How Identity is Constructed in Fight Club

Emily takes a look at the two identities that define the 1999 cult-classic. Constructed In

Despite premiering in 1999, David Fincher’s Fight Club is arguably more relevant today than it has ever been. Starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, the film tells the story of the unnamed Narrator (Norton) who is dissatisfied with his white-collar job and monotonous lifestyle. As a result, he resorts to using support groups in a bid to find some emotional release. After a year, however, it is still not enough. This leads to the formation of an underground fight club with Tyler Durden (Pitt), a charming soap salesman the Narrator first encounters on a plane. Stop reading now if you do not want the film’s ending to be spoilt. Narrator and Durden are the same person. Two personalities. One body. In the film’s first chapter, the Narrator’s half of this split persona reflects on how deeply entrenched he has become in mainstream society’s materialistic lifestyle. He continuously flicks through catalogue after catalogue going so far as to contemplate the kind of dining set that defines him as a person. In other words: what “should” complete him. This love of commodities is a big part of modern identity construction whether we intend it to be or not. Following the latest fashion in clothes, home décor and food is so effortless that we can pick up and lose trends more easily than ever before. It becomes easy to lose yourself in it, meaning it becomes easier for it to define who you are. This leaves the questions: do you truly like something or are you going with it for the sake of looking good to others? Does owning the latest clothes or furniture actually make you happy? Fincher and Palahniuk (authors of the source novel) seemingly give us the answer as the Narrator’s attempt to fill his emotional void with such is unsuccessful. Consumerist culture, at least as it’s presented in the film, is empty. Durden’s identity, on the other hand, is the opposite. He only needs the bare minimum to be happy, as demonstrated by his preference to live in a rundown house rather than the nice, IKEAfurnished condo. Durden evokes the early “hunter-gatherer” figure which is still an archetype some deem to be the ultimate image of masculinity. An archetype that Norton’s character evidently yearns to be, as demonstrated by Durden’s creation. Here, Fight Club comments on the struggle of forming a strong identity in a world where humanity fauns over commodities but loses themselves in the process. “This love of commodities is a big part of modern identity construction whether we intend it to be or not” “Durden evokes the early “huntergatherer” figure which is still an archetype some deem to be the ultimate image of masculinity”