Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 20:20:49 -0800
From: Dan Helphrey <dbhdesign-AT-earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: The Fight Club


chris writes:

> Has anyone heard about that new movie, Fight Club? Brad Pitt plays a
> "Charismatic Anarchist who befriends a disillusioned yuppie" and brings him to a
> secret club where people beat the shit out of each other for stress relief.
> Sounds interesting, but how much bad PR will it give us? On the other hand,
> anarchy may become the next trend...which would be worse?

I just saw it the other night, and it is quite good.  It does play a little to
heavy on the relationshipe between the Pitt and Norton characters, at the expense
of fully developing the "political" message, however, to the extent that the
movement in the film is developed, it is shown in a quite positive light; the
members of "Fight Club" and "Project Mayhem" stress the importance of acts of
vandalism only against property and only the pigs are guilty of blowing any humans
away.  Also, speaking as a competing martial artist, I have found that allowing
myself to express all of my violent impulses in a controlled environment, among
friends, has made me immensely less prone to violence in real life, another point
the film sort of makes but could have developed further.

All in all, I think a main stream film, with major stars, carrying an
anti-corporate, anti-consumerist message is a good thing.  I have a fantasy that
it will inspire "copycat" movements.

Dan, just another disgruntled wage-slave

“So, cut your hair and never stare at people who ain’t aware that every morning
they wake up dead...”

-Richard Fariña, “Sell-Out Agitation Waltz”