Tuesday
02May2006
Freud, Modernity, and the Fight Club
Tuesday, May 2, 2006 at 7:39PM
I will disappoint a few readers here, but last night was the first time I saw the movie Fight Club (1999), starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt. Long has the film been considered one of the best lad's movies, tapping into the primal urges of the male-psyche, indulging in wanton violence and general mischief making. This observation is, however, simplistic to the point of facile ignorance. Fight Club is not about gratuitous violence, it is a millennial social commentary, which delves deep into the psychoanalysis of the main character, and by implication, the wider male population.
***Spoiler Alert - If you haven't seen the film, stop reading now***
A quick review of informed reader comments, on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), coveys a very cinema-centric view of the picture. Viewers tended to define the movie in the context of previous films, such as The Sixth Sense, American Beauty, and Trainspotting. Each of these comparisons is justifiable, however none mention (at least the ones I read) Sigmund Freud, or the discipline of psychoanalysis. This is bizarre considering the nature of the films narrative.
***Spoiler Alert - If you haven't seen the film, stop reading now***
A quick review of informed reader comments, on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), coveys a very cinema-centric view of the picture. Viewers tended to define the movie in the context of previous films, such as The Sixth Sense, American Beauty, and Trainspotting. Each of these comparisons is justifiable, however none mention (at least the ones I read) Sigmund Freud, or the discipline of psychoanalysis. This is bizarre considering the nature of the films narrative.
Reader Comments (6)
What an interesting (pyscho)analysis of the whole thing! I've never seen the film but I'm sure I would never have made such connections. I've heard lots about it and I've seen trailers and it does seem that there is much gratuitous violence. Maybe it's not gratuitous, maybe it's neccessary in order to enhance the film's story. Those who are turned off by such images needn't view.
Really enjoyed this article.
Thank you very much!
You should go see the film, it's very good.
I am a practicing psychoanalyst. I recently published in my own blog (www.robertwhitemd.com/blog) a comment on Palahniuk, whom I heard in a radio interview. He was advocating a universal need to experience violence as cathartic. The problem for our culture is the bloodless experience of violence. There are patients for whom this is true. Their conscious experience is often one of boredom and emptyness. They use fantasied violence either to make contact with others or to defend against abuse and humiliation. Only if we in our development have experienced authentic rage can we freely operate in the world.
[...] On Studio 360, an NPR radio show on creativity, pop culture and the arts, host Kurt Andersen interviewed Chuck Palahniuk, the author of Fight Club and other novels that feature extreme violence (5/5/06). See the blog by AS Heath for a description of the move of Fight Club. He emphasized the value of ritualized violence as consensual and cathartic. He spoke of a ritualized need to explore the capacity to inflict and endure hardship and violence on an interpersonal level. He made two points that I found interesting.Š I don’t just want to break your heart, I want to break your heart and I want to make you laugh and I want to make you just a little bit sick inbetween. [...]
Hi there, Robert.
Thanks for your contribution, and your excellent points. I can certainly understand your comment on man’s ‘need’ for violence.
An aside, what with http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/1999/04/23/gamers/index.html" rel="nofollow">copies of shooting game Doom, being found in the bedroom of the Columbine shooters, do you think videogames have a cathartic effect, addressing a primal bloodlust, or, are they a fantasy that queers the mind and its relationship with reality?
Oh, and welcome to the http://tygerland.net/?page_id=459" rel="nofollow">blogroll.
I'm a big time capitalist, but love this movie, and love this analysis. I don't think the violence is too gratuative or tasteless. More than a political comentary, I interpreted the movie as a philosophical piece with agnostic conotations. It show how one might be tempted to join a terorist group, and do whatever their leader tells them to do. Anyway, if anyone hasn't seen this film, watch it, learn how to think during a movie. It's the best movie of 2000 (although Almost Famous is hella tight). AND READ PHILOSOPHY. Don't just say you're a comunist or capitalist just beacause someone cool says that they are. Learn the economic theories. I've rambled on, but trust me on the sunscreen.