Background; I'm 16 yrs old, and on the comedown of a pretty strong high.
There are many comparisons that can be made between fight club and game. In fact, I believe that the creators of fight club actually meant for this to happen, why else would they create such a cult like film?
Step 1- Plugged in. The beta (played by Edward Norton) Illustrates the situation of the general male population in the westernized world. He has no real ambitions, and finds his sense of completeness in collecting furniture. We can see this ambition for completeness in many betas in our normal lives, for instance the beta whose life revolves around getting Facebook likes, or the beta who’s obsession is to get as many achievements as he can on Xbox. They all suffer from the same artificially manufactured desire to be complete.
Without direction, he leads a depressing life filled with T.V. He suffers from insomnia. Sleep is a natural biological process, one which we cannot really control. Therefore his insomnia illustrates that he is an unnatural being, just as the beta is an unnatural being that has been molded to act and be that way by the feminized society that we live in today.
Step 2-Unplugging. Then we meet Tyler Durden. Tyler represents a guru of inner game. Everybody has their own guru that they look up to, some examples would be roissy, mystery and Rollo. My guru is Shark, from solvemygirlproblems.com. Moving on, Tyler teaches some very important concepts to the beta. First and foremost in the scene in Lou’s tavern, he shows the beta how you don’t have to fulfill this desires to be complete, in order to be happy. Tyler instead tells him to “Let the chips fall where they may” You can instantly see the admiration in the Betas face; Edward Norton’s character received his first mind ****. Happiness is a choice, you don’t have to fulfill some artificial sense of completeness to be happy. In fact, once completing a task, and realizing that you still don’t feel complete, you will have to find a new pointless task to waste away on. This cycle is never ending, and causes you to live a depressing life feeling forever incomplete and unsatisfied.
I could go on all day, but due to time I must cut this short. Basically, the middle part or meat of the film, is the beta being continuously unplugged. He becomes increasingly “in the moment”. Basically becoming more and more alpha as time progresses. However, at first he becomes extra violent, too violent. For instance he smashes the face of the blonde boy during their fight. This shows the anger that the beta feels for being lied to his whole life. Also, his take on masculinity is still under the perspective of the matrix, therefore he sees direct confrontation and fighting as being masculine. He has not yet been fully unplugged. This is the stage that I have just left, I became a jerk for a few weeks, unplugged but I still had a plugged in take on masculinity. One more thing, the bath scene proves that tyler durden is not in fact a natural alpha. The advice that tylers dad apparently gives him is really beta advice, telling him to just settle down and get married. However, tyler does not follow his advice, therefore proving that he has had the epiphany and been unplugged. Similarly, almost every guru is not a natural alpha, they have been beta just like you have been, and they have been unplugged just as you have been.
Step 3-Independence. At the end of the film Edward Nortons character kills Tyler. This represents what all of us must do, and most of us are afraid to do. We must let of the comfort our gurus, and face the world. We are now enlightened and it is time for us to move on and start living our lives.
There are many comparisons that can be made between fight club and game. In fact, I believe that the creators of fight club actually meant for this to happen, why else would they create such a cult like film?
Step 1- Plugged in. The beta (played by Edward Norton) Illustrates the situation of the general male population in the westernized world. He has no real ambitions, and finds his sense of completeness in collecting furniture. We can see this ambition for completeness in many betas in our normal lives, for instance the beta whose life revolves around getting Facebook likes, or the beta who’s obsession is to get as many achievements as he can on Xbox. They all suffer from the same artificially manufactured desire to be complete.
Without direction, he leads a depressing life filled with T.V. He suffers from insomnia. Sleep is a natural biological process, one which we cannot really control. Therefore his insomnia illustrates that he is an unnatural being, just as the beta is an unnatural being that has been molded to act and be that way by the feminized society that we live in today.
Step 2-Unplugging. Then we meet Tyler Durden. Tyler represents a guru of inner game. Everybody has their own guru that they look up to, some examples would be roissy, mystery and Rollo. My guru is Shark, from solvemygirlproblems.com. Moving on, Tyler teaches some very important concepts to the beta. First and foremost in the scene in Lou’s tavern, he shows the beta how you don’t have to fulfill this desires to be complete, in order to be happy. Tyler instead tells him to “Let the chips fall where they may” You can instantly see the admiration in the Betas face; Edward Norton’s character received his first mind ****. Happiness is a choice, you don’t have to fulfill some artificial sense of completeness to be happy. In fact, once completing a task, and realizing that you still don’t feel complete, you will have to find a new pointless task to waste away on. This cycle is never ending, and causes you to live a depressing life feeling forever incomplete and unsatisfied.
I could go on all day, but due to time I must cut this short. Basically, the middle part or meat of the film, is the beta being continuously unplugged. He becomes increasingly “in the moment”. Basically becoming more and more alpha as time progresses. However, at first he becomes extra violent, too violent. For instance he smashes the face of the blonde boy during their fight. This shows the anger that the beta feels for being lied to his whole life. Also, his take on masculinity is still under the perspective of the matrix, therefore he sees direct confrontation and fighting as being masculine. He has not yet been fully unplugged. This is the stage that I have just left, I became a jerk for a few weeks, unplugged but I still had a plugged in take on masculinity. One more thing, the bath scene proves that tyler durden is not in fact a natural alpha. The advice that tylers dad apparently gives him is really beta advice, telling him to just settle down and get married. However, tyler does not follow his advice, therefore proving that he has had the epiphany and been unplugged. Similarly, almost every guru is not a natural alpha, they have been beta just like you have been, and they have been unplugged just as you have been.
Step 3-Independence. At the end of the film Edward Nortons character kills Tyler. This represents what all of us must do, and most of us are afraid to do. We must let of the comfort our gurus, and face the world. We are now enlightened and it is time for us to move on and start living our lives.
