History Film / FightClub

[[caption-width-right:300:''[[{{Tagline}} Don't ever talk about it.]]'']]

[[caption-width-right:300:''[[BrickJoke Don't ever talk about it.]]'']]

The film's story follows the life of an unnamed man (Creator/EdwardNorton) -- named simply as "Narrator" in the credits and referred to as [[FanNickname "Jack"]] in the script due to his recurring "I am Jack's ____" monologue -- who has grown discontented with his life, which seems only to revolve around working at his dreary corporate job, going to support group meetings for diseases he doesn't have, and indulging in endless bouts of meaningless consumerism, all of which he does while struggling with chronic insomnia.

Apart from [[UnusualEuphemism seasoning]] the lobster bisque, he farted on the lemon meringue, sneezed on braised endive, and as for the cream of mushroom soup, well...\\

-->'''Narrator''': He was the guerilla terrorist for the food service industry. Apart from [[UnusualEuphemism seasoning]] the lobster bisque, he farted on the lemon meringue, sneezed on braised endive, and as for the cream of mushroom soup, well ...
-->'''Tyler''': (''chuckling'') Go ahead. Tell 'em.
-->'''Narrator''': [[{{Squick}} You get the idea]].

** When the narrator attempts to call Tyler after his appartment has exploded from a gas leak, Tyler doesn't answer the phone, but immediately calls the narrator back. ''In a phone booth''. [[spoiler:Since Tyler isn't real, the narrator's attempt to call him would fail, but imagining that Tyler calls him back is a lot easier.]]

** One internet ad has the narrator saying the exact same lines that [[spoiler:Tyler]] says in the actual film.

* AteHisGun: In the film, this is actually ZigZagged. [[spoiler:Following the "I am the one holding the gun" line, The Narrator puts his gun in his mouth, and shoots himself...through his cheek. It's here that Tyler is finally "killed", and it shows Tyler with his brains blown out the back of his head.]]

* BaldOfEvil: Members of Project Mayhem shave their head as part of the initiation process. [[spoiler: Tyler also appears with a shaved head after TheReveal.]]

-->''This is Bob.''
-->''Bob had bitch tits.''

--> '''Narrator:''' [[BrickJoke I still can't think of anything.]] \\
'''Tyler''': Ah. [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall Flashback humor.]]

* BrokenAce: Tyler, being [[spoiler: the narrator's subconscious conception of his ideal self, which he manifests as an alternate personality.]]

* CardboardBoxOfUnemployment: {{Averted}}. When the Narrator blackmails his boss at the automotive company into letting him "work from home," he leaves the office with a ''shopping cart'' full of fax machines, phones, and computer paraphernalia. Not a cardboard box in sight, despite the office set having been painstakingly designed, built, and filmed to evoke a quintessential soul-sucking, 9-to-5, white-collar corporate headquarters.
* CassandraTruth: {{Averted}}. The Narrator tries to confess [[spoiler:his alter ego's crimes]], and is believed, only to realize that everyone in the room is in on it.

* CavalryBetrayal: Once he realises the full extent of Project Mayhem's plans [[spoiler: the narrator goes to the police and tells them the whole story, only to discover that the detectives he's talking are part of a Fight Club themselves, and they almost castrate him.]]

--> '''Narrator:''' God dammit! Fuck ''you''. Fuck Fight Club, fuck Marla, I am ''sick'' of all your shit.

* DarkMessiah: Tyler collected followers from the titular boxing club, promised them BetterLivingThroughEvil, and used them to [[WesternTerrorists reset society to a freer, more primitive state]]. [[spoiler: Besides that, he [[AteHisGun died for his cause]], in the hopes of creating a legend]].
-->'''Narrator''': Where would Jesus be if no one had written the gospels? ...You want to be a legend, Tyler, man, I'll make you a legend. I've been here from the beginning. [[HowWeGotHere I remember everything]].

--> "You don't know where I've been!"

* {{Escapism}}: Why the Fight Clubs are invented and [[spoiler: what Tyler is for the narrator.]]

-->'''Marla''': This is cancer, right?

* FakeOutMakeOut: {{Subverted}}: Tyler pulls Marla into a corner in a hallway to escape the paramedics, but instead of kissing her, he does a bit of an awkward dance to pass the time.

* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: {{Subverted}}: the film seems to be about Tyler Durden, and The Narrator just tells his story. [[spoiler:But it turns out they're the same person]].
* FistOfRage: An interesting inversion of this trope happens when the Narrator is being threatened by his boss, he looks down at his hand and is surprised to see it clenched into a shaking fist. Moments later, he unleashes a brutal beatdown ... on himself. [[spoiler: But then, the twist in the end indicates that this was not the first time he beat himself either...]]

** How the Narrator specifically states "one" and not "ones", so either meaning [[spoiler: Tyler or Marla specifically]] when he states "that old saying, how you always hurt the one you love? Well, it works both ways". Considering the context of that situation and the fact [[spoiler: he only thought of Marla later, it seems pretty clear exactly who he meant...]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Tyler's presence is foreshadowed by his image getting spliced into several frames of footage at a few points before his actual introduction. [[spoiler: It's been said that this is because the narrator is still creating Tyler in his mind.]]

** When the narrator attempts to call Tyler after his appartment has exploded from a gas leak, Tyler doesn't answer the phone, but immediately calls the narrator back. ''In a phone booth''. [[spoiler: Since Tyler isn't real, the narrator's attempt to call him would fail, but imagining that Tyler calls him back is a lot easier.]]
** Many lines point to the twist that might not become apparent until a second viewing. Especially obvious with lines such as, [[spoiler:"I know this because Tyler knows this", "If you could wake up in a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?", "I already knew the story before he told it to me"]]. When the Narrator fights himself in his boss' office, he muses, [[spoiler:"For some reason, I was reminded of my first fight with Tyler."]] At one point Bob tells the narrator of [[spoiler:a rumor that Tyler never sleeps, forming a possible connection to the Narrator's insomnia]]. Another is after mouthing off to his boss, he muses [[spoiler: "Tyler's words coming out of my mouth"]].
** [[spoiler: Marla interacts with either Tyler or the narrator, never both at the same time. She always gives him strange looks when he talks or acts like there is a third person in the house. This is most notable when he tells her "... Tyler's not here! Tyler's gone!"]]

** One internet ad has the narrator saying the exact same lines that [[spoiler: Tyler]] says in the actual film.
** When the Narrator and Tyler go out drinking after the apartment explosion, as Tyler's listing the things that concern him nowadays in a consumer-focused society, one of them is [[spoiler: "some guy's name in my underwear". Exactly how it got there or why it'd concern him isn't stated]], but it takes a new meaning upon rewatch.
*** Following that is when Tyler tells the Narrator off for letting things like his furniture define him, however [[spoiler: Tyler mentions the sofa's Strinne green stripe pattern, a detail the Narrator only revealed to the audience.]]
*** Another detail being when Tyler offers the Narrator [[spoiler: a cigarette, he turns it down on account of how he doesn't smoke. The Narrator is seen smoking more and more; the first time at work his boss reprimands him that smoking isn't allowed and the second, one is off to the side as he [[GoingPostal threatens his boss]], thoughtful of it's sounds like "Tyler's words coming out of my mouth".]]

* FuturePrimitive: {{Discussed}} in Tyler's vision for things to come:
--> In the world I see - you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway.

--> '''Tyler Durden:''' Our fathers were our models for God. If our fathers bailed, what does that tell you about God?
--> '''Narrator:''' No, no, I... don't...
--> '''Tyler Durden:''' Listen to me! You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you. He never wanted you. In all probability, He hates you. This is not the worst thing that can happen.
--> '''Narrator:''' It isn't?
--> '''Tyler Durden:''' We don't need Him!

* GoodCopBadCop: The narrator and Tyler do this to the Project Mayhem applicants. [[spoiler: Which becomes ''really'' weird after you get to we find out Tyler is the Narrator.]]

* GutPunch: [[spoiler: Bob's death.]]

* HeKnowsTooMuch: [[spoiler: Tyler tries to kill Marla because she knows too much about Project Mayhem and could compromise plan to destroy the credit card companies' headquarters.]]

* HellBentForLeather: Tyler Durden wears red leather and goes as far as to say that in an ideal world a man will own just one set of clothes for his entire life, made of leather. [[spoiler: He's supposed to be a subconscious representation of the repressed protagonist's idea of masculinity.]]

-->'''Jack''': ...this button-down, Oxford-cloth psycho might just snap, and then stalk from office to office with an Armalite AR-10 carbine gas-powered semi-automatic weapon, pumping round after round into colleagues and co-workers. This might be someone you've known for years. Someone very, very close to you.

* TheInsomniac: The Narrator's insomnia is what sparks the plot. [[spoiler: In more ways than one, it would seem...]]

** Fincher gets in another meta-gag with the Blu-Ray release. [[spoiler: When you initially boot it up, the menu for ''Film/NeverBeenKissed'' comes up for a few seconds.]]

** [[spoiler: Every fight the Narrator had with Tyler is this in reality.]]

* LittleNo: The Narrator [[spoiler: when he realizes that he and Tyler [[OhCrap are the same person.]]]]

* MadeOfIron: Lots of characters, but particularly Tyler and the Narrator. [[spoiler: Doubly so for the Narrator, because Tyler is his Split Personality, meaning that whatever happens to Tyler happens to the Narrator as well.]]

** In a way, the confident, flamboyant Tyler is also an MPDG to the uptight nameless narrator. There's a serious homoerotic subtext between them throughout the movie (less surprising when you realize that the author is gay). The narrator just drifts through life until Tyler shows up, and their relationship changes his life and his outlook forever. And then[[spoiler: you find out that Tyler was just the narrator's split personality all along. In the end, he kills "Tyler" off]].

* NarratorAllAlong: [[spoiler: Tyler is the narrator's split personality]].

* OneDialogueTwoConversations: A variation of this occurs in the scene in which Marla comes into the kitchen of the narrator and Tyler's house and he asks her what she gets out of her relationship with Tyler. [[spoiler: She thinks he is asking about her relationship with ''him'' because she thinks he ''is'' Tyler. She then asks him what he gets out of his relationship with her and he thinks that she is asking about ''his'' relationship with ''Tyler''.]]

* PoliceAreUseless: The police aren't very good at investigating and stopping Project Mayhem. Justified; [[spoiler: Project Mayhem infiltrated and intimidated the police in order to continue operating.]]
* PrettyBoy: Angel Face. [[spoiler: It's part of the reason The Narrator brutally beats him at Fight Club.]]

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: Twice. The first is when Tyler blurts out about his role in the destruction of the Narrator's apartment. The second is the TomatoInTheMirror surprise below.]]

* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: The Narrator and Tyler at first appear to be this to a certain extent, then we realize fairly soon that they are not so diferent terms of their attitude toward society and life in general, and this is ''before'' we find out that [[spoiler: Tyler is actually the narrator's split personality.]]

* ShooOutTheClowns: Bob, the testicular cancer survivor, is rather dark comic relief. [[spoiler: He gets fatally shot before the third act, when things get even darker]].

** The penis flashes that Tyler cuts into movies are likely a nod to the beginning of Creator/IngmarBergman's Film/{{Persona}}, a film with comparable themes of identity, professional disillusionment, and [[spoiler: split personalities]].

* TheSnarkKnight: The narrator and Tyler, Tyler moreso, since he is [[spoiler: literally the narrator's uninhibited id.]]

** Tyler invokes this trope to remind "Jack" [[spoiler: that he doesn't exist]] after Jack tries to shoot him. After Jack keeps firing, Tyler just gets exasperated and knocks the gun away.
-->'''Tyler''': Whoa! Whoa! OK. You are now firing your gun [[spoiler: at your imaginary friend]]... '''[[SuddenlyShouting NEAR FIVE HUNDRED GALLONS OF NITROGLYCERIN!!]]'''
** Another example is when Bob and other members wearing ski masks blows up a art piece that destroys a coffee shop end with them being chased by the police and [[spoiler: Bob getting shot in the head and dying]] Lampshaded by the Narrator

** [[spoiler: The Narrator's interactions with Marla Singer show her as almost cartoonishly deranged until near the end of the movie, where she confirms the Narrator is himself Tyler Durden. Tyler got all the fun times with Marla, and only allowed the Narrator to remember a very little bit; every time Marla was obnoxious, the Narrator got the full brunt without knowing anything else about her personality.]]

--> '''Narrator''': You met me at a very strange time in my life.

* WeHaveBecomeComplacent: One of Tyler's critiques of consumerism is that it suppresses humanity's natural instincts, breeding complacency and stalling evolution. [[spoiler: Project Mayhem is created to bring humanity back to square one and start over for this very purpose.]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: All but said in relation to Tyler and [[spoiler: the narrator and how Tyler "dies".]]

[[caption-width-right:300:''[[{{Tagline}} Mischief. Mayhem. Soap.]]'']]

* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: In the book, [[spoiler:the protagonist tries to destroy one building, but fails when Tyler botches the explosive mixture (which the book foreshadows in the opening chapter). The Narrator ends up in a mental institution -- though he considers it {{Heaven}} -- and some of its wardens are members of Project Mayhem, who patiently wait for Tyler to return from the depths of the Narrator's mind. The book also explicitly says the mental split happened the moment the Narrator fell in love with Marla -- the Tyler psyche loved her, while his regular psyche hated her -- while the movie only hinted at this.]] In the movie, [[spoiler:the Narrator manages to regain his sanity, but eleven buildings end up annihilated by Tyler's explosives, with the Narrator and Marla hold hands while watching in awe. [[FreezeFrameBonus Nice big cock]], roll credits.]] Creator/ChuckPalahniuk has gone on record saying he liked the movie's ending more than his.

* AdaptationDistillation: Sheds several of the book's subplots and changes the ending significantly. The author actually prefers the film to his own work.

* InevitablyBrokenRule: "The first rule of Flight Club is 'You do NOT talk about Fight Club!'" Guess what happens? See also SchmuckBait and ReversePsychology.
* IronicEcho: Related to ArcWords. One example that stands out in particular is when the group leader for the Testicular Cancer support group that the Narrator visits addresses the people in the room with the phrase "I look around this room and I see a lot of...", which Tyler steals while making his "Middle Children of History" speech later on in the film.
* IronicName: Angel Face. Once he fights the Narrator, let's just say [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown he doesn't]] [[FacialHorror live up to the name anymore]].

* IJustWantToBeFree / IJustWantToBeSpecial: Feeling trapped in his monotonous, materialistic lifestyle, the Narrator searches for a way to break out of the mold.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: Lacking any real friends, the Narrator joins self-help groups for diseases he doesn't have in order to make 'friends' from, which he doesn't even stick to, and then enters into a mutual relationship with Tyler.

%%* KnightTemplar: Tyler Durden.

* MadeOfIron: Lots of characters, but particularly Tyler and the Narrator. [[spoiler: Doubly so for the Narrator, because Tyler is his Split Personality, meaning that whatever happens to Tyler happens to the Narrator as well.]]

* MarshmallowHell: [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bitchtitsbob.jpg This is Bob.]] [[FanDisservice Bob had bitch tits.]]

* MrExposition: The Narrator provides details on his life, Tyler's background, and other plot-important details through, well, his [[CaptainObvious narration]].

* RewatchBonus: A huge part of the popularity and enduring appeal of the film. The second time you watch the film, you'll wonder how you didn't realize that [[spoiler:Tyler is not real]], that you may have {{handwave}}d as coincidences the first time round, such as Tyler and the protagonist owning the same type of suitcase, or even as continuity errors such as the Narrator being pulled from the ''driver's'' seat after the car crash. In fact the film has so many examples that it [[Fridge/FightClub has its own page]] - suffice to say that when you finish it, you ''will'' watch it again almost immediately. You'll also be amazed at how much your perception of Marla changes the second time around - her actions seem far less irrational once you have the whole picture. You'll also try to spot all the single frame shots of Tyler that appear before he actually shows up in-character.

* RefugeInAudacity: [[RuleOfThree Tyler]].

* YourMindMakesItReal: Outright stated a couple of times, with [[spoiler:the Narrator's evolution into Tyler.]]

* EveryoneHasStandards: One rule of Fight Club is that any two men in a fight must fight for as long as possible--but as soon as they go limp or surrender, the fight ends, no questions asked. It's called "Fight Club", not "Beat Each Other To Death Club", after all. That's the main reason why the only crowd reaction to the Narrator's [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown fight]] with Angel Face was genuine shock and disgust.