Source: http://www.topcounselingschools.org/the-psychology-of-fight-club/
Fight Club’s narrator’s illness is the manifestation of trite and tedious modern life. Watch capitalism push fight club members to the edge in the following steps:
Board One(insomnia)
- Side one
- “We buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like.”
- 9-5 grind, obsession with trendy living
- Side two
- Neither sleep nor wakefulness
- 24 hour fog
- Side three
- Doctor wont provide rx
- Sent to support groups to see others in real pain
- “feeling sorry for yourself plaza”
- Side Four
- Make yourself feel like a victim at prostate cancer support group
- get a great rush
- Cure your insomnia
- Meet Tyler Durden: pull a card
- Marla sees you as a phony, ruins the rush: find a new hobby
- Card: ” Narrator: A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don’t do one.
Woman on plane: Are there a lot of these kinds of accidents?
Narrator: You wouldn’t believe.
Woman on plane: Which car company do you work for?
Narrator: A major one.” - Experience Trauma, create imaginary friend, advance to board two
- Card: ” Narrator: A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don’t do one.
- Go square: “pass go, do it again!”
Board Two(dissociative identity disorder)
- Side one
- Redemption through violence: get a rush
- Who is Tyler Durden?
- New Player Joins: Tyler Durden game piece placed at the same place
- Side two
- Apartment blown up, join Project Mayhem
- What’s your hand? Draw a card
- Card 1: Invisible hand of production. Capitalism moves towards the highest effiency for everyone.
- Card 2: Tyler Durden pours lye on your hand. Experience another trial by fire.
- Side three
- Tyler sleeps with Marla, get jealous.
- What direction are you headed, anyway?
- Card 1:Homogenous capitalism: all experience can be reduced to a price. Everything can be bought and sold.
- Card 2: Heterogeneous Capitalism: Some experiences are incompatible with normal buying and selling. Pick a sacred apple, buy/sell an orange.
- Side four
- Tyler kidnaps Marla, picks fight with you.
- Realize you’re holding the gun and shoot Tyler in the mouth
- Tyler disappears, you are hailed as Tyler
- Watch credit card buildings blow up, holding Marla’s hand
- “The first rule of fight club is: you don’t talk about fight club.”
Cultural Influence
- Gentlemen’s Fight Club
- Was founded in Menlo Park by tech workers in 2000
- Princeton University Fight Club
- Was founded in 2001, but broke the first rule of fight club by talking about it
- Luke Helder
- Planted pipe bombs in mailboxes across the U.S. trying to blow up a smiley face on the map
- 17 y.o. founder of Manhatten fight club
- Jailed for planting a bomb outside of capitalist standard-bearer Starbucks
Sources
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight_Club
- http://www.academia.edu/193320/Diagnosing_Chuck_Palahniuks_Fight_Club
- http://videoeta.com/news/287
