MASCULINITY AND CRITICAL RESPONSES
Fight Club's explicit theme is the crisis in "masculinity" in the face of "feminised " consumerist culture.
Robert Bly, and American poet , stated that modern masculinity was in crisis in his book " Iron John"and this article. ( What do men really want ? )
The concepts of traditional stereotypical "male "( domination, ambition, aggression etc.)
and "female" ( passivity, empathy, domesticity ) attributes runs through much of the critical response to Fight Club and can be criticised in turn as limited and overly binary in nature.
Giroux feels Fight Club is limited and problematic in its representation of masculinity in Fight Club and the solutions it provides . Representations of masculinity in the film are limited in terms of class, ethnicity and the solutions provided to masculine "crisis" are simply violent , individualistic and unsustainable,
However Lyn Ma Ta claims that Fight Club explicitly deals with this issue in her article
"Hurts so good : Fight Club, masculine violence and the crisis of capitalism" and is in fact satirising and mocking these limited responses and is in fact encouraging further debate about the nature of masculinity and society.
INDIVIDUAL RESPONSE AND DISCUSSION POINTS
Q : Is the representation of men in the film limited to and reliant upon traditional stereotypes of masculinity or does it challenge and subvert these stereotypes ?
Jack : " Is that what a man looks like ? "
The film has also been described as a battle between male archetypes : the traditional hypermasculine "Alpha " male (Tyler) and the more feminine and sensitive 1990s "New Man"
( Jack) .
Q : How does Fight Club use its mis-en-scene , cinematography , editing and narrative to explore this battle ? Whose side , if any, is it on ?
FEMININE
Alienating consumerist culture ( and the self-help groups Jack uses to try to save himself) has been described as feminine in Fight Club and something for our character to escape to save his masculinity.
Literal representations of women in Fight Club are limited as the film is very much concerned with masculinity and male bonding. The character of Marla as the central female character in the film is clearly vitally important.
What are Marla'a personal qualities and narrative agency in the film ?
How do the other characters in the film interact with , describe and view her ?
Does she conform to or subvert traditional stereotypes and cinematic representations about women and femininity ?
How is the audience positioned to respond to Marla , and do we ever see the events and themes in the film from her perspective ?
Film noir femme fatale ?
Hysterical and unstable ? Love interest ? Muse to male hero?
Or independent and strong-willed woman ?
Other references to women in the text are also negative and Tyler Durden explicitly states
" I'm wondering if another woman is what we need " .
Does the film's narrative support this message ?
OTHER RESOURCES
Simple video essay on masculinity in Fight Club
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