FIGHT CLUBFILM ANALYSISBeth Upchurch – Media Studies

LIGHTING The visual style of Fight Club matches the theme of the story. Harsh lighting and dark

bleak colours help to convey the tone of the film. But also the shift in colours and lighting also help to show the schizophrenic nature of the protagonist.

In scenes where the narrator is away from Tyler and fight club, the lighting is soft, high key, and without any shadows. In his office, all the props and costumes have very neutral colours and plain. Everything in the “normal world” is flat and bland reflecting the protagonist’s feelings towards corporate life and the rut that he feels he is stuck in

Although scenes with Tyler are not necessarily more colourful, the colours are a lot more saturated and are more vivid. When Tyler is around the lighting is dark and there is a larger contrast in colours and light. The scenes with Tyler are very tense and excessive compared to everyday life, and the hard lighting emphasizes the intensity this.

The low key lighting in the film creates dramatic shadows, and in many cases there appears to be no fill light at all, creating some very harsh shadows. Although it is very stylized approach, the lighting of the film still appears realistic. This may be because some of the sources were practical lights that belonged to their locations, such as streetlights for backlighting and fluorescents, which gave the actors a cold, off-colour hue that suits the tone.

MISE-EN-SCENE Costume plays a large part in the mise-en-scene it can instantly tell us the character’s

personality, social status and job. It tells us when the movie was set and what society and/or culture it will centre around.

Tylers Costume resemble clothes from thrift shops instead of branded clothes this enforces his stance against corporations and consumerism.

His shirts are not completely buttoned or tucked in and his jacket is the colour of blood which can represent all the blood spilled throughout the fights and Project Mayhem.

Props/Décor – There are a lot of things in the narrator’s “bachelor pad” that help reinforce themes of consumerism. It seems that he is trying to achieve perfection in his apartment as he has lots of furniture while his fridge remains nearly empty.

This contrast is a reference to the fact he cares more about his own vanity satisfaction then his basic human instincts.

Conventionally, decorating/furnishing is not considered a masculine activity yet the narrator is at one point keenly focused on it, reflecting the films theme of loss of masculinity.

SOUND  The entire Fight Club experience is brought to the audience in part by the voice

over narration. Without this, we wouldn’t hear “I am Jack’s inflamed sense of rejection” (Fight Club, 1999). If this line were to come from the character within the movie, it would have seemed out of place. Voice over narration seems to come from outside of the film, depicting non diegetic sound. In this film, it helps us to visualize “Jack’s” innermost thoughts, his cynicisms, and his all around view on life.

Personally, Fincher’s choice of music is perfect “soundtrack for the end of the world” (Goodykoonts & Jacobs, 2011). Also“Where is my mind” by The Pixies is also the song played in the final scene of the movie, just as the last line of the movie is spoken. The drums lead into the scene when the Narrator tries to explain to Marla that “everything is going to be fine” (Fight Club, 1999) and the music peaks when the first building explodes. This adds emphasis and dramatic effect engaging with the audience and adding tension/suspense throughout.

Also, sound effects make this film. Without them, this film wouldn’t be anywhere near as effective, dramatic, tense etc. Each punch has a sound effect emphasising the violence throughout relating to the title ‘Fight Club’.

CAMERA ANGLES This scene is shot at a high angle which decreases the attention on or the

significance of the characters in this shot, and rather focuses on our attention to eh street sign that reads “Paper St.”

The real definition of a “Paper Street” is a road or street that appears on maps but doesn’t exist in reality.

The narrator basically created the street in his mind, and everything he saw and imagined became real to him. However, in reality the “map” which was his mentality, showed that this was not reality but just his imagination – it never existed.

Aside from the street name being the most important reason for this camera angle, the director also wanted to show how run-down the neighbourhood really was; this resembled the way Tyler Durden was portrayed and how he carried himself.

CAMERA & CHARACTER PLACEMENT An example of this is in the scene after the narrator and Tyler fought

outside of the club, walking back to Tylers house. The camera placement is at a distance, shot from a lower angle to elevate

the size of the main subject in this frame. Both the narrator and Tyler are in the lower right corner of the shot, which de-emphasizes the two (the narrator especially), but emphasizes what is important in this scene:

The dark street and the broken-down raggedy house which is taking up the majority of the frame.

THEMES ISOLATION - Jack's insomnia and lack of satisfaction in his life stem largely from his

isolation. Never does he mention any friends in his voice-over, nor do we meet any. Jack has to attend support group meetings just to experience a human connection. Marla suffers the same isolation. She doesn't appear to have anybody in her life who is concerned for her. She demonstrates that this isolation doesn't pertain simply to men in society, but to all. 

CONSUMER CULTURE - The film repeatedly critiques the values adopted by advertising: youth, beauty, power, and wealth. Tyler's philosophy contends that people work jobs that they don't enjoy to keep up the appearance of a life that "has it all." In reality these people are deeply unhappy, not simply because this lifestyle does not sustain them in a spiritual sense, but because they don't feel like they can talk to anyone about these problems. Instead, they continue to buy cleverly marketed goods to make themselves feel better.

VIOLENCE - The fighting in the film is not presented as a solution to the character's problems, but is a means to reaching a spiritual reawakening. The fighting itself reminds the men that they are alive. As part of Tyler's philosophy, it also reminds them that they will die. As part of that philosophy, the men are seeking something of true value, instead of the value system handed down to them by advertising and society as a whole.

PLOT SUMMARY A young man leads a pretty humdrum life assessing car crashes to

determine if his automobile company should issue recalls to fix problems. He also suffers from insomnia and takes to attending group therapy sessions for people who have survived various diseases. There he meets Marla who like him attends these sessions though she is neither a victim nor a survivor.

His life changes when he meets Tyler Durden on a flight home. Tyler seems to be everything that he's not and together they create a men-only group for bare knuckle fighting. It soon becomes all the rage with fight clubs springing up across the country and group itself becoming an anti-capitalist domestic terrorist organization. Tyler and Maria develop a relationship leaving him often on the outside of what is going on. He soon finds that the group is out of control and after a major self-revelation decides there is only one way out.

EXTRA INFO Marla is not real: One of the first clues that Marla is not real is her likeness to Tyler. Fincher

offers us clever, subtle hints that Tyler and Marla are the same person as Jack. One of the most obvious signs are the clothing that Marla and Tyler wear.

Tyler’s hair is styled and worn almost identical to Marla’s throughout most of the film. Marla and Tyler are both seen wearing a similar faux fur coat, wearing sunglasses, almost identical rings and they are seen smoking in virtually every scene in the film.

Even the framing of the shots is nearly identical when they are shown wearing similar clothes as well as the same facial expressions.