Question

Regarding the movie fight club: This scene does a good deal of critical cultural work, presenting the viewer with several social or cultural problems. What is the crux of the cultural criticism presented here and how is the societal problem a cause of the narrative crisis that evolves in the movie?

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. Also, you haven’t mentioned any particular scene and so I have written a response based on the general events in the film.

(Answer) The film ‘Fight Club’ in general, tells us the story of a protagonist who has succumbed to a mental breakdown. During this breakdown, he behaves in a way that goes against his convictions. The very reason for his breakdown is constant societal pressure.

The first half of the film shows how the pressure of being successful, having a good house, stable relationship, happy lifestyle etc. slowly gets to the protagonist. But more than any other cultural criticism, this film depicts the dark side of the modern work culture.

The protagonist has an ordinary desk job. He has to travel regularly for client meetings, work long hours to get that promotion, spend his day in an environment he dislikes, come home exhausted, sleep lesser than he should and then repeat it all the next day. He is pressured into making this routine work well in giving him a successful life.

This is the social problem that brings the pressures the protagonist faces to a point of saturation. After this, he faces a mental breakdown and suffers from ‘Dissociative Identity Disorder’. However, not everyone who is burdened with pressure suffers from such a grave disorder. But it sure serves as a warning sign.