Deeper and deeper...

Rating: 10/10 (24 February 2005)

Let me just start out by saying that this is one of my favorite movies of all time. Reasons being: 1) it was brilliantly done (I'm not gonna go into cool camera effects and the great music or anything; you've all seen the movie); 2) it makes so much sense. This movie has changed my perspective on a lot of things in my life; all the materialism is just not important, nor does it matter. And it's screwed up, how our society runs. But that's not why I'm writing this comment.
I'm writing this comment to give you all an idea, something to ponder the next time you choose to watch this movie. I am in tenth grade, and my Humanities teacher showed this movie in class (the whole thing, unedited, sex scenes and all) (I had already seen it before). Why would a teacher show this brutal and harsh movie in class? At the time, we were working on Romanticism. Here is a definition of Romanticism: a movement of the 19th century that sought to replace the great emphasis on reason with a new focus on feelings, emotions, and nature. Nature often came to replace God, and reason was seen as a restraint on true feeling. (This definition is extremely vague and I will elaborate a bit more later on.) Now, how in the world could Fight Club possibly tie in with Romanticism? A big thing with Romanticism was self-discovery and liberation from material needs. It was about humans going back to their primitive state, living in and appreciating nature. Romantic literature and artwork often portrayed a sense of hopelessness or loss. All of these things are present in Fight Club. Edward Norton's character is consumed by his material possessions, and Brad Pitt's character shows him a way out of it. They start a Fight Club, which gives men a primitive outlet for their frustration and everything they have pent up (fighting is an extremely primitive way to solve problems). In the scene after Edward Norton is injured in the car crash, Brad Pitt begins to talk about his world, in which people climb on vines wrapping around the Sears Tower, people wear leather clothes that will last the rest of their lives, and people pound corn and lay strips of venison on an abandoned highway. All of these things are obviously Romantic in nature.
I'm presenting you these ideas so that, perhaps, we can learn even more from this movie that already teaches so much. It's definitely a great movie that deserves to be seen more than once.