By Weston Kelly and Blake Kim
David Fincher’s highly rated movie, Fight Club, follows an unnamed narrator who suffers from insomnia, and his dear friend, Tyler Durden—a nonchalant, seemingly perfect salesman who seems to fit the narrator’s ideal human being. The narrator struggles with connecting with others, lying by going to support groups he does not belong in. After facing constant hardships, which finally led to the explosion of his house, the narrator asks Durden for assistance, receiving a strange yet enticing response. Durden asks the narrator to swing at him as hard as he can, leading to the establishment of Fight Club. What starts as a raw, underground boxing ring quickly turns into something deeper—an outlet for men feeling suffocated by routine and constant pressure from society. Fight club becomes a space where these men feel free, given the opportunity to remove themselves from their fake comfort zone and feel something real. Every blood that drops, bruise imprinted, and scar engraved takes away the numbness of the repetitive society these men live in. However, Durden’s philosophy of Fight Club changes from freedom into chaos. He manipulates the members of Fight Club to chase his purpose, convincing thousands of regular citizens to join a cult-like organization. The narrator realizes that Durden is more than a friend; he is everything the narrator wanted to become, but at the same time, everything that he feared. After a fierce battle between the two, foreshadowed by their first fight, the narrator realizes that Durden is him. Fight Club shows a search for identity in a world filled with repetition, which really just reveals one thing: before finding freedom, you have to face yourself.
This movie was absolutely fantastic and kept us on our seats the entire time. Scenes like the chemical burn and the chaotic portrayals of brawls in the Fight Club made us cringe at the sight of such gore.