To celebrate the film’s 10 year anniversary, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment are releasing the newly re-mastered Blu-Ray edition on November 23rd, so I thought it’d be a good time to post this article which I wrote for a presentation back in 2007.
The philosopher Stanley Cavell speaks of there being ‘no border’ between film and philosophy.
It is argued that since Plato banished poets from his ideal city in the Republic, there has been a struggle between the arts and philosophy. The reason for this struggle is because both art and philosophy are perceived as competing sources of knowledge. The task has fallen to philosophers such as Stanley Cavell who argued that there was no border between film and philosophy; that we gain knowledge and insight into human nature and the world around us just as much from the medium of film as with philosophy.
FIGHT CLUB is messy, it is violent, and it is chaotic. It’s gritty, dark and bloody at times. But once you begin to look beyond that you will find something else. It can be viewed with many interpretations, ranging from a love story, a tale of anarchy or a movie about blood sports. Here are some other ways of interpreting the film using philosophical themes.
PHILOSOPHY IN FIGHT CLUB
NIHILISM – The philosophical position based on the idea that the world is without objective meaning or truth, that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is also closely related to an extreme form of Skepticsm where it is held that nothing exists. Nihilism is also said to be a favourite among Anarchists. Although Nihilism is most often associated with Nietzsche, it is important to note that he was against the idea that nihilism was the result of the breakdown in Christian/slave morality but instead saw that the suppression of intuition and passion as the cause if it.
EXISTENTIALISM – The brand of philosophy developed by French intellectual Jean Paul Sartre but had earlier been explored by Kierkegaard and Heidegger among others. In Existentialist thought, human beings are essentially free and exist in an absurd world without meaning and existence precedes essence. With the idea that we must first exist, surge up in the world and define ourselves afterwards, it also follows that there is no such thing as human nature. It is out of anguish, despair, fear and abandonment that we go on to build things in our lives in order to give it meaning. Sartre calls this type of lying to ourselves “bad faith”.
This can be seen when Norton’s character talks about how his apartment if filled with so much IKEA furniture that it begins to look like a page out of a catalogue. It is the kind of lying to one’s self (material items = happiness) that I wish to connect with the idea of living in bad faith. Unless he has these things in his life (apartment, furniture, job, etc), his life is meaningless. It is Tyler Durden who represents everything in him that is repressed who shows him that it is better to be free than to live in this prison.
SOLIPSISM – This is the idea that belief in everything outside of one’s own mind is unjustified. The external world, including every other person around you cannot be proven to exist. Even if it could be proven to exist, knowledge about it cannot be obtained. The only thing that you can be sure of existing is your own mind. This is often a difficult position to defend and many philosophers have just rejected it outright. If I claim that only I exist and everything around me is an illusion, a dream or a trick of some kind, you as well can claim the very same thing, and so can everyone else. The result would be that everyone goes around thinking nobody else exists but only themselves. In its defence it can also be claimed that if something can never affect you in any way, can it be said to exist? Examples given would be planet Neptune or that a woman called Lydia is eating a bagel right now.
I chose to go with the idea that on some level FIGHT CLUB can be seen as containing elements of Solipsism. In his crisis of mind which results in the revelation that Tyler Durden does not exist, he could have taken another turn and then begin to question whether or not anything or anyone really exists. The evidence lies with characters such as Marla (Helena Bonham Carter) and Bob (Meat Loaf) along with others who could all represent the truth that Tyler ultimately reveals; life itself is just utterly meaningless and nothing is really real. I decided not to follow through with this as I would have encountered too many problems and it was not a philosophical position I felt I could have defended without furthering the study of it.
TAOISM – Described more as way of life, rather than a philosophy, doctrine or religion. Details on the exact dates are sketchy, but it is believed to be between 6th and 4th Century BC and the teachings are embodied in the Lao Tzu, named after the teacher. The Yin Yang is one of the primary principles of Taoist teachings. The concept of two forces present everywhere, completely opposite to each other yet balancing and enhancing each other. They cannot be separated because they exist together in comparison, and splitting one apart will only create the other anew. Although one force can take prevalence over the other for a short time, anything that is in a state of imbalance for long will cease to exist. The universe is composed of and held together by the tension of these two forces, and this concept is in Taoist writings on Abstraction.
To give an example of how well Taoism fits with this film, here are a few points taken from section 19 of the Lao Tzu which can be found in A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy page 149:
Abandon sageliness and discard wisdom;
The people will benefit a hundredfold.
Abandon humanity and discard righteousness;
Then the people will return to filial piety and deep love.
Abandon skill and discard profit;
Then there will be no thieves or robbers.
However, these three things are ornament and not adequate.
Therefore let people hold on to these:
Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires.
So, what’s left now is to decide which one you feel best suits the film based on your interpretation.
“We’re designed to be hunters and we’re in a society of shopping. There’s nothing to kill anymore, there’s nothing to fight, nothing to overcome, nothing to explore. In that societal emasculation this everyman is created.” – David Fincher, director
Fight Club (1999)
Directed by David Fincher
20th Century Fox
CAST:
Edward Norton … The Narrator
Brad Pitt … Tyler Durden
Helena Bonham Carter … Marla Singer
Meat Loaf … Robert ‘Bob’ Paulson (as Meat Loaf Aday)
Zach Grenier … Richard Chesler
Richmond Arquette … Intern
SOURCES:
Chan, W
A SOURCE BOOK IN CHINESE PHILOSOPHY
Princeton University, 1973
Chapter 7: The Natural Way of Lao Tzu
Rohmann, C
THE DICTIONARY OF IMPORTANT IDEAS AND THINKERS
Arrow Books, 2002
Sections on Nihilism and Solipsism
Sartre, J.P.
EXISTENTIALISM & HUMANISM
Methuen & Co Ltd, 1973
