Last Friday I attended the first Flora Rose Film Friday, where we watched the movie Fight Club. I had never seen the film before, but I’ve heard a lot about it. Before starting the movie Professor Hill mentioned that it was released in 1999. The turn of the century was a turbulent time, as many were afraid that society might fall apart due to the formatting of dates in computers.

Today could also be considered a turbulent time. The main character’s resort to violence and isolation can be paralleled with the approach of the current US administration. However, I think that the film uses the extreme isolation and violence as sarcasm, using the extremes to show how ridiculous the main character’s lifestyle becomes.

To me it seems that the main character may have been suffering from insomnia, and bipolar and/or multiple personality disorder. I didn’t like that the film maker took his behavior to an extreme. It seems like he could have been taking advantage or making light of metal disorders just to make a point. Seeing this film could influence people to think that people with mental illness are totally crazy and unbalanced and discourage people who are struggling from reaching out.

I was taken by surprise that the Tyler Durden character was actually the narrator. However, I was wondering pretty early on in the film (and am still wondering) whether the Marla character was real, or a figment of the narrator’s imagination. Although Professor Hill mentioned that the film is often written about as being misogynistic, I think this is a rather one-dimensional view. I think that Marla could be another projection of the narrator, or even that rather than fighting, as he claims, Marla is the narrator’s true reason for living. The later interpretation is actually rather romantic.

I think for future film viewings it would be interesting to have a short conversation afterwards to ask questions and share interpretations.