History Headscratchers / FightClub

* Why do so many people think Tyler was the hero of the movie? I'm not talking Alternate Character Interpretation or just liking the character (he's a well-written character and Brad Pitt's acting was awesome. Hell, I have the guy's face on a T-shit!) I'm talking about thinking Palahniuk/Jim Uhls/David Fincher intended for him to be the hero of the story. Even for someone who never read Palahniuk's work (stories about deeply broken characters dealing with life in unhealthy ways) it should be clear, by way of conventional tools of storytelling, that Tyler is the vilain. He almost destroys the protagonist's (Ed Norton's character) life. He's the cause of conflict. The way for the protagonist to be happy and be able to have love in his life is LITERALLY by making Tyler cease to exist! In the end, Ed Norton kills the villain, gets the girl and either lives happily ever after or saves his love interest via heroic sacrifice. By every standard we're used to, "Jack"'s the hero, Tyler's the vilain. The fact that this have scaped so many people's attention is something that will forever baffle me.

** Because The Narrator needed to confront and overcome Tyler's destructive influence to shake him out of his soft, complacent lifestyle into true maturity. "Our great war is a spirtual war. Our great depression is our lives."

**** No need to call other tropers idiots. It's very possible that a doctor wouldn't care about his patient in a film about how uncaring and selfish society has become. A mild sedative for a hypocondriac insomniac is probably a good choice, but I think most doctors would recommend a pill based on valerian root, rather than telling his patient to gow chew on a herb.

** As someone in the novel SalemsLot points out, some people in RealLife go ''very'' quietly and virtually unnoticeably insane. Besides, the person with the most contact with Whatshisface, Marla, is if anything even farther gone than he is.

* In the beginning of the movie, the narrator goes to see a doctor who tells him that "nobody ever died of insomnia". [[DidNotDoTheResearch Yeah]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_insomnia about that...]]

*** Well, [[spoiler: The movie makes it clear that the Narrator's name really is Tyler Durden, so I don't see how such a coincidence would explain anything]]. And for it to explain stealing the car, this person would have to be a cohort of some type, which makes it strange that the Narrator thought he was talking to Brad Pitt's character.

** Or it is possible that there is a real soap salesman named Tyler Durden who happened to sit next to the Narrator and since he was everything that the Narrator wasn't the Narrator simply used this cool seeming guy he met on a plane as the basis for his hallucination also this would explain how Tyler was able to steal a car while the Narrator wasn't present.

* In the scene where Tyler is in the car with the two gang members, what is actually happening? The Project Mayhem guys certainly seemed to be addressing a fourth person in the car.

*** There was a oneshot on FF which involved this situation. It dealt with it extremely well. (I think it was called A Near Life Experience or something. Not sure, though. You'll find it if you wanna see, there's only about 250 on there.)

*** This troper always thought that Tyler didn't really die...instead, the narrator and Tyler stopped being seperate, and merged together. After he gets shot, the narrator stops panicking, starts being a lot more assertive, and bosses around the project mayhem guys like he's used to it. He also stops worrying about the bombs in the buildings and calmly watches them exploding. The personality disorder the Narrator has has been known to be cured by a traumatic event, and I'd say a gunshot wound to the face qualifies.

*** {{FridgeLogic}} proves that the book ending is actually the Narrator is in an insane asylum and doesn't want to leave because Members of Fight Club are still lurking around.

** I always assumed the "life insurance pays triple if you die on a business trip" line was sarcasm and implying that he sees his whole life as just consuming until he's dead.

* This little ditty was always a point of interest for me when watching the film, but remember in TheMatrix how Morpheus explains to Neo that how he views himself is considered "Residual Self Image". I actually applied that here to Tyler and the Narrator and I noticed something: After the Narrator wakes up to find that Tyler has gone missing, he goes around damn near the entire United States looking for him, but all the while he's still wearing the exact same outfit, then when we see Tyler again, Tyler has shaved his head, is wearing sunglasses and a big fur coat, orange fishnets, etc. When I noticed this radical change and factored in the fact that Tyler had been in control of the Narrator's body I realized that what we were seeing of the Narrator may have been what he assumed he still looked like, and the Tyler we saw sitting in the chair is what everyone else saw.

* Tyler may believe he rejects society but looking at his way of dressing it kinda makes him hypocritical. He is wearing ridiculously flashy clothes, sunglasses indoors (hardly the shit you need) and so on. And in the end everything he hated. Yes, it probably is what the narrator wanted for himself but why wouldn't he have noticed it? If so did our narrator know Tyler didn't exist from the beginning?

* One thing I've never understood: On the flight where Tyler is introduced, he talks about the emergency oxygen masks on airliners. His claim is that they pipe pure oxygen to the passengers to sedate them and make them docile, so they "accept their fate." Even if this was true (it isn't-they don't deliver pure O2), why is this presented as something sinister? If the plane truly is spiralling to its doom, it seems like calming the passengers in their last moments would be admirable.

** It's the phone number for the Paper Street address. No one answered when the narrator called and then he imagined Tyler returning the call via *69. Look closely and the pay-phone even has a sign saying "No Incoming Calls". As an added clue to the ending, the number he gave Marla before the Condo blew up was the one for Paper Street.

** I always assumed that he was talking to himself and that the seat next to him was empty. Either that or the conversation did indeed take place entirely in his head.

*** Even simpler than that. You're all avoiding the obvious, folks: [[ViewersAreMorons People.]] [[TruthInTelevision Are.]] [[ThisIsSparta Idiots.]]

*** [[DownerEnding That's a]] ''[[YourMileageMayVary better]]'' [[DownerEnding way to end it?]]

** Two reasons. First: plain and simple, MisaimedFandom. Second: the movie shows screwed up people and actions, but much of the protagonist's complaining about life, the society etc. does ring true. And easy escapism is tempting - especially wrapped in something badass and glamorous like a Fight Club. Plus, YourMileageMayVary, but the initial Fight Clubs did no actual harm, it was when Tyler wanted to "change things" with Project Mayhem that everything spiralled out of control (and, might I add, it was only then that the protagonist tried to stop him).

** I always assumed that he was talking to himself and that the seat next to him was empty. Or, perhaps the conversation did indeed take place entirely in his head.