The first rule...

Screw Roger Ebert on this one. He gave this movie a two out of four! However, his distaste for Fight Club stems from a dismissal of the film’s message and, honestly, a misunderstanding.

Author

Tom
June 08, 2023

Good morning Consumers. This is Please Consume, the Film newsletter that loves you more than Ben Affleck loves being from Boston.

Fight Club (1999)

Screw Roger Ebert on this one. He gave this movie a two out of four!

However, his distaste for Fight Club stems from a dismissal of the film’s message and, honestly, a misunderstanding.

He calls it a “frankly and cheerfully fascist big-star movie” and “macho porn”. He makes the claim that it’s “the sex movie Hollywood has been moving toward for years”, except instead of sex, it’s fighting. It’s “a thrill ride masquerading as philosophy”.

While he acknowledges the film doesn’t advocate for the themes he alleges it puts forward, condescendingly I might add, he doesn’t seem convinced of this fact at all.

So, I’m here to tell you why this movie is great, aside from Brad Pitt’s abs and beating up Jared Leto.

Masculinity in Survival Mode

What Ebert says about Fight Club is true to a point.

It is thrilling and macho and sexy. It’s even fascist, although that critique is pretty weak considering the film clearly condemns it.

But why are all of these things bad? (Except for fascism).

Ebert complains that the film’s behavior is more powerful than the argument against that behavior. And once again he’s right to a point. Tyler Durden is seen as a cool guy, someone to be emulated, by a lot of people, young men in particular.

But that’s the point. Tyler is meant to be attractive because he is thrilling and macho and sexy. And that’s not bad, it’s just that he chooses to be a fascist cult leader. That’s what makes him a villain.

Fight Club is a cry of lament for what it sees as a crisis of masculinity. Its characters are searching for a purpose in a world where traditional male roles are becoming increasingly obsolete. It’s a world that prioritizes desk jobs and Ikea furniture and living responsibly.

Fight Club’s author, Chuck Palaniuhk, points out that there are “so few social model novels or stories for men”. He names only Fight Club and The Dead Poets Society as stories where men “can come together and talk about their lives”.

His comment is an interesting one because he’s acknowledging the nerve that he has struck in so many men, one that he says isn’t “hit very much”.

Ebert patronizes the film by calling it one “about guys afraid of losing their cojones.” Why should that be a knock against the film? Why is being afraid of losing your testicles something to be made fun of for?

I’ve asked a few questions now, rhetorical questions, but they need answers all the same. What Fight Club is is a masculine plea for purpose. In a society with a decreasing need and an increasing hatred for traditional masculinity, the men in this film find purpose in the revelation of violence and strength.

Is Fight Club’s answer to masculine purpose correct? No, and it doesn’t believe it either. However, there’s a reason why it’s such an attractive movie, to men in particular.

It’s because being thrilling and macho and sexy are all good things. The men in Fight Club are just expressing them in an unhealthy, destructive way.

And the world doesn’t know how to teach them a healthy, constructive one.


How About Next Week?

This scene has it all.

It discusses the themes of the film: “Self-improvement is masturbation. But self-destruction…”

And it displays the brutal, bloody violence the film is known for. Plus Brad Pitt’s abs.

Sorry, I know that’s the second time, but just look at them!

What this scene basically conveys is Tyler Durden’s thesis is a nutshell. It gives it through dialogue, but also through action.

Look at Edward Norton being battered and then getting helped up by his opponent like he had accidentally tripped him. There’s no grudge or hard feelings, only comradery.

At this point, Durden’s Fight Club is, if nothing else, a community.

Today’s Scene

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If you want to watch Fight Club at home, you can find it here.

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