Fight Club (1999) The paradoxical pursuit of better self

 

I found freedom. Losing all hope was freedom.

 

 

Gruesome theme.

 The horrors of giving in and letting your life be the battlefield of your desired alter ego and disillusioned mundane self.

We like to think better of ourselves and when the realization hits, that just ain't the life we get, we fall apart and the ceaseless struggle begins. The man who found pleasure in garnering neat furniture pieces from IKEA catalogs fancied to be the tough, masculine leader, wild and free in all ways he wasn't.

 

So the ruthless pursuit ruled out any sense of civil manners, morals, and ethics. There was only one rule left to it: to build and sustain the kingdom he had built. The result is an askew collectivism lacking rationality and any proactive judgment making. They destroy the grounds that protected their lives and kill the people they thought of as brothers. They refused to ask questions, they did not speak but only chanted and reiterated the rules given by a figure, whom they believed to be the messiah of absolute truth.

 

But in the end, when the delusion finally bursts into thin air, what is it worth to dedicate your life and effort to a deluded man with distorted ideals? Are you still the man you fancied to be? Or have you not lost the little remaining self-respect that you had heedfully, prudently managed to guard in a lifetime journey of reality.

The film is quite a caricature of modern social bandwagoning, the pressure, and the success stories societies glamorize. It restores truth in the darkest and most dismal way. As Tyler Durden points out, "The things you own end up owning you." So how do you keep your life together safe and rewarding at the same time, also remaining some sort of a sane mine?

 

Here is my, just as clueless as yours, take on it. Why not set our feet down onto reality and live the life, not as heroes but as self-conscious heartfelt beings, and try not to be too pissed off about it.