I know the whole “I was into it before everyone else was” attitude is a hipster-douche move, but I don’t care. I saw Fight Club opening night, because I anticipated it more than any other film of 1999 other than The Phantom Menace. After Seven and The Game, director David Fincher was pure gold in my book. So was Edward Norton. And then there was that fantastic trailer set to The Pixies’ “Where is My Mind?”
I went with a large group of buddies in a half-empty theater, and to say the least in the most pun-intended, cliché-ridden manner possible: The film knocked us on our collective asses. Yes, thematically it’s slightly muddled, but it’s a masterpiece of craftsmanship; it’s still the apex of visceral, music-video filmmaking (that is not a backhanded compliment). And arguably, the last ten seconds of the movie — when “Where is My Mind?” starts humming on the soundtrack and the buildings tumble — is one the best final moments of any film.
Considering Fight Club‘s popularity today, it’s difficult to believe that ten years ago the film was a major flop at the box-office (which led to the firing of Fox’s head honcho) and a misfire according to half of the nation’s critics. I remember reading a story on how the tepid response to the film depressed Fincher. Yet, Norton kept telling the director that several great, challenging films failed both at the box-office and with critics before finding the love they deserved. He predicted Fight Club would be no different.
Prophecy fulfilled.
Like Bonnie and Clyde 30 years earlier, Fight Club was a watershed moment in film criticism where the generation gap between older and younger reviews cracked wide open. For better or worse (okay in many ways, worse), the era of Roger Ebert and print critics began to give way to the likes of Harry Knowles and web reviewers.
Regardless, I love that the critical pendulum eventually swung towards Fight Club‘s favor and the movie found a level of heightened awareness within pop-culture (how many times has the first two rules of “Fight Club” been parodied?). Its thematic skewering of anti-conformity conformity, rampant consumerism, and corporate America’s castration of individuality ring as true as ever. Yet, over the last decade it’s also been disheartening to see the film embraced by meatheads who completely misunderstand it.
The film does toss around some dangerous ideas (it’s unfathomable that such a bizarre, angry film could be made today by Fox or really any major studio for that matter). Yet, here’s a hint to the film’s meaning: You are not supposed to admire Tyler Durden. He is vile, fascist, and counters complex problems with the most superficial of means — namely, caveman violence. Don’t worship the ideals of Tyler Durden. That is the ultimate message of the film. Please try to spread it.
Now follow this rule… Share your own Fight Club story below and say a few words to mark the occasion of its ten year anniversary.
Oh, and if you didn’t know, Fight Club arrives on Blu-ray on November 17. Click here for the details.
