Everybody loves an invisible friend

SPOILERS BELOW ON "FIGHT CLUB"





In the movie Fight Club, what do you think made Jack create Tyler? marla, his dreary job, his dreary life, or mabye his minds self preservation from suicide, which probally would have occured, if it wasnt for Tyler.
[Edited by TWTCommish on 09-06-2001]

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SPOILERZ..............








Boredom. I don't know. All I know is that the movie gets funnier every time I see it. I mean the guy is doing all this stuff with a person that isnt even there. What isn't funny about that.

One thing I don't understand though is how he could be downstairs listening to tyler and marla, when in fact he was up there with marla.

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"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg

He's mentally unstable? Try and suspend your disbelief.

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Personality goes a long way...

Was his name Jack?! I looked at the credits, I don't think it was written there, it just said "narrator"...

It was definitely his dreary life, inhibited by all the little details of modern civilization. In other words, he was a prisoner of society...

So through Tyler, he could be/do all of the things that he wasn't allowed to by civilization.

Hope that helps

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The Norton character's name wasn't Jack - you are correct that he is the unnamed narrator. But for script and conversation purposes he is often referred to as 'Jack' after he starts reading, then adapting, those "Reader's Digest"-style disease narratives (which were based on a real series of articles, BTW). Example: "I am Jack's smirking revenge."

But you don't know for sure that his names not Jack. Tyler said himself that the house was rented in His name. No one ever gives Norton's character a name, but his name could very well be Jack. This movie leaves small things open so that the smallest thing you think of could radically change the movie.

I mean think about it, this man never met Tyler, he just made him up. He had all these jobs, and a crappy house ready to fall apart. Not one person knew his real name though.

Unless, HE was Tyler, which just occured to me. Why would you give an invisible friend your name though. Who knows, this movie is hilarious the second time through, though.

Norton's character in Fight Club is always credited as the narrator. Does this help the dispute?

spdrcr,

Yes, is true that since he is the unnamed narrator, his name could be Jack. It could be Suzie or Adolph or John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmit (BTW, his name is my name too), but I somehow doubt it.

Yeah, Im sure thats what Fincher was after when he made it. Don't give him a name and see how the audience reacts. This is one of those deep thinkin movies. Right up there with Memento.

BTW, you like using the a lot.

has been my most common sentiment here, that's true.

That's what Fincher went after because that's how the novel is written.

Yeah, turn that frown upside down Holden. ...Sorry bout the comments in the Best Flicks of 2000 thread...just get a little irritated when someeone wants to prove me wrong.

While I wasn't losing sleep over it before, on a day when the U.S. is attacked and untold hundreds of lives are lost, your taking offense at being corrected on movie information doesn't even register.

Well that was before I even knew man. I was apologizing for comments made. You take that as an offense? Well sorrty to step on your shoes man, but I don't want to make enemies on this site. Everyone here is great, and you have a lot of knowledge to contribute...I was just trying to be nice, but when you don't take a sincere act of kindness then well what else is there to do. I realize this is a great tragedy, but I posted that before I even knew what had happened.

I wasn't implying you were callous for focusing on minutiae while a tragedy was taking place, I was trying to say that all such worries are insignifigant compared to real tragedy (as horribly illustrated today in NYC and D.C.).


But getting back to this board in particular, I'll restate this sentiment: I'll continue to give more complete or correct information where I see it can be added, and if anyone wants to see that as personal attacks, that's their problem, not mine.

My intent isn't to ridicule anybody or make them out to be stupid, I'm just a movie nut and will add all the information I know, where applicable. I'm sure not mad at anybody and I'm not taking anything personally, I'm just trying to discuss movies.


"And now, on with the Opera!"

While I realise that you mean to offend no-one on these pages, but, the language you use often leaves itself open to interpretation. I myself have fallen foul to those that think I'm trying to antagonize them, when really I'm trying to move a discussion in a positive direction. In discusion boards we have to remember that we aren't in the company of the people we converse with, heck we don't even speak simultaneously half the time: because of this we often misunderstand. To me you have been a breath of fresh air, even if you do seem obsessed by lists!

If I seem obsessed by lists now, it's only because they're harmless, can be fun, and give a quick gauge of a person's movie tastes. For example, I've quickly assessed that among the most active memebers anyway, few are generally interested, or have even seen, many movies made before the 1990s.

I know these types of lists are silly things and about as far from comprehensive as you can get (as the AFI has proven in recent years), but they're a quick way to get to know each other a bit.

I've been participating on various web boards for a few years now, mostly film-related, and I know all about being misunderstood and the limits of expressing your tone of voice and clear intent when typing (no matter how many smileys you use). All I can do is try and explain myself clearly, and if it gets taken the wrong way, it gets taken the wrong way. Que Sera, Sera, ya know?


Anyway, what was this thread about? Oh, yeah: Fight Club.

The dude's name isn't Jack. The odds on that are wayyyy off. Keep it friendly, people. Seems like a lot of ya'll are talking past each other, when you really don't disagree more than a tiny bit. And yeah, I take most of my interest in recent movies...but that's mostly because I'm not old enough to have been highly interested in others without making some kind of special effort to.

I do like Hitchcock, though.

Yes, the narrator remains unnamed throughout the movie and the book. The "I am Jack's _____ ________" series of quotes come from the Anatomy-Lesson articles ("I am Jack's Medula Oblongata")

The answer to #1's query comes from Tyler Durden himself:

"You were looking for a way to change your life. You could not do this on your own. All the ways you wish you could be? That's me. I look like you wanna look, I f*ck like you wanna f*ck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not."

Maybe the Narrator was very imaginative as a child, had beautiful goals or dreams, but had them cruelly crushed by the harsh realities of the world. Forced into a role for which he was not truly suited, compartmentalized by a mind-numbing job, unable to find any sort of release for his highly creative mind, his personality split and he became afflicted with Dissociative Identity Disorder (AKA "multiple personalities"), only in this case, only one addittional personality was needed. This theory is reinforced by a line in the book that mentions the book Sybil, a classic and heartrending tale of a girl with 12 distinct and seperate personalities.

More insight can be found in an exhaustive and creepy comparison of Calvin & Hobbes and Fight Club.

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in case u didnt know, if u havnt seen fight club dont read this thread







its because he wanted a way to be with marla. Also because he was ashamed of his life

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