The thought crossed my mind the other day that the movie Fight Club is an allegory of spiritual enlightenment. Aside from the obvious, you have Tyler as the “divine masculine” and Marla as the “divine feminine”, both of whom are, of course, parts of Ed Norton’s narrator, guiding him to become his best, whole self. In a very LHP manner, that self is not one that adheres to any of our cultural rules. When that wholeness is achieved, the world outside is literally destroyed.
So I decided to see if anyone else had this opinion and found a really good article that more-or-less has that idea but links it up all to Gnosticism.
It’s a cool article and actually explains Gnosticism better than any other source I’ve encountered. Just thought I’d share as some of you folks might find it interesting.
I read the author’s answer to this in an interview. Chuck P. essentially said that every one of his books was structured around a common theme, that of people coming together in one aspect or another. Not in a collective sense. More in a way that connects to each other on a more intimate level of understanding. It is, IMO, a manifestation of the author’s own experience in life and his projection of how to rationalize and resolve the troubles he saw in the world.
As for a gnostic take on the film, I would disagree. Given Palahniuk’s explanation, the ever growing intimate connectivity between the narrator and Marla was what first facilitated his awareness of Tyler as an alter ego of himself. This allowed him to eventually take control of his own fragmented mind, resolving the plot at the end. It was half in the spirit of the story, and half plot device, but not too much deeper than that.
I say not deeper than that because the movie took some serious creative license regarding the last portion of the book, enough to completely altar your perception of what the story was even about. The changes made in the last 10 minutes of the movie are PROFOUND once compared to the ending in the original book that the movie was based on. It changes everything. No buildings blown up. No holding hands with Marla. Stuck in a psyche ward tranqed out of his mind. The narrator was fucking nuts and it is all in his head. But in his fantasy, oh it would have been so amazing…sir.
The article does have a whole section recognizing Marla as the catalyst and facilitator for his journey with Tyler and, ultimately, knowledge of his self.
And I’m not saying that Palahniuk intended for any of the meaning myself or the writer of that article have found. It’s just very cool how it can be read (viewed) in a “spiritual” way, especially considering the film is one of my favorite movies of all time and it’s always spoken to me.
It is entirely likely, in my opinion, that Chuck is channeling deep knowledge without even being aware that he’s doing it. We do call them “creators” after all.
You raise an excellent point. Whether you are analyzing the book, the movie, or comparing the two, both are still pieces of art using different mediums, so even though CP and DF had different visions of the story, either could have subconsciously built the gnosticism you mention into parts. It’s a matter of personal interpretation. Many artists have talked with people who follow their work, heard a person’s interpretation of the artist’s work, and been like “Huh. I never saw it that way. Interesting.” Almost as if there was some kind of revelation to the artist about his own mind delivered by an outside party.
Probably. Underground fights are a thing all around the world. In America we call it pit fighting.