The Art of Fight Club

Welcome to fight. The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Fight Club. The third rule of Fight Club: if someone yells "stop!" goes limp or taps out, the fight is over. Fourth rule: only two guys to a fight. Fifth rule: one fight at a time, fellas. Sixth rule: the fights are bare knuckle. No shirt, no shoes, no weapons. Seventh rule: fights will go on as long as they have to. And the eighth rule and final rule: if this is your first time at Fight Club, you have to fight. 

These words were spoken by the egnimatic Tyler Durden. Fight Club is originally a 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk. David Fincher acquired the rights to the book and in 1999, the film starring the seriously underrated stars Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, alongside the novel, became cult classics.

Fight Club is a morbid tale of how we are beguiled to be consumed by the things we owe, so much so that they end up owning us. The best quote in the film the relationship between The Narrator and Tyler Durden is “the things you own end up owning you.” We are obsessed with the things we don’t have and the people we were never meant to be that we become blinded and we create an image of ourselves to fill up the void inside. We buy things we can live without because we are vacant inside. What influenced me about Fight Club is how beautiful the violence is and the brutality is rightfully exercised because we live vicariously through The Narrator who walks us through his deranged self in form of Tyler Durden, his alter-ego. He walks us through his propensity to use the vulnerable to make himself feel alive. What fascinated me the most about Fight Club is the way David Fincher used Tyler Durden as a device to mask The Narrator’s hidden desire to fight the hierarchy; those who deprived him of sleep, those who lied to the public so they can use us. Together with Tyler, his alter-ego, he creates fight club to release his repressed male aggression against a society of liars. I’m influenced by Fincher’s ability to set up an alluring mystery with an unusual dark whimsical touch. He aggregates a beautiful brutality and demonstrates a graphic glimpse into a world verging on cognitive insanity. I love how his film plays the minds of the viewer which is great because it is the glue to having a sustaining fan base.

Brad Pitt and a bar of homemade soup.

Fight Club Synopsis

An unnamed narrator works as a Product Recall Specialist for an unnamed car company. He is responsible for determining if product recalls of defective models meet cost-benefit analysis. The stress of his job combined with his frequent business trips leads to perpetual jet lag. He comes to recognize that his identity is imposed on him by his job and by his possessions and that he is not in control of his life.

At his doctor's - perhaps facetious - recommendation, the narrator attends a support group for men suffering from testicular cancer, to "see what real suffering is like". He finds that crying and listening to the problems of others cures his insomnia. This treatment works until he meets another impersonator, Marla Singer.

The possibly disturbed Marla reflects the narrator's "tourism", reminding him that he is a faker and does not belong there. He begins to hate Marla for keeping him from crying, and, therefore, from sleeping. After a confrontation, they agree to attend separate support group meetings to avoid each other. The truce is uneasy, however, and the narrator's insomnia returns.

The Many Faces of Marla Singer

The gorgeous Helena Bonham Carta, Marla Singer, blowing smoke from her ciggarette

The narrator soon meets Tyler Durden, a cooler version of himself, and he begins to let go of his pinned up masculinity in the form of violence. He has a breakthrough euphoria when he fights. He soon realizes the man he truly is and hates the monster inside.

Fight Club catapulted the writing career of Palahniuk and cemented Norton and Pitt as icons. Fight Club did poorly at the box office but through word of mouth, its excellence signified its cult status. Fight Club spoke about how materialism is the death of a human. We've become walk endorsements for the companies we by for. We are slaves to consumerism. Fight Club helps the lost find refuge by taking out their rage against the world. The soon want to destroy the world for enslaving us to their propaganda.

Promotional DVD Cover of Fight Club starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton

The man who was once a slave is now the master. He takes the reigns and prepares the judgments. With the help of Durden, his alter ego, the narrator chooses his freedom.

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk is apart of trangressive fiction. Transgressive fiction have characters who are confined in social norms and uphold high expectations in society. They usually break free from the confines through illicit acts. The subject matters of this genra are taboo such as pedophilia, drugs, and crime.

Fight Club represents the death of GenX. The kids who grew up with Kurt Cobain...

 

Kurt Cobain

Were now unhappy 20somethings. They were slaves to materialism. The men of Fight Club used violenced to regain their lost masculinaty. Through violence it was man vs. himself. They fought against the beast that was dormant. We are beast! Repressing our anger to please the world is an excuse for slavery. Slavery is dead and so are we if we haven't realized it.

Thank you, Chuck, for waking up the dead.

Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.

That's Fight Club in a nutshell. All hail Tyler Durden. Remember kids, "The things you own, end up owning you." Don't believe in the hype of buying the latest trend to compete with your peers. You're only competiing with yourself and nine times out of ten, you lose.

Are You MESMERIZED BY CONFUSION?

Apparently the people on Massify are. Massify is an amazing site that allows filmmakers to collaborate and make films. I am on the brink of discovery as my film Mesmerized by Confusion is getting buzz from that website.

 

Last Monday, I realized my life will never be fulfilled if one of my scripts never gets made into a film. Years ago, I suffered a heartbreaking wake up call when I realized my film, The Arts of Chaos, was actually a disaster. It really was. I never gave up. I hate quitters. I got back up and wrote.

Since then, I have written two scripts I consider my magnum opera: Under Canvas Skies (more on that soon) and Chameleon (more on that soon). The only problem is that these two scripts are sweeping epics. I needed a smaller film. Nobody is going to give me a huge budget. I need to wait and rewrite.
With Mesmerized by Confusion, I submitted a sample seven page script about a criminal psychologist studying four deranged female criminals who have turned their backs on authority and civilization. Together the women defy the law and uphold an anarchist regime.
Sounds simple, right? Many complimented it as a female Fight Club meets V for Vendetta.

Brad Pitt, Tyler Durden (left)

Edward Norton, The Narrator, (right)

Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman

I submitted my sample script at a comedy competition for Lionsgate and Massify. Although I got complimentary reviews on the script, [see here at http://www.massify.com/projects/mesmerizedbyconfusion,  http://www.massify.com/partnerships/lionsgate/makingcomedy/concept/entry/mesmerizedbyconfusion] it was obvious my film didn't fit the comedy mold. I was getting that although my script would make an amazing high concept thriller, it’s not a comedy! Quite frankly I'm not a good comedic writer. Actually, I'm quite terrible. Yet, I can act comedy well. My forte is physical comedy.

Needless to say, I lost the competition. No hurt feelings. People still loved the script. The girl who won, Barbara Gray, had a timely script called The Wrong Guys for the Job. The sample was a brilliant piece about two buddies helping worthy job applicants find jobs by applying and blowing their interviews and in the process, helping the more qualified applicants get hired. Guess what it is? It's a comedy and a damn good one at that [check it out: http://www.massify.com/projects/thewrongguysforthejob]!
Last Monday, I had euphony. I spoke to my friend and asked, “How can I find investors who are willing to fund my independent debut?” He told me about product placement. Restaurants, cars dealerships, artillery, anything that I will use in the film! I think that's brilliant. Three years ago I wrote a thorough business plan for my failed script that was well loved. Eighty-two pages of dissecting the power of a failed script! Well last Tuesday, precisely at midnight, I posted jobs for the massify crew to come and audition for my film. By six o'clock that evening, as I waited for MJSBIGBLOG to post the song spoilers on American Idol, yes I watch American Idol but if I have to put the blame on someone a-la Rita Hayworth in Gilda [see the caption below] I wholeheartedly blame David Cook, season 7 winner for his breathtaking performances.

Still from Gilda (1946): The most beautiful movie starlet of all time, Rita Hayworth, singing "Put the Blame on Mame"

 David Cook, thanks man for turning me into a fan of the largest glorified karaoke show on Earth, but in your defense, "you can sing the phonebook" among other things. That does take talent. 

Anyways, I'm getting distracting. For now on, blame him! I was utterly shocked that in less than one day, I had eight incredibly gifted independent directors sent me submissions to direct my script. It's been a week and I have fourteen director submissions, three Ethan submissions, five Ethan submissions-in-waiting, two Kirsten submissions-in-waiting, three Leslie submissions, two Leslie submissions-in-waiting, and two sound production assistant submissions! WOW! Their resumes are amazing. I guess Mesmerized by Confusion is a good thing. I also submitted my project for funding at Indiegogo. I present the links and yes, I'll keep you guys posted on my project. We can make events. Word of mouth is the way to go. The internet is your friend.

Spread the word around! It needs your love!

This Mesmerized by Confusion plot and logline:

Logline:

A psychiatrist studies four deranged girls who terrorize a city. The girls turn their backs on civilization and juncture an anarchist regime.

Synopsis:

Outside his ideal world in the asphalt jungles, Ethan Donovan dwells among the vultures he once denounced. A former vagabond, he has become a bureaucrat working for the right side of the law. Ethan is a noted criminal psychiatrist and journalist. The FBI enlists in Donovan’s expertise to solve the breakout crimes of four notorious female assassins. The bright-eyed articulate man takes the case that changes the course his life.

Quickly, Ethan submerges himself in the case. As he studies the different women, he realizes their sole purpose for the city’s crime sprees.
The four female assassins take a grasp at the world of the powerful and corrupt. They are out to weaken them as a way to prove that our society can be easily bought. They want to eradicate the rules, the orders, the systems, and the hypocrisies. Their message is anarchy among the corrupt and the gullible. Ethan’s obsession leads him to stalk them. He will stop at nothing to bring the women down.
How far can Ethan go without realizing his sympathies for the beautiful women transcend in his loyalty to his criminal past, a past that intertwines him to criminal mastermind Vanessa Millian and Kirsten James. Together, they tie him to a schizophrenic assassin, Jacqueline Evans, and a sly silent killer name Leslie Adams.

Spread the word around! It needs your love!

If you want to read the sample come here:

http://www.massify.com/partnerships/lionsgate/makingcomedy/concept/entry/mesmerizedbyconfusion

If you want to audition, come over here: http://www.massify.com/job/manage

Help make Mesmerized by Confusion happen at http://www.indiegogo.com/Mesmerized-by-Confusion

Thanks... Let's blame Cook when this film happens. The soon-to-be MBC fans need someone to blame. I'm kidding. He's a wonderful singer. I watched American Idol because I wanted to but again, in my defense, he's a breathtaking singer and quite a looker. Mesmerized by Confusion is a possible dream and I need your help. I'll do whatever it takes to make it work. We'll all fight together.

Calvin Coolidge once said, “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

I belive in that quote. The script's core theme is "Press On." Let's "Press On" with Mesmerized by Confusion together.