Fight Club Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal Communication in the film Fight Club
“You’re the most interesting ‘single serving’ friend I have ever met.” These are some of the first words that initiated the close, yet unorthodox relationship between Jack and Tyler Durden in the movie Fight Club. The film follows the narrator (indirectly referred to as Jack) and the entire movie takes place from his perspective. This is an important factor when analyzing the relationship between him and Tyler, because we only see the events through Jack’s eyes. The relationship between these key characters is a reflection of Mark Knapp’s developmental model as shown in Adler & Rodman (2012). (p.205) In the film the audience can clearly see the three major stages, coming together, maintenance, and coming apart. I will show these stages and how they relate to the narrator’s development through the movie. The film begins with Jack, a businessman with a bad case of insomnia. His insomnia is a constant struggle for him throughout the movie, but it is not the focal point of his relationship with Tyler. The only cure to his insomnia is to join support groups for diseases and cancers he doesn’t have, but pretends to. By interacting with the people in these groups, he finds his catharsis through the guided meditation and the caring atmosphere. Then he meets Tyler Durden, where the audience witnesses the “coming together” stages between these two characters. (Adler & Rodman, 2012) Tyler Durden is a traveling soap salesman whom Jack meets on a business trip. In the narrative, Jack refers to the items in his travels as “single serving” such as, single serving meals, single serving soap, and shampoo in hotels. Hence at the end of his first conversation with Tyler, Jack calls him a “single serving friend”. Tyler’s response insight into their future relationship “You’re clever, how has ‘being clever’ been working out for you?” Jack is constantly hiding behind his
“You’re the most interesting ‘single serving’ friend I have ever met.” These are some of the first words that initiated the close, yet unorthodox relationship between Jack and Tyler Durden in the movie Fight Club. The film follows the narrator (indirectly referred to as Jack) and the entire movie takes place from his perspective. This is an important factor when analyzing the relationship between him and Tyler, because we only see the events through Jack’s eyes. The relationship between these key characters is a reflection of Mark Knapp’s developmental model as shown in Adler & Rodman (2012). (p.205) In the film the audience can clearly see the three major stages, coming together, maintenance, and coming apart. I will show these stages and how they relate to the narrator’s development through the movie. The film begins with Jack, a businessman with a bad case of insomnia. His insomnia is a constant struggle for him throughout the movie, but it is not the focal point of his relationship with Tyler. The only cure to his insomnia is to join support groups for diseases and cancers he doesn’t have, but pretends to. By interacting with the people in these groups, he finds his catharsis through the guided meditation and the caring atmosphere. Then he meets Tyler Durden, where the audience witnesses the “coming together” stages between these two characters. (Adler & Rodman, 2012) Tyler Durden is a traveling soap salesman whom Jack meets on a business trip. In the narrative, Jack refers to the items in his travels as “single serving” such as, single serving meals, single serving soap, and shampoo in hotels. Hence at the end of his first conversation with Tyler, Jack calls him a “single serving friend”. Tyler’s response insight into their future relationship “You’re clever, how has ‘being clever’ been working out for you?” Jack is constantly hiding behind his