A Critique of Violence - Fight Club (1996)
Fight Club was published in 1996 and written by Chuck Palahniuk. Palahniuk’s idea for Fight Club stemmed from a violent encounter causing visible damage to his face and his colleagues’ avoidance in asking questions. When formulating and writing Fight Club, Palahniuk was influenced by and focused upon particular features of US culture, such as consumerism, combat sports, and disillusionment with the ‘American Dream’. Fight Club later became a film which underperformed financially but soon gained a cult following in the US and internationally, speaking to the resonance it has with audiences.
Palahniuk’s work depicts how the repression of violence in America’s consumerist, egalitarian and feminised society removes the fundamental meaning in the lives of males. The book’s protagonist, the Narrator, has chronic insomnia due to his psychological emasculation caused by the society he lives in. Emasculation is a key theme throughout; the Narrator attends meetings for men who have survived testicular cancer and are physically emasculated through the removal of their testicles. Fight Club portrays modern men as lacking the means through which to express their biological predispositions; increased physical strength and aggression due to greater testosterone. These biological traits equip males to better protect themselves and their families. The state’s monopoly on violence - ‘its administrative staff successfully upholds a claim to the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force in the enforcement of its order’ (Weber, 1978, pp. 54) - replaced males in providing protection - the modern state consequently feminises men. Men in developed societies are portrayed as having their most fundamental purpose made redundant. Furthermore, Palahniuk couples this emasculation with the nihilistic void created by Nietzsche’s death of God (Nietzsche, 1882, pp. 181-182) - the waning and eventual loss of belief in Christian values. The existential angst caused by the death of God removes the comfort of eternal salvation following death. Death anxiety occurs and developed societies focus upon numbing this angst. Suffering and pain are denied as critical components of the human experience, violence is demonised and hedonistic escapism is promoted. Palahniuk chooses to primarily focus upon consumerist aspects of American cultural escapism. These two interlinked processes create a large group of emasculated men who have lost the purpose of their existence. Palahniuk criticises the repression and demonisation of violence for contributing to existential angst and nihilistic tendencies amongst men whose purpose has been replaced by the modern state and their biological predispositions demonised by society.
Nietzsche’s concepts of creative destruction and the übermensch are key to Palahniuk’s work. Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883) presents the übermensch as an earthly goal that humanity can set itself to avoid the nihilism that looms following God’s death and the subsequent revaluation of values. Nietzsche believed that the nihilistic void created by the metaphorical death of God should be replaced by a new set of values emphasising self-mastery over the human mind. Similar to Nietzsche, Palahniuk introduces a prophetic figure in Tyler Durden - a hyper-masculine alter ego of the Narrator. Palahniuk presents Tyler as the übermensch relative to the Narrator who represents the last man. Nietzsche described the last man as the product of the growing egalitarianism of modern societies and is the antithesis of the übermensch - nihilistic, risk averse, and seeking only comfort and security. Fight clubs use violence to psychologically and physically indoctrinate, allowing Tyler to create an army of enlightened men or übermensch. However, fight clubs evolve from male bonding through violence into the anarchist movement Project Mayhem. The violence of fight club and the positive effects upon participants, such as meaning creation and greater confidence, are shown to be the means used by Tyler to indoctrinate emasculated men - Tyler preys upon their repressed biology and channels it into violence. Project Mayhem uses increasingly extreme force and violence to destroy contemporary society and implement the revaluation of values. Palahniuk initially disguises Tyler as a saviour of modern society using Nietzschean and anarchistic philosophy. However, Tyler can be increasingly interpreted as capitalising upon the men searching for meaning and purpose. Tyler uses violence to access the more primal components of men who have become frustrated by their environment. Fight clubs and later Project Mayhem are used by Tyler to pursue his philosophical and political agenda while creating an army of unthinking clones or according to the Narrator ‘pure Tyler Durden’ (Palahniuk, 1996, pp. 149). Nonetheless, Fight Club remains open to interpretation but can be viewed as a warning to the potential consequences of the power of charismatic leaders offering disillusioned people extreme ends via extreme means.
Fight Club is an important piece of literature depicting the dangers of political extremism, indoctrination and violence. Fight Club deals with themes that are of particular relevance to western developed societies: the waning influence of Christianity; growth in state power; the demonisation and repression of violence. Nietzsche’s work concerning morality following God’s death and the risk of nihilism as a result is of vital contemporary importance. Fight Club provides a fantastical portrayal of the risks posed to societies by charismatic figures offering disillusioned people a meaning in the form of a political religion. Project Mayhem is a political movement based upon ideological indoctrination and extremism. Fight Club is a gripping story highlighting the dangers of charismatic leaders, disillusioned men, and the intoxicating nature of violence. The unleashing of certain biological traits ingrained in humans expressed through violence is cathartic and empowering for those involved. The human fascination with violence remains prevalent in all cultures, for example, the rise of mixed martial arts in the USA. Palahniuk’s work therefore, has contemporary relevance; the dangers of charismatic leaders and growing ideological partisanship; humans’ fascination with violence; meaning creation within increasingly powerful but secular states.
Violence is a fundamental component of the human experience and Fight Club offers a refreshing, if terrifying, insight into its intoxicating nature. Nonetheless, Fight Club has remained a highly controversial piece of literature with critics arguing that it advocates and glorifies violence, influencing audiences. In the years since its publication numerous stories of Fight Club-esque escapades have been reported globally. For example, Lucas Helder was believed to have been influenced by Fight Club when he used pipe bombs to destroy postboxes in the USA. Palahniuk paints the extreme violence of fight club and later Project Mayhem in an alluring colour. While criticising many core aspects of contemporary US society, like capitalism and consumerism, Palahniuk hits a chord with millions of readers. Through his portrayal of the place of violence in modern society, Palahniuk risks his work being inflammatory. However, it is the task of the reader to engage with Fight Club analytically and avoid the emotional pull of Tyler’s philosophy. Although Palahniuk's scathing rebuttal of developed societies and violence's place within them clashes with much of mainstream politics and philosophy, that does not diminish its great intellectual and moral value.
References:
Nietzsche, F., 1882. The Gay Science. Kaufmann, W ed (1974). New York: Vintage.
Nietzsche, F., 1883. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Hollingdale, R, J ed (1969). London: Penguin Books.
Palahniuk, C., 1996. Fight Club. London: Vintage.
Weber, M., 1978. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Berkeley: University of California Press.
