Fight Club opened in theatres 15 years ago. I was an impressionable teenager at that moment and it blew me away. Fincher’s work is spotless — cinematographically speaking. But, as Honest Trailers say, there is a very basic flaw in its plot. Or perhaps this is not a flaw but its biggest strength, as Jesus [Diaz] says.
For me, the entire premise of Fight Club is flawed. Mad Ed Norton creates a movement to protest against society’s consumerism-driven conventions, break with the old, and establish anarchy. But by doing so it turns himself into a fascist leader with a rule-bound movement behind him. To battle the slavery of modern society, he de facto slaves others. To battle the system, he creates a new system that might be even worse.
For Jesús, that’s precisely what the movie is trying to point out and its biggest strength. History has proven that there’s no way to break the rules without creating new rules. Those who are rebels turn eventually into part of the system or the system itself. Those who go against the establishment eventually become part of establishment or replace it entirely. Every countercultural movement is culture by definition. Everything becomes a product, even if the creator doesn’t want that. Every revolution — political, cultural, technological — in the history of the world has been like this.
But enough of this philosophical wanking. Here’s the trailer. Tell us what you think in the comments.