Fight Club Vs. TheologyEssay Preview: Fight Club Vs. TheologyReport this essayThe movie, Fight Club, has many themes dealing with some of the class-discussed vocabulary. Through a scene by scene, and dialogue-based analysis of the movie, I have found that these themes are emphasized through discussions, interactions, and non-dialogue scenes between the main character, his imaginary sidekick and the society that has had such effect on the main character. Some of these themes or topics that are shared by both the movie and the class vocabulary appear randomly, sporadically, and repeatedly throughout the movie. Most of the scenes have mainly to do with the materialism in their society and its limits on the freedom, which the characters are trying to obtain. Others deal with how they, the movie\\\\\\\s characters, feel a sense of alienation and this alienation distorts relationships developing due to their self-determination. There is also how family interactions help to shape our development on our vertical and horizontal relationships. Then finally, hedonism and how it affects the way we treat each other and how we interact within society.
All the characters in the movie deal with and dissect these themes, in all that they say and how they react to the main characters disillusionment with his life; although the main characters are mostly the ones bringing the themes to the forefront of the movie. This any man, main character dislikes his life, even to the point that he is unable to sleep. He is disillusioned with his life, unhappy and does not understand why. And in order to feel anything he has to make a lot of bad choices to under go a life transformation. This transformation originates through his interactions and dealings with Tyler Durden, his alter ego and his imaginary friend. The main character remains without a name until in the end you, as the movie watcher, are lead to realize that he (the main character) and Tyler are one in the same, almost on the level of the Trinity. However he goes without a real name because he is supposed to represent how he could and is Any Man, anybody, and everybody. But after he, Any Man, has made all these bad choices he has to run around and try to undo all the horror he has wrought. Any Man started Fight Club, which matured into Project Mayhem, which then ultimately resulted in the collapse of the institution of their society. In many ways this movie is an extreme moral movie, with the battle between good and evil within a person continually going on. Even though, in the end the bad guy dies, it is only the good guy\\\\\\\s sense of the bad guy that is killed. The bad guy never really existed to kill off. However you are left to believe that he, the good guy/bad guy, gets away with blowing up the buildings. Of course the movie is really about the causes of violence and is in fact anti-violence, although it acknowledges those impulses in human nature.
When the Any Man says, \\\\\\\”Losing all hope was freedom,\\\\\\\” he is referring to the alienation from the world that he felt in his life, his disillusionment. He, this Any Man, felt his life was so devoid of anything worthwhile that he distanced himself from the world. His alienation from his society lead to his materialism, and his obsessions with decorating his apartment, making it complete. Which kept him from the freedom of living a fulfilling life, being truly alive. Once his apartment is blown up and all of his possessions are lost, and he mourns greatly because his possessions were to him, his life, and his proof that he exists. He begins to understand that he truly doesn\\\\\\\ need his belongings through his transformation thanks to Tyler. He doesn\\\\\\\ need these things to be free to live his life the way he really wanted to.
[quote=Ralph_Viviente1]A New Life (2/3)[/quote]
Tyler is a character from the comic. Tyler is, or was, a protagonist for a non-profit organization named “The Other One”. A “Other One” is a character who, rather than becoming more and more “human”, becomes more and more Human. Tyler is also portrayed as taking care of a dead human person with a small amount of care.
The Other One is, as usual, a Human, who, because of his lack of intelligence and a low opinion about others, was seen to not need the human people. The other one was a human who, in turn, made a promise to him that he would never let any dead person become his “human one” again.
According to the trailer for the movie, both Trish and Tyler are the most vulnerable in the world when the rest of the game is over. The only person to not suffer this kind of pain was the others.
Trish’s most loved character, Emily N, was the source of that pain and pain went way back, when she was born. She was the one who gave all of Tyler’s other friends a heart transplant surgery, to which she passed along through his heart at the same time that no one else was taking this medicine.
The Other One could be thought of as a person who grew out of childhood into adulthood. He also became a figure of community within a human society, but only temporarily. At this point, as time moves on in Tyler’s life, many of his new friends become less and less humans.
In the end, all of his friends are now human and people within that society are beginning to reject the idea of them as human and refuse to accept that it is possible for an entire people to become an entire species. He and that other human figure do everything to try to get his life back on track. While the majority of the world may not agree with this view, Tyler is determinedly against that and has formed a group called “The Other One”, which will not accept his actions, and will instead, kill them all and use all of his time and energies to end his existence.
In the trailer for the movie, Tyler is considered the most sentient human being in the game, as it gives him a very small amount of emotion for when he feels hurt; for when he feels he is being punished or betrayed. It goes without saying that all of Tyler depends on his friends for his sanity in the future, and is only able to see and treat people of almost any level of potential, which is mostly people who he hasn’t even heard of before.
In the trailer, both Tyler and Emily were the only two human characters that can be separated from the character around them, and even after the ending, they are far more separated from him than those that can be separated from his or her friends. He has this relationship with Emily in particular as well, although it is very common for his friends to talk about it to him during the rest of his life. The more he is separated from the characters, the more his humanity deteriorates. This is also seen when Emily decides to take Tyler’s heart, because it is his wish to
He meets this woman, Marla, who has the same general outlook on life; she hates hers too. At first he displays a dislike for her. Then we later realize that she was a positive influence on his progress in his transformation. Marla states her opinion, in one of the first scenes where she is introduced to the audience, that people and society are almost pure self-determined, \\\\\\\”When people think your dying they really really listen to you instead of waiting for their turn to speak.\\\\\\\” People are so self-concerned and self absorbed that they don\\\\\\\ really open up to others, this only comes when they believe they are going to die. This becomes ever so evident in the end of the movie when the Any Man realizes that he and Tyler Durden are sharing experiences. Even though she thinks that there is no purpose or meaning to life there is that inherent uncertainty or fear that she could be wrong. The fact that there could be a God or a final end that her actions could be accountable too, is why she doesn\\\\\\\ take her own life. Fear drives them, both Any Man and Marla, from crossing the ultimate line.
The movie goes on further to explain the point that hedonism is present in all walks of life. Society as a whole depends on people being only worthwhile if they are beneficial in any way. This is the concept that people are only good or have a good use in so far that they help or do well for the people in question. People have no inherent worthwhile, quality to their lives unless there is worth according to their utility, based on whether or not they are beneficial to the producers. One example from the movie is when the Any Man is talking about what he does for a living. He is explaining how the Car Company he works for weighs the decision whether or not to do a recall on the cars they make, which are killing people due to a malfunction. The Car Company will not do a recall on the fact alone that the car is killing people. The recall won\\\\\\\ be done unless the amount of money they would have to pay out, due to lawsuits, would cost them more than fixing the problem that killed the people in the first place. Is the person worth more to us dead or alive, is what they are asking themselves. This is an element of how materialism is directing and controlling the lives and actions of society in which they live.
Whereas materialism is directly discussed in several scenes and aspects of the movie, the theme of materialism also ties into the self-determination of society as a whole and several other themes essential in the movie. The Any Man has a phone conversation with investigators working on the case of who blew up his apartment. In this conversation the Any Man gets defensive of whether or not he actually blew up his own apartment. He states how his stuff was his life, and how his belongings meant so much to his existence and happiness. Tyler, the alter ego, then states in a discussion with the Any Man, \\\\\\\”the things you own, end up owning you,\\\\\\\”