Why is Fight Club So Good?

I get asked this question all the time - Why do you like this movie so much? It's a perfectly reasonable question, and yet one that we often shy away from. Why do I like a certain movie? Well, because I like it, that's why.

I'm pretty passionate about film. Yes, I like guys movies. Yes, I'm comfortable with that. I like actors, I'll see most films with Clive Owen, Bruce Willis, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Clooney. And recently I've come to enjoy Jason Schwartzman. I'm also a big fan of directors. You could call me a die-hard Tarantino, Wes Anderson and Scorsese fan. But then there's David Fincher. The man doesn't make many films, but one in particular sticks out and often begs that question - Why do you like this movie so much?

I'm talking, specifically, about Fight Club. Fight Club is Fincher's masterpiece. Sure, Panic Room was good and although I missed Zodiac, I heard it was good too. But Fight Club is one of my favorite movies of all time. From the outside looking in, it seems as though you could call it a guy film. Men fight each other, enjoy it and decide they want to take their hatred for society to the next level by destroying the empty things that the populace find so enticing. But there is so much more to it than that.

It's not simply about realizing that the things that are shoved down our throat are truly meaningless. It's more about recognizing that there is so much more to life than the things we attempt to possess. Consider the idea of male beauty. Although the topic is only briefly discussed as the Narrator (played expertly by Edward Norton) and Tyler Durdin (possibly Brad Pitt's best role) hop on a bus to the abandoned home they "share" on the outskirts of town. There is a Calvin Klein underwear ad on the bus. Norton's character studies the ad, the model's chiseled abs and flawless skin and sarcastically asks his companion, Is that what a man looks like?

It's a quick example of the dry wit strewn about a film that is more about what lies beneath the surface of humans than what drives him to punch another man's lights out. I find Pitt's response to be one of the most important and humorous lines of the film, Self improvement is masturbation. In the physical sense, his character is correct. The drive for physical perfection is a path that leads us no where. As we age, our bodies break down, decay and die. The attempt to stop the natural process is futile and worse, leads us to believe that our physical form is what defines us. The truth is, the things we do and how we interact with others defines us.

By the end of the film we see that Durdin's character wishes to destroy all that surrounds him. It is only when we have nothing, that we can ever really have anything. Once the Narrator realizes that he and Durdin are the same person, and that the Durdin character is merely a manifestation of all the hatred that lurks below the surface, he understands that it is not the world that he needs to destroy, but the evil within himself. In act of self-sacrifice he attempts to take his own life in order to kill Durdin. As the bullet pierces his brain, Durdin is killed, although the Narrator survives. Finally aware of his own problems, he concludes that, yes, there are problems with society, but destroying it is not the answer. He can exist within it, and by choice become a better person.

Within all of us lies a Tyler Durdin. It wishes to release itself from our consciousness, living only to satisfy our basest needs. But there is a sensible part of us as well. A part that knows right form wrong. We all struggle with our inner demons. We all wish we could just punch away our problems. But sense and reason will ultimately win the day. And violence, while easy, is not the path to greatness. It's this message that makes the film so great. Why destroy the world, when we can make it such a better place.