Most of the analyses i am reading are from men,so i want to know some perspectives here.

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  2. My ex was obsessed with that movie and I heard so much about it that I doubt I have any original thought about the movie.

  3. I have Bipolar I w/psychosis(not so much symptoms anymore thanks to meds),and I feel l it’s quite accurate. Not being able to distinguish reality from the psychosis, the things feel as real as anything else in the world. The “great” ideas that come with the “high”, the feeling that you can and will change the world because you “know” better then anyone else. The racing thoughts and not being able to focus on one thing. The feeling of “I can do it better, I will do it better, I’m am better then anyone else and my ideas are the best” the inability to perceive danger to one self, the over confidence that can make other belive in you. Psychosis is not always seen weird shit, like monster aliens or shadow people, its also seeing and feeling stuff that can be real but aren’t. Like in the movie when the protagonist meets Tyler, he had no reason to belive he wasn’t real bc it was a situation that could really happen in reality, and that’s the most dangerous part of psychosis, bc you can’t tell isn’t real. You have a person talking to you, not a weird “monster”. Strangers talk to each other all the time, that’s how you make friends, that’s a real situation. How to realize that’s not real is very hard when nothing tells you it’s not real.

  5. One of my all time favorite books and movies. First and foremost and what people tend to ignore in any analysis, is Chuck Palahniuk is gay. His writing style reflects that. Most of his characters are different, “other” in some way and tend to go for self destruction as a way to cope. They either assign or reduce higher meaning to their lives in dramatic ways, like in Survivor or Fight Club. I could wax poetic forever about his many themes like his “hidden guns” of narration but in context of Fight Club, his sexuality is very important.

    What the story means to me is there’s an unhappy man with psychological problems who tries to find purpose in the cookie cutter life and doesn’t. The knee jerk reaction is then to create Tyler, and go the opposite direction and buy into the power of “it means nothing, so so what, fuck them, let’s show them how much we don’t care, our own agency, project mayhem, blah blah” and don’t get me wrong, Tyler is a very attractive prospect. Empowering in a way. But it’s the gravitation and power that would also be fulfilled from say joining a white nationalist group. It’s not good and it’s not real. Palahniuk is a strong satirical writer. Tyler is laden with irony.

    Shouldn’t be surprising that Marla is the strongest focal point of the story to me. Instead of accepting “here is this person I like, something that can give me purpose” he says “let me push that away as hard as I can”. She is the catalyst to his insomnia blowing up into a personality disorder, his relationship beginning to sour with Tyler, the final act, etc. It’s a story about a man who is scared, confused, and facing connection with a woman that is a good parallel to him and initially running from it and into something more comfortable for his psyche. Chuck even says it’s a story about “a man reaching the point where he can commit to a woman”.

    The ending is also a big thing. The book, he is in a hospital in the last chapter. Project mayhem lackeys are there. It is gut wrenching. Stomach drop type stuff to read it. That’s what Chuck’s built the whole book in my opinion. We go through the journey with him of “Tyler’s great and absolutely right” to “Tyler’s unhinged and dangerous” to “poor Marla” and then to the horrible realization that even as the main character is hospitalized and can hopefully get help, the damage of the ideology spreading is already done.

    So my analysis of the story is, it’s not some work of anti capitalism consumerism anti authority male masculinity misogyny modge podge. It’s a scared mentally ill man, different from those around him, trying to belong and going to extremes to do so, while also confronting his growing feelings for a woman.

  7. The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club.

    The second rule of Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Fight Club!

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