I am the zen master.

Recently, killing time after class and searching for inspiration, I came across a programming of Fight Club on the TV. Thinking “I love this movie” I decided to watch. As the movie progressed I began to think that I really enjoy this movie but why? What is the message of this? I began to search for the true meaning of Tyler Durden’s underground fighting club.
Fight Club is not only a critically acclaimed cult classic it is a huge comment on modern human society and what the world has become. This novel turned movie comments on the feminization of modern men. The main character of the movie experienced a lack of father figure which makes them feel like “a generation of men raised by women.” This creates the characters hate of consumerism because they feel like nesting is a female role in which they have taken on and are very dissatisfied with the nature of their modern life. The characters try to combat this problem they all face by fighting it both metaphorically and literally. Since the problem is internal they feel like they must fight themselves. Tyler Durden literally fights himself at one point in the movie but all the other characters and members of project mayhem change their looks to be similar so that they feel like they are fighting themselves. The main character fights Tyler who is himself to defeat his internal problem and also to make himself feel like he has power. He fights himself in front of his boss to get him fired but symbolically Tyler does this to become his own boss and gain power in his own life.
Also, the main character’s extreme dissatisfaction with his life leads him to feel the need to create chaos. Tyler hates his life so much that he wants to “destroy something beautiful.” The main character’s need for chaos is stemmed by both his Oedipus complex created by his lack of a father figure and also because he wants some form of significance in his life. When the main character meets a future member of fight club he explains something very interesting. The mechanic as he is referred to explained that our idea of god is born from our father. So Tyler’s lack of a father shows he has no idea of what god is so he creates chaos so that god will recognize him. He feels that he is one of “god’s middle children.” So Tyler creates chaos to get attention from god because he feels he would rather be hated by god than not recognized at all.
The main character also realizes that he is Tyler which is very profound and astonishing to him at the time. His extreme hatred for his life, consumerism, and job creates another personality which is Tyler. His new personality is everything that is crazy about the main character and comes up with extensive plots to create chaos by destroying buildings and museums and also to kill the main character.
I find this movie to be very interesting because of the relation to ideas that are common in modern society. Fatherless families are a very common issue in our society and are building something similar to what is portrayed in this film. In poverty ridden areas of America such as the ghetto “men raised by women” are becoming thugs, gangsters and drug dealers. This movie suggests something that makes a lot of sense about their motives. These thugs are creating chaos to try and get judgment from god and their fathers. The conclusion of this movie also brings up an idea that is thought provoking. These people seeking chaos and destruction to fill the void in their life must take responsibility for their actions like Tyler suggests to the main character. The main character must resolve this by destroying Tyler and accepting the chaos he has caused.
The greatest point of this movie, in my opinion, is that we should not live a life in which we hate. The creation of the psychopathic character of Tyler was only because the main characters life was so devastating and opposite of his own beliefs. If we continue to live in such a way we will create our own Tyler and terrible things will happen. I think that this point really reverberates in my mind because as a college student I have my whole life and career life ahead of me. I need to focus on the future now and make sure I’m making good life decisions so I don’t end up with a terrible figure such as Tyler Durden looming over me and plotting to destroy the world. No one wants to live “jack’s wasted life.”