Fight Club
“I am Jack’s second chance.” This simple statement might have been Ed Norton’s last lines in the 1999 film “Fight Club,” had the movie not ended in such an ambiguous and unresolved fashion. The movie’s end is unresolved because the final scene shows the symbolic resetting of a city, and the symbolic resetting of Jack’s, Ed Norton’s character’s, life. Once Jack’s life is reset however, there is no mention of the direction that fate will take him. The film leaves Jack with the important decision of whether or not to dissolve “Project Mayhem”, the crowning achievement of a wild colt bent on nihilism and social-economic destruction. Jack’s decision at the end of Fight Club is not clear because throughout the movie he is pulled in opposite directions by two supporting characters that act as his self reflections; Tyler and Marla. Tyler wants Jack to continue his position as leader of project mayhem, while Marla wants Jack to return to his senses and disband the colt. Fully understanding the nature of these two “reflections” of Jack’s self is imperative to answering the movie’s ambiguous ending. This is imperative because Jack’s unresolved decision eventually rests on the stronger of Marla and Tyler’s persuasions. Throughout the . . .
Initially, Jack is bound to an unfulfilling relationship with his past, Marla, and subconsciously wishes that he could start over and break away from the life he has known. Jack suffers from severe insomnia, due to his overflowing subconscious repressions, and can only go to sleep after purging himself of his latent emotions by crying with cancer patients at various cancer support groups. He will use this power to disband project mayhem and start a new life. This relationship is vital because Tyler wants Jack to continue on his path of destruction, and Marla wants Jack to end the destruction and return to a balanced mindset. Sometimes generally calm humans get angry and fight, but that does not mean that we are equally as aggressive as we are passive. This claim is further supported by a resolving denouement, where Marla is brought into the room by project mayhem thugs and reunites with Jack. To determine this conclusion, the audience relies solely on the evidence presented in the movie, especially the complex relationship between Jack, Tyler, and Marla. They are physically connected because all pasts were once futures and all futures will become pasts, and the two are never separated by more than the split second that comprises the present. Continuing on the quest to help males reach enlightenment through the “Tyler plan,” Tyler holds up a convenience store clerk, and forces him to chase his dream of being a veterinarian at gun-point. At about this time when he has shunned his past, Jack encounters Tyler, the future he has always longed for. This search is futile however, because Jack is searching for himself, or at least the side of him that lives at night, and Jack will never find Tyler until he realizes that Tyler is his alter ego. Jack hunts Tyler across the nation, always just a few steps behind, in an attempt to stop project mayhem and restore order to his life. The abnormal aspect of this situation is that Tyler symbolizes the rebirth of the angel and Marla symbolizes the death of the devil, but this inconsistency can be accounted for as a cunning way to throw off unsuspecting viewers. This is important because it demonstrates that Jack can never completely sever the ties to his past, a curious fact that is very influential in our final decision. When he realizes that Tyler has control of the police, Jack pretends to be Tyler and calls off operation mayhem, but Tyler has already prepared for such a trick.
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