Context of Fight Club Objective Understand the context

Context of Fight Club

Objective • Understand the context of production of Fight Club • Discuss some key themes brought up in the film

Let me take you back to 1999. . . Pre 9/11 A different world back then. . . Steps were the UK’s number 1 band (no, really) Everyone was paranoid with the Millennium Bug which would “wipe out” our entire system of being (er, it didn’t) • And of course. . . Petrol was 68 p per litre. • Crazy days!!! • •

Context • As you should have found out. . . • Fight Club caused controversy when it was released • The film, like The Matrix (1999), encouraged people to reject Western capitalist values • The film’s themes provoked anger in commentators and critics • So what was the problem?

Themes • Misogyny (hatred of women) • Homoeroticism (the subtext beneath the relationship between the two male characters) • Anti-establishment, anti-corporate (encouraging people to destroy big business) • Emasculation (removal of male genitalia, making men more like women) • Fetishised violence • Sadism and masochism (S and M) – deriving sexual pleasure from hurting and being hurt

David Fincher said of the film. . . • “Fox have spent $75 million on an experimental movie. ” • Fox = owned by News Corporation (Rupert Murdoch’s company – he also owns Sky TV, the Times and owned the News of the World – until he closed it because of the phone hacking)

Box office competition • 1999’s big summer film release was supposed to be Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (budget $115 m, grossed $924 m) • The film wasn’t received as well as planned instead, Fight Club (budget $75 m) and The Matrix (budget $115 m) slaughtered it critically (also, even die-hard Star Wars fans hate the film – honestly)

The debate raged • The film provoked copycat Fight Clubs, which were harmless enough until someone died after being beaten to death at one • Plus the people in the Fight Clubs had forgotten the golden rule, which is: The first rule of Fight Club is. . . You do not talk about Fight Club!

Example questions Section C: Single Film: Close Critical Study Choose one question from this section. Your answer should make detailed reference to your chosen film. General Questions 17. What does your chosen film reveal about the usefulness of one or more critical approaches you have applied? [30] 18. Consider debates that have arisen in the critical reception of your chosen film, either at the time of its initial release or now or both. [30] Questions on single films 26. 'Despite the gesture of destroying symbols of corporate power at the end, Fight Club is a film about power and control, not liberation. ' How far do you agree? [30]