Saturday, March 17, 2012

Retro Saturday-“The first rule of fight club…

 

…is you never talk about fight club.”

Everyone remembers the 1999 hit Fight Club starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Based on the best selling novel-Fight Club-by  Chuck Palahniuk.  Norton plays an unnamed protagonist, an "everyman" who is discontented with his white-collar job. He forms a "fight club" with soap maker Tyler Durden, played by Pitt, and becomes embroiled in a relationship with him and a dissolute woman, Marla Singer, played by Bonham Carter.

 

Through the movie we watch as our protagonist, Tyler, and Marla embark on a strange,  and offensive journey through a world filled with insanity and social mayhem. All of it contained  through the single quote, “The first rule of fight club is you never talk about fight club.”

 

I absolutely LOVED this movie and it remains one of my top 10 favorites to watch. Besides the hot goodness of Pitt and Norton, the film’s cinematography and complex plot exhilarates you. You find yourself both cringing and laughing the violence and insanity that unfolds before you. Many say the film only glorifies violence but what I draw from the film is the danger society faces when we use outside forces to escape the life we live. Addiction comes in many forms and even violence can become an addition that only escalates until the only thing left is destroy what our addiction. The ending shows us, and our protagonist, that he was never in control of the train wreck that he allowed into his life.

 

Some of my favorite quotes from the movie:

 

Narrator: This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time.


Tyler: Now, a question of etiquette - as I pass, do I give you the ass or the crotch?


Tyler: Hey, you created me. I didn't create some loser alter-ego to make myself feel better. Take some responsibility!


[after vigorous sex with Tyler]
Marla: My God. I haven't been fucked like that since grade school.


Narrator: First person that comes out this fucking door gets a... gets a *lead salad*, you understand?


Tyler: All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not.


Tyler: [his last words] What's that smell?


Narrator: On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.


[Tyler and Jack stand in the bathroom doorway, watching Steph finish shaving off all of his hair. Tyler comes to give the top of Steph's head a sharp slap]
Tyler: Like a monkey, ready to be shot into space. Space monkey! Ready to sacrifice himself for the greater good.
Tyler: From now on, all those with shaved heads: "Space Monkeys".


Tyler: Welcome to Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Fight Club! Third rule of Fight Club: someone yells "stop!", goes limp, taps out, the fight is over. Fourth rule: only two guys to a fight. Fifth rule: one fight at a time, fellas. Sixth rule: No shirts, no shoes. Seventh rule: fights will go on as long as they have to. And the eighth and final rule: if this is your first time at Fight Club, you have to fight.

2 comments:

Helyce said...

I loved this movie too! I have not watched in a long while. Edward Norton was in another really awesome movie and I can't for the life of me remember the name. It's going to bug me all day!

Helyce said...

It's Primal Fear (1996)-so good.