The Meaning Behind Violence

Fight Club provides a very interesting movie experience. Throughout the entire film, men are beaten, bruised and bloodied as they fight each other to the point of needing hospitalization. However, there is more to the fighting in Fight Club than sheer violence. Unlike Reservoir Dogs, where violence was excessive and unnecessary, the violence in Fight Club is a direct result of the repressed emotions of the fighters. For example, the main character has been forced into a cookie cutter life where he is only a cog in the corporate machine. The most expression that he has is his furniture, but even then, his furniture is also a product of the corporate world that he cannot escape. Because he feels he cannot escape from his problems, the main character and the imaginary personality Tyler Durden create a fight club. The fight club is a place where oppressed men can release their true emotions through fighting. In coming closer to death, men can feel more human than they ever could by remaining white collar workers. At first, the heavy fighting of the men is nothing more than an emotional outlet, but as time goes on, it starts to devolve into a kind of sinister insanity aimed at destroying the corporate world. However, whether its part of emotional expression or insane subversion, the violence in Fight Club is necessary to truly see the motivations behind the characters. Through their illegal acts, viewers of the movie can feel what the fighters feel and think. This kind of connection makes the ending of Fight Club extremely intense, as the main character's actions are both seen and felt.

Another aspect of Fight Club that is important is the way that it targets the corporate world. In the view of the main character, corporations are the most horrible thing that has happened to the world. He believes that the best way for humanity to proceed is to abandon our reliance on modern life and simply return to a state of primal harmony. Although the methods of the main character are quite clear, I must question the reasons for why he wishes to destroy the modern world. It is true that living as a white collar employee has done a large amount of damage to the main character's emotional state. Because he is treated like a small part of the corporate machine, he has no individuality, making him feel entirely alone and unnecessary. These feelings of worthlessness is what prompted his mind to create Tyler Durden. Although the creation of a fight club as an emotional release is a rational decision, the main character's descent into corporate subversion is not. Corporations do indeed make people into cold machine slaves that toil to maintain the modern world. However, by destroying the order of the modern world, the main character simply makes white collar workers slaves to his decisions. Another more rational decision for the main character to make (although it would have made a very boring movie) would have been to escape the city world and move into a more rural part of the country. By leaving, he would have been able to live a life of perfect nonconformity. Luckily, the film follows a path that allows us to see both Tyler Durden and the insanity of the main character, making Fight Club a truly excellent movie.