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Sac State ENGL 20 - Study Notes

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Homosexuality in Fight ClubROUGH DRAFTMany critics, such as Alexander Walker, critic for the Evening Standard(a London paper), and David Ansen, critic for Newsweek, have statedthat they have found a great deal of homoerotic material in the filmFight Club, starring Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham-Carter. I did not see any of these homosexual overtones, nor do Ibelieve that they are present in the film. Ansen felt that the entirepremise of "guys masochistically lining up to be beaten by Brad Pittreeks with homoeroticism" but I feel differently. I feel that these menare fighting to reclaim a sense of masculinity that has been denied tothem, not because it gives them a sense of sexual gratification.Furthermore, Walker wrote that "Pitt and Norton in Fight Club raisetheir own level of sad-sexual gratification by steering head-on intotraffic." Again, I feel that in this scene, the characters were not tryingto achieve a level of sexual gratification from this. I feel that this sceneis an allegory for the life of Norton's character. Norton's character islearning the importance of letting go of all the aspects of his life thathe cannot control. Finally, some critics have said that Norton's reactionto Pitt sleeping with Bonham-Carter is proof that Norton and Pitt have ahomosexual relationship. I feel that Pitt represents the father thatwalked out on Norton when he was six years old. Norton's jealousy isdue to the fact that Norton feels like his father is walking out on himagain. Perhaps on the surface, Fight Club contains some material thatappears homoerotic, but I feel that below the surface are emotions farmore complex than sexual gratification.The narrator, a man who refers to himself as Jack, is the centralcharacter in Fight Club. Jack is a white-collar accident investigator for amajor automotive manufacturer. When the movie begins, Jack is soemotionally isolated that he has severe insomnia. Jack begs his doctorfor drugs to help him sleep, the doctor tells him that if he wants to see"real pain," he should go observe a testicular cancer support group.Jack goes to the group. Soon, Jack gets hooked on support groups,from sickle cell and blood parasites to colon cancer. Jack finds mentalrelief at these groups, until Marla Singer, played by Helena Bonham-Carter, appears. Marla, a morbid, callous woman, is dressedappropriately in her dark grunge clothes and cigarette between herlips. It is clear that she is in good health, just like Jack. As Jack states,"Her lie reflected my lie." With Marla present, Jack no longer feelsconnected to the groups. Now that another faker is present, thesegroups are no longer a release for Jack's angst. Around this time, Jackmeets Tyler Darden, played by Brad Pitt, on an airplane. Tyler is anenigmatic rebel. Immediately, Jack is intrigued by Tyler's mysteriouscharisma. As Jack arrives home, he sees that his apartment hasexploded. With no other place to go, Jack turns to Tyler. After a fewbeers, Tyler agrees to let Jack say with him, but, in return, Jack had tohim hit. The two get into a fight and the seed for starting a fight club isplanted.Soon thereafter, Jack and Tyler founded Fight Club, a place whereemasculated men can go and reclaim their manhood through fighting.However, it did not stop there. Tyler believes that society is to blamefor the turmoil the modern man is experiencing. So, Tyler uses themembers of Fight Club as his army. It began with Tyler giving the othermembers "homework assignments," such as starting fights withrandom strangers. Soon, Fight Club becomes "Project Mayhem,"nothing short of a small army of anarchists. When Jack learns that theultimate goal of Project Mayhem is to bomb the major credit cardbuildings, Jack begins to oppose Tyler. By doing so, Jack establishes hisown identity, his own sense of masculinity. This search for the meaningof masculinity in the modern world is what I feel is the major theme ofthe film. However, the ways masculinity is explored is what leads someto believe that Fight Club is laden with homoeroticism. As David Ansen wrote in his review, "All these guys masochisticallylining up to be beaten by Brad Pitt … The homoeroticism is off thecharts." I do not feel that these men fight out of sexual excitement. Ibelieve that these men fight to prove that they are still men.Historically, masculinity has been defined by type of job and fightingprowess. Now, the typical avenues to prove masculinity have beenremoved. With the rise of the two-income household, a man cannoteven measure his masculinity by how well he takes care of his family.As Susan Failed wrote in her review of the film, "For men who areoffered fewer and fewer meaningful occupations, beating each otherup may seem like the one thing guys can still do well." The reason thatJack and Tyler started Fight Club, and not, for instance, a painting clubor a wood carving club, is because fighting is one of the last things thatis still considered completely masculine. The men that joined FightClub did not need something to release their aesthetic passions; theyneeded to awaken the most primal parts of their male psyches. AsPeter Travers wrote in his review in Rolling Stone, at Fight Club,"emasculated men bond by punching on another until numbness givesway to feeling." For some reason, fighting gave the men who joinedFight Club a new fire. The first time the audience meets Bob, the ex-bodybuilder who had his testicles removed, he was a distraught mass.As he hugged Jack, he murmured, "We're still men," although hesounded as though he was trying to convince himself. However, whenBob fought Jack, Bob definitely had a passion that he lacked earlier. Forthe first time in a long time, Bob felt like a man. I do not know whyfighting makes men feel like men, but for some reason, it does. Thereis no homosexual motive behind the men fighting. All they want is tofeel like men. In his review of the film, Alexander Walker wrote, "As in DavidCronenberg's


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