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Fight Club's Philosophy

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Fight Club's Philosophy
Fight Club 's Philosophy
Today, a large part of society revolves around entertainment, such as movies, television shows, and novels. Many of these forms of entertainment contain hints of philosophical ideas in the content. They aid in the exposure of philosophy to the public through obscure meanings hiding behind interesting plots. No matter how intricate or how simple the plot may be, philosophical lessons could always be concealed in the characteristics of the protagonist of a book, or in the script of a movie. A clear example of these hidden meanings in works of entertainment is the movie Fight Club. This movie tells the story of a man that remains nameless throughout the movie. This man, who is the film 's narrator, is portrayed as a mediocre businessman. The narrator mainly keeps to himself and stays invisible to the world, feeling somewhat trapped and restricted by an unknown cause. His dull life is flipped upside down when he becomes acquainted with Tyler Durden. Tyler and the narrator start an underground club together, and they call it Fight Club. The purpose of the club is for men to fight with one another for various reasons, such as blowing off steam or venting from stress. They do not fight to win, nor to settle any score with other men. Tyler 's assertiveness and leadership qualities allow him to become known as the respected leader of the club. The Fight Club branches off into other areas and neighborhoods, as it inevitably grows in members. The narrator is noticeably happier than how he is at the beginning, and he appears as if he has found some meaning in his life. Tyler starts a project called Project Mayhem, which consists of the members of the club committing acts of vandalism targeted towards financial companies all over the area. The Fight Club becomes similar to a large underground terrorist organization. Feeling discomfort towards the growing terrorist activity, the narrator finally confronts Tyler about Project Mayhem. Tyler does not



Cited: Boeree, C. George. "Sigmund Freud." My Webspace Files. 2009. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. <http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/freud.html>. Marx, Karl. "Estranged Labour, Marx, 1844." Marxists Internet Archive. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. <http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/labour.htm>. Onof, Christian J. "Existentialism, Sartre’s [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]."Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 13 Oct. 2004. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. <http://www.iep.utm.edu/sartre-ex/>. Storm, D. Anthony. "A Commentary on Kierkegaard 's Writings." Kierkegaard, D. Anthony Storm 's Commentary on. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. <http://sorenkierkegaard.org/kierkegaard-commentary.html>.

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