Sunday, January 25, 2004
In "Ikea Boy Fights Back," the essay written by Imre Szeman and Henry Giroux, the men state that Fight Club offers little analysis as to why Tyler (played by Brad Pitt in the film version) finds his life unsatisfying. In many ways, this is indeed true. Fight Club does not exactly offer an effective alternative to consumer capitalism at all, instead focusing on the fact that Tyler (or "Jack") is greatly unhappy with his life.
Fight Club easily expresses the disappointment held for the world and the materialistic masses within it. What it doesn't do, however, is determine a possible solution for these problems. Both Fight Club and Project Mayhem are created to develop an outlet, somewhat of a detachment from this society that Tyler has come to loathe. The novel never addresses what is next though. After Project Mayhem blows up every important building in the world, what is left? As Szeman and Giroux state Fight Club fails "to carry out the critique that it purports to undertake." This leaves the novel incomplete. Like many other things in this life, the problem has been discussed, but no solution has been proposed. Even if we followed Palahniuk's code of conduct, there would still be problems in the world. Just because consumerism does not exist, this does not mean that complications will not either. No one likes to think about both sides of the issue. They solely shed light on a problem, and hypothesize about how great it would be without that problem. They never discuss HOW to get it done.
I suppose that Palahniuk's intention was not really to offer a solution. Perhaps he was just trying to state that something needed to be done. In either instance, the novel does an excellent job of provoking thought from its readers.
Fight Club easily expresses the disappointment held for the world and the materialistic masses within it. What it doesn't do, however, is determine a possible solution for these problems. Both Fight Club and Project Mayhem are created to develop an outlet, somewhat of a detachment from this society that Tyler has come to loathe. The novel never addresses what is next though. After Project Mayhem blows up every important building in the world, what is left? As Szeman and Giroux state Fight Club fails "to carry out the critique that it purports to undertake." This leaves the novel incomplete. Like many other things in this life, the problem has been discussed, but no solution has been proposed. Even if we followed Palahniuk's code of conduct, there would still be problems in the world. Just because consumerism does not exist, this does not mean that complications will not either. No one likes to think about both sides of the issue. They solely shed light on a problem, and hypothesize about how great it would be without that problem. They never discuss HOW to get it done.
I suppose that Palahniuk's intention was not really to offer a solution. Perhaps he was just trying to state that something needed to be done. In either instance, the novel does an excellent job of provoking thought from its readers.
