The Game (1997)

[minute bull]

Spoilers for The Game

Spoiler

I can't remember if it was shot or not, but the original ending had Nicholas actually shooting his brother at the end with a real bullet, finding out it was just a game, and wandering off the building.

Oh yeah.

No.

I'm confused here on what you mean. How did the audience "not get it"?

FIGHT CLUB follows the tradition common to peers like TRAINSPOTTING (1996) and AMERICAN BEAUTY (same year): unhappy with the current state of affairs a protagonist engages in questionable practices until ultimately realizing avoiding the way things are is what's ruining life. It's a take on the classic hero's journey, but rather than gain a panacea it's about regaining identity and perhaps joie de vivre.

But unlike FIGHT CLUB no one thinks TRAINSPOTTING is promoting the abuse of heroin or that Kevin Spacey would ever fuck a girl let alone an underage one. FIGHT CLUB gets blamed and denigrated (and lauded and celebrated) because critics (and fans) think it's a film that embraces bad counter-culture behavior. And even though Edward Norton (us) figures out his own bad behavior via a dissociated identity and spends the last twenty (although it feels like an hour) of the film trying to convince Brad (us, again, but in a different perspective) that THIS ISN'T THE WAY -- it doesn't stick as much as all the good shit at the beginning when they (we) got to act the fool.

It's not that people didn't get it-get it -- it's that most of us clung to the wrong notion.

In some ways, it's a perfect film that becomes the same as what it's talking about: a misunderstood idea. But THE GAME is more perfect, and so is PANIC ROOM.

 

[Peteyandjia]

In some ways, it's a perfect film that becomes the same as what it's talking about: a misunderstood idea. But THE GAME is more perfect, and so is PANIC ROOM.

Did you just fucking say that Panic Room is a more perfect film than Fight Club?

Because I will fight you irl for that bullshit.

Spoiler

and lose.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

I always have wanted to see that film because it looks really interesting, but I could never find it. I guess I'll look on amazon video and try to rent it.

 

[minute bull]

Because I will fight you irl for that bullshit.

But seriously, there's nothing wrong with being gay. You go, boy.

 

[MusterX]

Oh yeah.

No.


FIGHT CLUB follows the tradition common to peers like TRAINSPOTTING (1996) and AMERICAN BEAUTY (same year): unhappy with the current state of affairs a protagonist engages in questionable practices until ultimately realizing avoiding the way things are is what's ruining life. It's a take on the classic hero's journey, but rather than gain a panacea it's about regaining identity and perhaps joie de vivre.

But unlike FIGHT CLUB no one thinks TRAINSPOTTING is promoting the abuse of heroin or that Kevin Spacey would ever fuck a girl let alone an underage one. FIGHT CLUB gets blamed and denigrated (and lauded and celebrated) because critics (and fans) think it's a film that embraces bad counter-culture behavior. And even though Edward Norton (us) figures out his own bad behavior via a dissociated identity and spends the last twenty (although it feels like an hour) of the film trying to convince Brad (us, again, but in a different perspective) that THIS ISN'T THE WAY -- it doesn't stick as much as all the good shit at the beginning when they (we) got to act the fool.

It's not that people didn't get it-get it -- it's that most of us clung to the wrong notion.

In some ways, it's a perfect film that becomes the same as what it's talking about: a misunderstood idea. But THE GAME is more perfect, and so is PANIC ROOM.

Really? I'm not sure I'm believing your take on that. Why then did he blow up all the major financial institutions at the end of the film, essentially committing a massive act of terrorism? You can claim its about finding himself and not chasing after material goods but in the end he is still committing major acts of crime, not rediscovering his self. Fight Club disintegrates the social contract, it doesn't reaffirm it.

 

[Graves The Elder]

awesome film.
I have a copy and watch it from time to time.
great script and tour de force acting from douglas and penn.

 

[minute bull]

Really? I'm not sure I'm believing your take on that. Why then did he blow up all the major financial institutions at the end of the film, essentially committing a massive act of terrorism? You can claim its about finding himself and not chasing after material goods but in the end he is still committing major acts of crime, not rediscovering his self. Fight Club disintegrates the social contract, it doesn't reaffirm it.

That's a really good point, but I think the social contract element is an affect of the film's theme and not the theme itself. Thereby, his acts of terrorism are an extension of his search for himself, they are not things in and of themselves. They are in effect incidental.

Tyler is a force of nature, not his real desires. He is a process. Tyler's nature is generate chaos, which he does in ever increasing magnitude. There's no thing Tyler wants. Oil in your lawn? Cum in your chowder? The fall of the credit system? INCIDENTAL.

The book is very different from the movie, and in the book it's a bit clearer that there's a lot of autobiographical input. All authors invest themselves into their works, and Chuck Palahniuk is a gay man who wrestles with his identity. I presume not as much these days, but I feel -- like Tyler is a constant source of creating chaos -- there is some part of Palahniuk that will always feel at odds with social convention (and it's not just the homosexuality, but also fitness and aesthetics, etc). But yeah, FIGHT CLUB is about secret gays. Replace FIGHT with FUCK, and it becomes glaringly apparent that is about a guy not ready to deal with his inner demons but out they must come.

The movie still retains some homosexual elements, notably that line, "I'm wondering if another woman is really the answer we need," but it's scaled back to a more generic loneliness. That's why he stays up all night as a different personality and why Marla Singer is such an inciting (and exciting) event in his life: he's found someone. That's what he wants, even though he doesn't know it at the beginning. He doesn't know how much he needed her and clashed against himself in the process, but eventually he figures it out that he needs to take responsibility for himself, his desires, and his consequences.

 

[Peteyandjia]

But seriously, there's nothing wrong with being gay. You go, boy.

I fucked him

 

[minute bull]

 

[Bay Area]

Stupid implausible movie. No way that organization could pull that off. And how did they know he would fall through the glass ceiling at the end?

 

[MusterX]

That's a really good point, but I think the social contract element is an affect of the film's theme and not the theme itself. Thereby, his acts of terrorism are an extension of his search for himself, they are not things in and of themselves. They are in effect incidental.

Tyler is a force of nature, not his real desires. He is a process. Tyler's nature is generate chaos, which he does in ever increasing magnitude. There's no thing Tyler wants. Oil in your lawn? Cum in your chowder? The fall of the credit system? INCIDENTAL.

The book is very different from the movie, and in the book it's a bit clearer that there's a lot of autobiographical input. All authors invest themselves into their works, and Chuck Palahniuk is a gay man who wrestles with his identity. I presume not as much these days, but I feel -- like Tyler is a constant source of creating chaos -- there is some part of Palahniuk that will always feel at odds with social convention (and it's not just the homosexuality, but also fitness and aesthetics, etc). But yeah, FIGHT CLUB is about secret gays. Replace FIGHT with FUCK, and it becomes glaringly apparent that is about a guy not ready to deal with his inner demons but out they must come.

The movie still retains some homosexual elements, notably that line, "I'm wondering if another woman is really the answer we need," but it's scaled back to a more generic loneliness. That's why he stays up all night as a different personality and why Marla Singer is such an inciting (and exciting) event in his life: he's found someone. That's what he wants, even though he doesn't know it at the beginning. He doesn't know how much he needed her and clashed against himself in the process, but eventually he figures it out that he needs to take responsibility for himself, his desires, and his consequences.

Well congratulations, you have successfully sullied one of my favorite movies by putting "Fuck Club" in my mind. I haven't read the book so this comes as a bit of a shock to me. You are basically telling me that Fight Club is about repressed homosexuality.