I thought the whole point of Fight Club was the narrator realizing he was a terrible person, with or without Tyler.
I mean the film starts with him exploiting dying people so they will listen to him. Not recognizing that the only people open to listen are those dying, and he’s exploiting their openness to lie to them and get the “crying” he needs. He doesn’t give one flying fuck about what is happening to any of those dying people, he only barely stands up for Bob.
I would put the main point of Fight Club to be about how universal the feelings are, of loneliness and isolation in complex social/economic systems that they don’t actually control, despite the system continually relying on them for that control. The warning is that lonely men will crave agency, and might seek it out in destructive ways, even paradoxically turning over their agency to another, like a charismatic cult leader, if it means they can take part in another plan that they are no more actually in control of.
…the whole point of Fight Club was the narrator realizing he was a terrible person…
Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to say a character is a flawed human being without writing them off entirely like this? Narrator is stunted, broken, looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places. He’s isolated, he’s disconnected, there is no one in his life for him to care for, or who cares for him. How good a person should anyone expect him to be?
…the film starts with him exploiting dying people so they will listen to him. Not recognizing that the only people open to listen are those dying, and he’s exploiting their openness to lie to them and get the “crying” he needs.
Narrator angrily explains pretty much exactly this to Marla. Refers to himself a “faker.” I think he recognizes.
He does explain “When people think you’re dying, they really, really listen to you,” but he could very well be referring to himself as the listener. He isn’t depicted speaking at the meetings he crashes. “If I didn’t say anything, people always assumed the worst.”
“When people think you’re dying, they really, really listen to you,”
My main takeaway is always going to be that the people who are actually suffering are the only ones really willing to listen to others who are suffering. He thinks this, but he’s proof of otherwise, he isn’t really listening to any of them.
Ask me how I know after three years of cancer proving to me people could give fuck all about listening. Sorry, just grinds my gears, because the people “really, really listening to you” are the people who are fucking dying.
You’re assuming a lot of media literacy out of the audience. Most people I know who are really into Fight Club miss all subtext (and quite a bit of text) and unironically see it as an indictment of modern society and a call for a “return” to a mythical hyper-masculine strength-based patriarchal society.
Oh of course, I’m not speaking about the average jabroni’s interpretation. Pretty sure Chuck Palahniuk didn’t intend Tyler to be read as a hero. Yet, here we are.
I thought the whole point of Fight Club was the narrator realizing he was a terrible person, with or without Tyler.
I mean the film starts with him exploiting dying people so they will listen to him. Not recognizing that the only people open to listen are those dying, and he’s exploiting their openness to lie to them and get the “crying” he needs. He doesn’t give one flying fuck about what is happening to any of those dying people, he only barely stands up for Bob.
I would put the main point of Fight Club to be about how universal the feelings are, of loneliness and isolation in complex social/economic systems that they don’t actually control, despite the system continually relying on them for that control. The warning is that lonely men will crave agency, and might seek it out in destructive ways, even paradoxically turning over their agency to another, like a charismatic cult leader, if it means they can take part in another plan that they are no more actually in control of.
Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to say a character is a flawed human being without writing them off entirely like this? Narrator is stunted, broken, looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places. He’s isolated, he’s disconnected, there is no one in his life for him to care for, or who cares for him. How good a person should anyone expect him to be?
Narrator angrily explains pretty much exactly this to Marla. Refers to himself a “faker.” I think he recognizes.
He does explain “When people think you’re dying, they really, really listen to you,” but he could very well be referring to himself as the listener. He isn’t depicted speaking at the meetings he crashes. “If I didn’t say anything, people always assumed the worst.”
My main takeaway is always going to be that the people who are actually suffering are the only ones really willing to listen to others who are suffering. He thinks this, but he’s proof of otherwise, he isn’t really listening to any of them.
Ask me how I know after three years of cancer proving to me people could give fuck all about listening. Sorry, just grinds my gears, because the people “really, really listening to you” are the people who are fucking dying.
You’re assuming a lot of media literacy out of the audience. Most people I know who are really into Fight Club miss all subtext (and quite a bit of text) and unironically see it as an indictment of modern society and a call for a “return” to a mythical hyper-masculine strength-based patriarchal society.
Oh of course, I’m not speaking about the average jabroni’s interpretation. Pretty sure Chuck Palahniuk didn’t intend Tyler to be read as a hero. Yet, here we are.