Professional Fangirl- Katelyn Benschoter

I am what you may consider to be a film nerd. I have taken many film classes, and I enjoy learning about behind-the-scenes facts from my favorite films. That being said, there does tend to be a certain kind of film I lean towards and expect myself to enjoy. That does not mean that I simply do not watch other genres or films that are outside of this bubble; they just do not tend to be a notable favorite for me. But one recent watch was different. This was none other than David Fincher’s Fight Club from 1999. This is an action and suspense film heavily recommended to me by a friend of mine. I agreed to watch it as she was extremely enthusiastic about the film, and in particular, the suspenseful nature and the shocking twist at the end of the film. I typically do not gravitate towards action-heavy films, but I do enjoy a good twist. After watching the film, it was safe to say it exceeded my expectations, and I have not stopped thinking about this film ever since. Despite the well-known rule of not talking about Fight Club, I am going to continue to talk a lot about Fight Club for the rest of this piece.

Going into this film, I was ready to be wowed; I was anticipating this twist. I expected to have to force myself to keep watching, with my only goal being to get to the twist. But this was not the case. I was intrigued right from the start. The film follows Ed Norton, who plays the narrator, a depressed loner. We never find out his character’s name; we just follow him throughout the film. We see him become frustrated with his life and his job, and to find support, we see him go to support group meetings for cancer, addiction, and a slew of other things he does not struggle with. He is not addicted to drugs but rather the feeling of community, even if he does not belong to those communities. He then meets Marla, who is also attending these support groups for the same reason. This ruins the fun for him and leads to his continued downward spiral. It is at this point that the film takes a turn and switches from a suspenseful film just following a lonely man into an intense and violent film. Our narrator meets a man named Tyler Durden, whom our narrator becomes obsessed with in a strange way. They end up living together after our narrator’s apartment has a fire, and he is forced to move. You could say the two are friends, but that term does not seem right somehow. It feels more accurate to say they both fill a role in each other’s lives rather than a genuine friendship. Our narrator wants to be more like Tyler Durden and needs his attention, and Tyler needs some form of meaningful relationships in his life.

This is the point in the film when I expected it to lose me. The suspenseful, witty start really grabbed my attention, but now the film was getting violent. Durden brings the narrator to an underground fight club. This is a place where men are supposed to be able to find purpose through winning these fights. On this basis, this is not a plot point that would entice me, but somehow it did. This film is known as a beloved film by men, and is often put in the same category as The Wolf of Wall Street or American Psycho, meaning if you know a man who sees himself in these characters, run. The men in these films are not heroes to admire, and are quite morally wrong. Because of this, it can be very interesting to read the films through a satirical lens. I found it very humorous to watch as the men thought the only way they could find purpose was through violence. This sequence and idea actually roped me in quite well and made me more intrigued to keep watching. 

As I mentioned previously, the reason I agreed to watch this film was because of this apparent massive twist. Which naturally leads one to overanalyze every detail leading up to the eventually revealed twist. Despite this film being released twenty-five years ago, I am going to choose to leave out the details of the final twist. I do feel as if the world has agreed to keep this twist locked down, and I do think watching this film for the first time is a better experience when not knowing the twist. This is not a Star Wars, Darth Vader is Luke’s father twist, no, this is big. There were a few times when I thought I was getting close to understanding the twist, and becoming frankly disappointed. By the end of the film, I was really enjoying it, and if the twist fell flat, I was going to have some strong feelings. All that to say, when the twist was revealed and explained, I was shocked. It is genius, and I was never once close to figuring it out. This was not a twist that only had me shocked, but it changed the way in which you consider the entire film. I have yet to watch the film again, but when I inevitably do, I can not wait to look for all the signs.
If you are looking for a sign to watch a film that is outside of what you typically go for, this is it. I am not into violent, action, male-dominated films. But Fight Club is one of my favorite watches of the last few months. From the dynamic acting to the excellent costuming, to the layered themes of identity, consumerism, and even mental health, this film was so much more than I ever expected it to be. Despite being a film that is recognized for being good, and a top four favorite on many letterboxed users’ profiles, there are still people out there who dislike this film because of the violence and themes around masculinity. To that I say go into watching this with an open mind. To restate, I did not expect to ever love or even like this film. I think this film can be read in many different ways, so if the masculine themes and extreme violence are stopping you from watching, think about why that is, and why the director might have chosen to include those ideas. How may different groups feel about this film? I think if you are new to analyzing films and want to get more into film, this would be a great one to start with. If I have not convinced you yet, I want to reiterate that this is one of the best twist films I have ever seen. I will stop breaking the well-known rule of not talking about Fight Club now, but I hope my time talking about it has convinced you to give it a try.