How Fight Club Explores Nietzschean and Freudian Philosophy

philosophical ideas often find their way into novels and films as both provide a medium in which to explore these ideas more engagingly whether intentional or unintentional films can often be viewed through different philosophical lenses and provide audiences with new Concepts and outlooks and sometimes even giving them a better understanding of themselves Chris paulinuk's 1996 novel Fight Club and David Finch's subsequent 1999 film interpretation is no exception to this fight club opens itself up to being read in numerous ways for example a Marxist lens a modern psychological reading a commentary on Modern consumerism and can even be viewed biblically however the two philosophers that stood out for me the first time I read the novel and watched the film were Freud and Nietzsche Fight Club explicitly explores the ideas of nihilism and self-destruction which are both involved in nietzscheon philosophy and the dynamic of the characters their personalities and the ultimate reveal that they're the same man all lends itself to Freud's understanding of the psyche though frightened Nietzsche aren't the only philosophers whose ideas can be seen in Fight Club they are arguably the most obvious when evaluating fight club's exploration into nietzsion and Freudian philosophy Nietzsche has been split up into his concepts of the last man and the Ubermensch and then a separate section on his philosophy of self-destruction Freud's ideas have been split up with a section on his psychological ideas and another one on his theories of religion the events of Fight Club and the characteristics of the narrator and Tyler Durden have then been compared to these philosophical ideas and how closely they mirror the theories but also where they break away from them [Music] Nietzsche is most known for his contribution to western philosophy in his response to the enlightenment most notably in the book Thus Spoke zarathustra in which metrics fills the impact of the death of God on the individual and Society his character thar thustra taken from the Iranian Prophet preaches to the ordinary people that God is dead and that Humanity needs to evolve and rise to take its place Nietzsche believed that the aim of man was to become self-sufficient and self-reliant to no longer depend on the ideas of God but rather only on himself the ideal man is called the Ubermensch or the Overman a man who is risen above all conventional Christian morals and instead imposed his own values on himself however rather than seeking to meet the full potential of man many people choose to fall into nihilism in response to the enlightenment Nietzsche characterized the last man as being the archetypical passive nihilist son who is only concerned with living comfortably within Society rather than taking risks and improving themselves some argue that this accurately characterizes the consumer society that we have in the Western World the one that Chuck Paul and Nick comments on when analyzing the characteristics of Nietzsche's last man there are clear similarities to the narrator the desire for Safety and Security Harmony or pacifism risk avoidant nihilism obedience towards the state and a conformist and his lack of individualism his desire for Safety and Security can be seen in his condominium and his need to settle in one place he even comments on this referring to himself as a slave to the nesting instinct within his interaction with Tyler outside the bar the narrator's pacifist and risk avoidant character was portrayed through his reluctance to hit Tyler as well as his earlier reluctance to ask him up front for help after losing his apartment not only will he not put himself at physical risk but he also doesn't want to be at risk of rejection the nihilistic nature of the narrator is made evident by the very beginning of the novel and the film with the narrator's long monologues and his comment on the meaninglessness of everything and numerous assumed identities throughout the novel lend themselves to his lack of individuality and his role as the representative of masses which can be found in Nature's work the narrator is not a defined person or a clear-cut named individual he's changeable and impressionable but more importantly he represents everyone who simply conforms to the consumer Society within the novel in the film we see him go by the names Cornelius Rupert and Travis at support groups and then later he refers to himself as the different body parts of Joe or Jack depending if you're in the novel of the film in contrast to the narrator Tyler Durden exists as a portrayal of the Ubermensch the main attributes of niche's ubermensch are as follows self-determination creativity becoming overcoming discontent flexibility self-mastery self-confidence and courage Tyler's self-determination is shown most through his philosophy of detaching himself from the world and Society he rejects the ideas of a loving God and instead proposes a God who hates Humanity he also rejects The Authority in control of Corporations instead acting on the basis for his own beliefs morals and values it's about the novel Tyler's self-determination and daring allow him to achieve each of his aims Fight Club and Project Mayhem Tyler also certainly doesn't lack creativity as his plans involve a little imagination for example his attempt to destroy the capital estate through abolishing death via terrorism on corporate buildings isn't exactly unimaginative his business of selling soap made from fat that was removed in cosmetic surgery whilst also using soap as a means of explosives to carry out his terroristic plots again points towards his heightened trait of creativity but also flexibility becoming overcoming in self-mastery are all prominent traits of Tyler's and are most heavily emphasized within his philosophy and attitudes towards self-destruction Tyler's discontent is mostly towards the consumer Society he lives in and the corporations that are behind him he continually comments on how the things you own end up owning you and the futility of buying into an endless cycle of consumer goods referring to them as As Seen On TV identities his flexibility is displayed in his numerous Jobs movie projectionist banquet waiter and soap salesman and finally his self-confidence is his most defining train there doesn't seem to be a single moment in either the film or the novel where Tyler's confident waivers or falters from his affair with Mala singer to his organization of a mass terrorist group Tyler is confident in everything that he does and it's often the factor that drives him to success Tyler's role within the plot is to preach the narrator and other men within the story about freedom and the nature of existence much like Zara thustra in Nietzsche's work there are clear instances where he does this and appears to Echo Nietzsche's work closely for example in the novel there's a scene in which Tyler creates the shadow of his hand in the sand using logs his shadow is only perfect for a minute but Tyler notes that a minute of perfection is worth the effort it takes to obtain it and that a moment was the most you could ever expect from Perfection this complements what nature was attempting to teach through the story of that thustra the Perfection was only ever temporary and the required constant effort and constant self-discovery however halfway through the narrative we see Tyler shift away from this role and move towards a more Godlike figure or a new figure of authority and worship which opposes Nature's narrative the contrast between Tyler as a model for the Ubermensch in the first half of the plant and his later rejection of that role in the second half of the plot is made obvious through the question everything nature of Fight Club in comparison to the asuno questions nature of Project Mayhem whereas in Thus Spoke there thusra there are thusra encourages the men to question him and his teachings rather than to blindly follow him one repays a teacher badly if one always remains nothing but a pupil Tyler Durden does the opposite creating an army of mindless subservient men who hold his word as gospel in Tyler we trust the language used by the men in reference to Tyler becomes biblical and places Tyler in the position of God Nietzsche kills God and Tyler teaches that God is absent in the absence of God however the men put tile in God's place and effectively worship Him they blindly follow his will and their lives become what Tyler wants them to be the idea of the Uber mench is a man who almost becomes his own God in that he redefines who he is and sets his own moral standards what happens within Fight Club is not the achievement of becoming the Ubermensch but rather the men rejecting one social cult for another rejecting a consumerous society for Tyler's terrorist group what is this I've heard more than you've ever been burned and you will have a scarf within Nietzsche's work there is a key idea of self-destruction as the first step to stealth rediscovery this is also a major theme in Fight Club and Paula Knox views on self-destruction Echo Nature's teachings rather closely before the narrator has even met Tyler Durden who helps to Enlighten him with this idea of self-destruction the narrator seeks out Freedom by losing all control by going to support groups such the men's Recovery Group for testicular cancer he experiences Freedom vicariously through these men however it's when he meets Tyler that he begins to seek out the conflict and destruction he had previously experienced second hand for himself death anxiety is the anxiety that if there is no God then there would also be no afterlife this amplifies pain and suffering as well as the fear of death nature states that death anxiety is another quality possessed by the last man and was gained in response to the death of God as the representative of the last man the narrator possesses this quality of death anxiety and Tyler is the Ubermensch challenges it and begins to break it down through his philosophy of hitting rock bottom or self-destruction Tyler slowly introduces this philosophy to the narrator beginning with simply asking him to hit him and then returning the head by doing this Tyler opens the narrator to taking risks and not fearing pain or destruction this starts a chain of self-destruction within the narrator and soon he attends Fight Club weekly frequently being beaten to a pulp and requiring visits to the hospital a film visually displays the narrator's changing attitudes towards Pain by having him spit out and pull out his teeth as if there were nothing pain no longer concerns him but death does and this is what Tyler attempts to challenge next within the chemical burn scene Tyler forces the narrator to face his pain and accept that someday he is going to die although the scene doesn't get rid of the narrator's death anxiety which doesn't really happen until the final stand against Tyler the chemical burn scene does address this directly later in the narrative it is revealed that it had been Tyler who destroyed the narrator's condominium which had given the narrator the initial push towards Tyler and his path of self-destruction this makes a lot of sense when considering the purposes of self-destruction with the Nature's work is to then redefine yourself Tyler is everything the narrator wants to be and only through self-destruction can he truly become him and so it makes sense that the narrator's projected ideal for himself would be with the one to set him on his path by blowing up his condo just as uh through Shrek encourages others to follow the path for self-enlightenment Tyler gives the narrator the necessary push he needs and then guides him on his journey to self-destruction however Fight Club breaks away from the nichin model as within the narrative destruction occurs without creation following it Tyler initially mentors the narrator but doesn't complete Nietzsche's model as he fails to teach the narrator how to redefine himself and create something new from the destruction instead he leaves the narrator in A childlike State and that he feels that he needs Tyler to tell him what to do and to guide him playing the role of God Project Mayhem is another example of where Tyler falls short in teaching creation after destruction as it puts his applicant to the test by leaving them exposed for days and breaking them down but it doesn't encourage them to redefine themselves instead it does the opposite and promotes mindlessness this breaks away from Nature's model of self-destruction is self-actualization could be argued as being a commentary on how hard it would be to actually follow Nietzsche's teachings due to the fragility of authenticity it's easy to break yourself down and hit rock bottom but the same can't be said to then redefine yourself and build yourself back up again it's easy to break yourself down and hit rock bottom but the same can't be said to then redefine yourself and build yourself back up again it's between these two steps that people become mutable and easy to manipulate Fight Club appears to be in favor of the idea of self-destruction as a form of self-actualization but it also warns against the dangers of this the men within Project Mayhem had sought out self-improvement and instead found a terrorist organization that brainwashed them into being mindless drones answer me why do people think that I'm you I think you know no I don't yes you do why would anyone possibly confuse you with me segment Freud is often referred to as the father of psychoanalysis and his proposed structure of Personality contributed heavily to early psychology and early understandings of the mind his theory organized the Mind into three aspects the ID the ego and the superego these in turn participate in either the conscious mind or the unconscious mind or the pre-conscious mind this book civilization and its discontents Freud explored how civilization developed to keep our natural and primitive urges in check it's this work that could have served as the philosophical blueprint for Fight Club Freud states that there are three parts to the Consciousness the conscious mind the unconscious and the pre-conscious mind he defines the conscious mind as being things we are actively aware of at any given moment so thoughts feelings Memories the pre-conscious mind is anything readily available to the Consciousness mind but not actively in use and the unconscious mind contains information we are completely unaware of our unconscious mind is hidden from us and often contains the things we find deeply painful or shameful According to Freud Freud's structure of the mind is often referred to as the Freudian Iceberg as Freud likened the mind to an iceberg with the idea that much of the mind isn't visible with the conscious mind only making up an exceedingly small part of our psyche within Fight Club Tyler Durden exists within narrator's unconscious mind the narrator Begins the novel completely unaware of Tyler's existence though we get hints that Tyler has existed for a long time before the two men met with the novel explicitly stating this and the film showing Split Second shots of Tyler in the background of the opening scenes the narrator suffers from insomnia and within the first few chapters of the novel discusses how he often wakes up not knowing where he is or how he got there we can draw the conclusion that Tyler his unconscious has been in control during this time the body being controlled by the unconscious is much like sleepwalking the narrator describes how a film reel is Switched switch one shutter closed and at the same time open the other shutter change over which appears to be what happens with the narrator and Tyler Durden as one falls asleep they change over and the other wakes up after the two men meet there are several times where the narrator and Tyler exist in the same moment and the narrator can view Tyler and interacts with him his perspective view of Tyler that leads the narrator to believe that Tyler is a real person separate from himself in these situations Tyler can be seen as a projection of the unconscious mind similar to those experienced by some schizophrenics foreign structure of the Mind contains three components the Ed the ego and the superego the Ed is to be understood as our biological urges and our most unconscious part of ourselves we are born with our heads and this explains why children and babies act with no self-control they are dominated by their heads as we grow up we learn that acting on the desires of our Aid is usually inappropriate and so we begin to monitor our Behavior to help us act upon our biological needs and our psychological desires more appropriately we develop our egos our egos in the eyes of Freud is quite different from what we commonly understand the words we refer to us today the ego is a small aspect of our personality that develops to express our desires in socially acceptable ways Freud compares the ID to a horse and the ego to its Rider as it's the ego that keeps the ID in check like a man on Horseback who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse our superego plays a slightly different role in our psyche and begins to develop when we're around five years old our superego contains our eternalized moral understandings and standards there are two parts of the superego the conscious and the ego ideals the conscious suppresses all the inappropriate desires of our ID and what makes us feel ashamed or guilty if we act upon them we can understand what acts we will regret before doing them this prevents us from making poor decisions or acting inappropriately our ego ideals are the rules we live by and the standardization of behavior we attempt to meet our moral standards and our concepts of what's good are contained within our ego ideals when we act we often try to appease this part of our psyche it's what drives us to self-improvement the desires of the superego like the ID are carried out by the ego and so around the age when the superego develops it begins to form a conflict in our mind between our biological urges the Ed and our moral goals the superego Freud explains that a healthy mind contains a balance of these three components when the balance is lost one or another becomes overly dominant and the mind becomes unhealthy causing a maladaptive personality this is what we see in Fight Club the story is an exploration of the psyche through the personification of the two components the ID and the superego and how they interact and conflict with one another until a balance is reached within the ego the narrator is representative of the ego and the superego at the beginning of the narrative the narrator is a good example of someone who successfully holds back their head and chases their ego ideals he concerns himself with society's laws rules and suppresses any of his Desires in the case of Fight Club the superego is concerned less with achieving a religious or moral ideas of good which is what Freud believed the most common aim of the superego was but rather the superego seems focused on becoming the best consumer again tying into Nietzsche's writings of following the death of God and replacement of God the narrator's idea of what is good is the image of what has been sold to him by corporations and the media of lavish living and so what is superego drives him to one as the ego this is what he focuses on rather than the desires of his ID these repressed his eyes of the ID are what he then protracts onto his alter ego Tyler Durden Tyler is representative of the ID through Tyler the narrator allows himself to do things that it desires that his super ego Center itself prevents him from doing a it's Tyler he acts upon his sexual desires by having sex with Mala he acts upon his violent urges by starting Fight Club and finally he faces up to his anti-corporate views through his creation of Project Mayhem the narrator had a hold on his head until his insomnia began to weaken his ability to restrain it as his insomnia worsens Tyler begins to spill out both Tyler and the narrator are examples of maladaptive personalities they're each driven solely by one component or desire however it could be argued that rather than exploiting Freudian psychology Fight Club is instead an examination of jungian psychology Carl Jung posed a different structure of the Mind consisting of the ego and the shadow the shadow was the unconscious part of our mind that doesn't align with our ego ideals and our understanding of ourselves the ego is the conscious part of our mind that we understand to be who we are in jungian terms Tyler would be the Shadow and the narrator would be the ego the shadow was the parts of ourselves which reject as being us this rejection of the Shadow then causes us to project these parts of ourselves onto others often why we don't like someone is down to us seeing parts of our shadow in them in the case of Fight Club the narrator rejects its shadow onto his alter ego Tyler When comparing the two characters and their personalities we can see that they are almost complete opposites which is a characteristic of the ego and the shadow the big five defined personality Dimensions give us a clearer picture of how different the two men are the big five is to find its openness Consciousness extroversion agreeableness neuroticism or known as ocean by applying ocean to Tyler and the narrator although the both characters share the fact that they are highly agreeable every other aspect of their personalities is drastically different often on opposite ends of the scale Jung's ideas of the self and the shadow is that they are opposite for one another the shadow doesn't align with our ideas of the self and so it would be fair to argue that fight club explores this structure of the Mind instead of Freud's however large parts of Jung's writings were influenced by Freud therefore it is considerable that there is a large overlap between the two theories the shadow can be seen as an extension of the ID as both represent the same animalistic parts of our psyche uh biological urges and need for instant gratification the only real difference between Jung Shadow and the ID is how it affects our interactions with other with the shadow explaining why we can dislikes Us in individuals with no apparent reason therefore Freud's structure of the mind can still be argued as being present within Fight Club listen to me you can consider the possibility that God does not like you never wanted you in all probability he hates you Freud understood religion to be a response to our psychology and often a way to control our desires particularly those of the Oedipus Complex try to use God as authoritative father figure a male who laid down their rules and rewarded those who followed them and punished those who didn't God being referred to as the father seemed to reinforce this idea the Oedipus complex described by Freud is the complex in which young boys develop an unconscious infatuation with their mother and thus begin to view their fathers as Rivals this infatuation is down to the fact that for the developmental years of his life the boy's mother had fulfilled his every desire and that he wants these desires to be continued to be met the Rivalry caused by the realization that the mother's attention is shared with another man the father Freud suggests that as these boys age they begin to fear their father's wrath for this infatuation and so begin to appease him in any way they can religion is just a projection of this fear and appeasement God is just rejection of the father Fight Club both explicitly references this Freudian idea as well as explores it subtextually through the character's Dynamics and views of one another beginning with the more obvious reference to this idea Tyler says to the narrator your father was a model for God and that people spend their lives searching for their fathers in God he refers to humanity as God's middle children with no special attention Tyler poses the idea that we should attempt to appease God as he believes it wouldn't gain God's attention He suggests rebelling against God as the further you run the more God wants you back although Tyler seems to stray from Freud's idea and that he doesn't want to appease God Tyler is still trying for God's attention because he lacked the attention of his father who had left him the more subtle way that this theorist explored is through the love triangle between the narrator Tyler and Mala singer the Oedipus complex appears to be prevalent within the narrative with the narrator sexually infatuated with Mala singer whilst Mala engages in sex relationships with Tyler instead of him the narrator often mentions how the relationships between Mala and Tyler remind him of the relationship his parents had in mentioning this the narrator Likens the woman he desires to his mother and Tyler to his father initially the narrator is overcome with jealousy when he finds out that Tyler and Mala are sleeping together which reflects the dynamic described by Freud where the boy develops a rivalry with his father upon finding out that his father receives his mother's attention over the course of the plot Tyler slowly gains a Godly status the narrator attempting to appease him not to incur his wrath over the desire the narrator had for Tyler's partner the standout issue with viewing Fight Club through the lens of this is that it's ultimately not Mala singer that the narrator desires but rather it seems to be Tyler himself his initial jealousy of the relationship isn't towards Tyler for taking away Marla's attention but rather towards Marla for taking away Tylers later he experiences jealousy over Marla bearing a similar chemical burn wound to him as he believed it lessens the bond he shares with Tyler the narrator even says in chapter 1 of the novel I want Tyler Tyler wants Mala and Mala wants me I don't want Marla and Tyler doesn't want me around the dynamic isn't as simple as the Oedipus complex but can still be viewed through a Freudian lens Tyler regardless of the Oedipus complex represents both a Godly figure and a father figure to the narrator the plot even has Tyler mirroring the narrator's father's actions as the narrator mentions his father would leave every few years to set up franchises or a new family The Narrative has Tyler do the same with Fight Club he leaves to set up franchises across the country the narrator looks to Tyler as both an authoritative figure and someone whose attention is worthy of obtaining similar to a father and to God that's all I have for today but I hope you enjoyed if you got this far then please like whatever subscribe it'd be great if you could and maybe stick around this is my first video essay after a big old break for my a levels so it's it's a bit messy around the sides I forgot how to write scripts I forgot how to actually voice over videos it's it's a real talent that you have to learn I have been unajoy and you have been entertained [Music] thank you foreign