Fight Club

November 13, 1999

So I went to go see Fight Club for the 3rd time a few days ago…I just can’t get enough of it. I am a heathen. Do you know why? Because I enjoyed Fight Club more than American Beauty. Can you believe that? Me neither. American Beauty is a much better film, but I enjoyed watching Fight Club more.

…And it’s all about Edward Norton. Fuck Brad Pitt. (Yeah, I’m that girl who doesn’t actively want to do Brad Pitt. If the situation arose, I probably would, but I don’t actively think about it.) Brad Pitt was good and everything, playing the same character as in 12 Monkeys. But Edward Norton….is my new obsession. I don’t know why I am so attracted to mentally unstable weirdos. It’s like I think I can fix the world – but I can’t. So I keep on trying to fix weird guys, but they just end up fucking me over because they are psycho…wait! I am getting way off subject.

Okay, I’m back. So the press is all up in arms about how violent this film is. I admit, that after leaving the theater, I seriously wanted to kick some ass. But I also wanted to kick some ass after seeing Titanic, so that means nothing. The press thinks that Fight Club is glorifying violence, but they are looking at the surface. The rush that the fighters get from fighting is a metaphor. It could have been anything, Heroin Club, Carjack Club, even Unsafe Sex Club – and the message would have been the same. Today’s 20-30 somethings are bored as hell with the Communistic Cubicle lifestyle sponsored by Starbucks and AOL and whoever else. We have no wars, we have no fears, all our consumer needs are being met. We should be happy, right? But we’re not. We are a generation of sell-outs and snake oil salesmen. My generation is stuck in a general malaise and we can’t get out. This time, the revolution won’t be televised…it will show up as an alphanumeric message on our pagers…

Helena Bonham Carter – I haven’t seen her in anything else, so I can’t really compare her to anything. I understand her though. One of my friends said that she had no point in the film, but I disagree. She was the center of the story. The dischord that she caused split Jack’s head, separted him from his groups and further made him believe in the division between him and Tyler. Plus, I thought she was cool. Her lines were some of the best parts of the film. I like blue eyeshadow.

So, in a nutshell, I identified closely with this film because I am a disenfranchised 20 something, who is attracted to psychos and likes blue eyeshadow. Okay. I can deal. Oh yeah, and the whole IKEA thing. My parents house is furnished with IKEA, my mom loves that Danish modern crap. So if you ever get to Houston, go visit IKEA and see the madness that is versatile solutions for modern living.