Fight Club, directed by David Fincher, can provide the viewer with a deeper understanding and appreciation through approaching its issues of The Narrator rebelling society, as a crisis of masculinity.
Through approaching the film through the critical approach of the crisis of masculinity, we are able to see the Narrators reasoning behind rebelling against dominant society. This can be seen within the testicular cancer sequence, in which the camera slowly pans back from one of the cancer sufferers, Thomas, as he confides with the group about his problems with his children, and his wife leaving him, causing him to eventually start crying. The feminine dialogue and the gesture of Thomas crying shows how modern men have become feminised, which is juxtaposed due to the mise-en-scene of the setting of the basketball court, which is normally a masculine surroundings, providing a post modernism aspect of irony. When the cancer sufferer Thomas begins to cry, we can hear the non-diegetic sound of alarms ringing at the same time, which is a recurring motif through-out the film for the narrator disagreeing with dominant society’s ideologies, through witnessing men being feminised within the self-help group. In occurrence to this rejection of dominant ideologies, after the narrator leaves the self-help group, we see the first blink of Tyler. Through approaching the sequence with the critical approach of Freudians theory, we are able to understand that the Narrators Id, Tyler Durden, is becoming more dominant and conscience within his life, due to his crisis of masculinity within the self-help group.
Through approaching the relationship between Marla and the Narrator critically, we are able to see this as a sign of the crisis of masculinity. Marla plays the role of the femme fatale character, with her being first introduced with the mise-en-scene of her dressed all in black, wearing sunglasses and a hat, and smoking a cigarette, which represents her as a more modern ideology of women in dominant society. She is represented as the source of the narrator problems, which can be seen within the self-help group sequence, with the non-diegetic voice over of the narrator saying "Her lie reflects my lie". The narrator uses the self-help groups as a source of emotional release, which can be seen in the testicular cancer sequence, with the narrator having a spiritual revelation whilst hugging Bob, which is supported through the non-diegetic religious music and the voice over of the narrator saying "Losing all hope is freedom". However, through approaching the scene through Freudians theory, we see that narrators Id, Tyler Durden, is rejecting this conforntment to dominant society, through the non-diegetic sound of alarms over the scene of him crying with Bob, showing that repressed self wants to rebel. This emotional release relieves him of his insomnia momentarily, until Marla reminds him of his problems through reflecting his lie, and also showing a more feminist representation of a woman, again repressing the narrator into having to conform to a more modern ideology surrounding women.
We are also able to see the narrator’s crisis of masculinity through the scene where Marla is wearing a pink bridesmaid’s dress that she got "from the store for one dollar". Marla’s mise-en-scene represents the dominant ideology of having to get a job, get married and start a family, in which the Narrator rejects, which we can see through the structure of the scene. The camera cuts from the diegetic dialogue of Marla talking about the bridesmaid dress and the glass slipper being like the modern day condom, to an extreme close up of the Narrator scrubbing a toothbrush against a piece of cloth. Both the juxtaposition of the shot type from a mid-shot to an extreme close-up and the increase of diegetic sound of the scrubbing when the camera is closer represent the Narrators rejecting of dominant society. We are able to see his crisis of masculinity within the modern ideologies, through the frantic scrubbing of him wanting to cleanse and remove any imperfections. This relationship between Marla and the Narrator in this scene can be viewed as the crisis of masculinity, due to the Narrator rejecting and wanting to escape from all modern ideologies telling him how men are supposed to be. We are able to see him rejecting this ideology through the narrative of him rejecting Marla, causing her to call him a "nutcase" and leave the house in anger.
In conclusion, I feel that through analysing the film with a critical approach of the crisis of masculinity, it allows me to gain a deeper understanding of the possible hidden motives of the films narrative, which has been useful in gaining a better appreciation of the film. I feel that through using the crisis of masculinity as an approach to the film, it allows me to understand the possible reasoning behind the Narrators escalating rebellion against society throughout the film, starting with the self-help groups, then the Fight club, then Project Mayhem.
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