On The Fight Club
The blogmeister of Mysterium Crucis has an admittedly not very Nietzschean, but vastly entertaining and insightful series of observations on The Fight Club. I have to say, very frankly, that I enjoyed this film tremendously, even while finding what it had to say somewhat disconcerting. The blogmeister's interpretation of events int he tale differs markedly from my own--he sees the primary theme as fatherlessness--I see it as addiction and obsession/compulsion. In fact, the entire film is a paean to OCD (and I'm not talking about the sister branch of my own O.Carm.). The entire film centers around compulsion and a reckless nihilism that supposedly ultimately gives meaning to life. The ultimately destrcutive activity of the main character is finally revealed to be self-destructive, and the final scene basically gives us a "Waiting for Godot" kind of climactic frisson of meaning that is ultimately meaningless. This is Becket for the Space age--nothing has meaning except violence which is shown to have no meaning because it is ultimately self directed.
What is fascinating about the film is the way it contradicts and undermines itself resulting in both a possible nihilistic interpretation, or a very profoundly moral vision which shows that the ultimate end of all violence is toward the destruction of the perpetrator--it annhilates understanding, meaning, and interpretation.
The Fight Club is ultimately a vision of the abyss that does not really understand WHAT the abyss is or where it is to be found.
Well, there's another thought about it. I do recommend, however, that you see what Mysterium Crucis has to say about it.
