary fascism. It's telling, for example, when Tyler Durden monologues (in a dreary and familiar way) about how he and his pals are the forgotten children with nothing to fight for, no great wars, no great depressions—as if war hasn't been a constant in the world, and economic deprivation a ubiquitous reality. Durden's neo-fascist cult isn't for the truly oppressed; it's not for people whose sufferings are constant and without relief. He's appealing to that festering resentment that's now so familiar, especially from pasty cis guys: these are people who have actually achieved some sort of place in society, who are comfortable enough in fact to indulge a hobby like "Fight Club", but who feel like they've been cheated out of more and better. I don't think David Fincher means for us to take Durden's bullshit at face value but it's all just a bit too fun. I'm not surprised that Fight Club got so widely interpreted as some sort of MRA manifesto.

~Chara