Fight Club

Well… I’m sure most of you have watched the movie Fight Club… For those that haven’t, in a nutshell, it is a long convoluted movie about a dude with two personalities, staring Edward Norton as Tyler and Brad Pitt as… Tyler (hehe). For conversation’s sake, we’ll call Brad’s character Tyler and we’ll call Edward Norton’s character simply, Ed….



In my personal life movie, Dee is Tyler and Ndumiso is Ed. Tyler represents the fun and the exciting side that Ed lacks. Ed hopes for something to happen in his life to make it worth living, even accidents and catastrophes so that his life has more meaning. He is lost in the world of superficial beliefs and expectations from life. Ed goes to many different support group meetings for many different ailments for a sense of family. It is only in the presence of people who suffer that he feel that he belongs. His life is full of material goods that he uses to express himself but even this is not enough. “You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you're satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you've got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you're trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you.” After his apartment with all his worldly possessions catches fire then everything he has ever known burns.

“Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy s*** we don’t need. We are the middle children of history. No purpose or place. We have no great war (in our generation), no great depression... Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised by television to believe that one day we will all millionaires and movie gods and rock stars. But we won’t. We are slowly learning that fact. And we are very, very pissed off!”

Tyler fully takes over the life of Ed. “It’s only when we’ve lost everything that we are free to do anything.” And Tyler is freed and let loose on to the world.

What is so special about Tyler? Well he represents all that Ed had ever wanted to be… All he aspires to be, all he perceives a man to be is all in Tyler, fast cars, faster women, money, untameable, rebellious, a serious bad boy and ultimately a free spirit with nothing holding him down (truly wild at heart). Tyler expresses himself in anger, lust, recklessness and bitterness. “It used to be enough that when I came home angry and knowing that my life wasn't toeing my five-year plan, I could clean my condominium or detail my car. Someday I'd be dead without a scar and there would be a really nice condo and car.”

Ed and Tyler are polar opposites. But they share the same body… Huh? When Dee did his own thing, it was an outer body experience for Ndu. I’d do things and only realise later the extent of the things I had done… Wow… How weird hey! It was like watching a total stranger doing something. You have no connection what so ever. I even had my own Marla, who was in my life story. But that is another blog which I honestly don’t think I’ll ever write. Sorry! But if she ever reads all I have to say to her is (I’m gonna have to steal yet another quote from the movie, actually the last line of the movie). “You met me in a very strange time of my life!”

Anarchy rules where there are no rules and that was the life of Dee and Ndu. Ndu was never strong enough to overcome the sweet and recklessly adventurous life that every man yearns for that every man needs which Dee offered. But as you watch the movie, you realised that the world Tyler/Dee offered is nothing but a trap. “Nothing was solved when the fight was over, but nothing mattered.” Soon you become a slave to your known need for self gratification. And your own plans end up being self destructive. If you let Tyler take over your life he will take over everything. You will eventually lose you true identity. “Tyler’s words coming out of my mouth…. and I used to be such a nice guy.” Eventually these two characters start to blend and become one, they would have been lost in each other. One had to die for the other to survive? Who would you kill? Tyler or Ed?

So why Fight Club? Of all the movies of sick twisted people who think they have dual personalities why this one? And also with all those other introspective movies that truly tackle internal conflict within people what is so special about this one? After that build up you’d expect some really cool answer… Well the truth is this movie represents the internal conflict in me. The constant fight within me, of such a twisted and dark nature, that this movie, as harsh as it may be in some scenes, really reflects and outlines me!