Fight Club and Our Consumer Identity Essay -- Fight Club Essays

Fight niner and Our Consumer Identity The narrator in the film Fight Club is questioned close his devastated condo and declares, That condo was my life, okay? I loved every junction of furniture in that place. That was not just a bunch of constrict that got destroyed, that was me This attitude of defining self-identity through a consumer culture has become institutionalize in the American society. The film Fight Club addresses the excessive consumerism as a sign of emotional emptiness and as a work out of self-distinction. While the title suggests that it is just another clich action movie, it is not so shallow or narrowly focused. It instead provides the viewer with a inflammatory view on American society and it raises valid questions about the set embraced by that society. As the film American Beauty dubbed, ...look closer. The film begins with a nameless narrator (Edward Norton), a corporate pencil-pusher who suffers from insomnia. A doctor tells Norton to hol d back complaining and stop by a support group for prostate cancer victims. He begins to attend this and other support groups, which helps Norton regain his mightiness to sleep and act as an outlet to release his emotions through crying. However, when Marla utterer (Helen Bonhem-Carter), another faker, begins attending his support groups rigorously for the entertainment value, Norton once once again cannot sleep. This is the least of his cares because when he comes back from a business trip he finds that his condo has exploded. Fortunately, on his flight home he had met the charismatic Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), who sells goo and has a very unconventional view of life. Tyler offers his dilapidated house in a toxic waste part of town to the narrator and he takes a room... ... Man Alive contest. So should we all give up all our material possessions and join an urban terrorism cult? Of hang not. Nor am I suggesting that either Tyler or Jack are usage models that shou ld be emulated. However, it does seem that some Americans care more about their wealth defining their identity than life defining it. Tylers message opens the admission to a variety of questions surrounding what defines you as a person. Is it defined by your Nike shirt and VW Jetta? Or is it your personality, relationships, and experiences? Do you find someone attractive purely for his or her looks and Porsche? Or do you love someone because theyre kind, occupy a great smile, and are insanely funny? Through the media and advertizing we are fed the consumer identity. Fight Club just shows another personal manner of looking at self-identity that is aside from the mainstream.