David Fincher

David fincher

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David fincher as auteur

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Spoilers - how we know they are one of the same through the film

The zip code on Richard Chesler's (Zach Grenier) business card is 198090 (shown briefly in the scene where The Narrator beats himself up in the office). In the shot where we see Tyler Durden's business card (just before The Narrator calls him), The Narrator's thumb is hiding the 6th digit. All we are able to see is 19808...then it's all thumb. 

Tyler appears in the film five times before we clearly see him on the moving walkway at the airport. In the first four appearances, he flashes on screen for a single frame (1/24 of a second) and only when the Narrator has insomnia:

• at the photocopier at work;
• in the corridor outside the doctor's office, when the Narrator learns about the testicular cancer support group;
• at that group's meeting;
• as the Narrator sees Marla leaving a meeting but doesn't follow her.

He can also be seen as a waiter in the presentation video of the hotel (he is the furthest waiter on the right). 

At the airport, the Narrator says "Could you wake up as a different person?" and the camera briefly follows Tyler. 

When Tyler and the Narrator are fighting and gather a crowd, no one intervenes, but instead look rather bemused. 

After the car crash, as Tyler nurses the Narrator back to health, the Narrator has a bruise on his head. When the Narrator wakes up the 'next morning' the bruise is completely gone. Whilst some see this as a continuity error, others argue that it indicates more time has passed than just one night (in fact, the Narrator wasn't asleep at all, he was all over the country setting up fight clubs). 

The Narrator wanders the house while Tyler and Marla noisily have sex upstairs. When the detective calls and the Narrator answers the phone, the sounds of the lovemaking instantly stop. 

On the airplane the Narrator mentions that they have the exact same briefcase. And although Tyler opens his, we never see the contents of the Narrator's. 

When entering Lou's Tavern, the Narrator enters first and the guy out the front only acknowledges the Narrator, as though Tyler doesn't even exist. 

When going to the convenience store where Raymond K. Hessel works, Tyler gets the gun out of the Narrator's bag. The Narrator obviously didn't know the gun was there, indicated by his astonishment "Is that a gun?", despite the fact that it's his backpack. 

When Lou sees the Fight Club members in the basement of his restaurant, Lou punches Tyler in the stomach. When Tyler gets punched, you can see the Narrator double over slightly as if he too was punched in the stomach. A few shots later, Lou kicks Tyler in the face while he is kneeling, and in the background we see the Narrator's head go back at the moment of impact. 

When Tyler and the Narrator hit the first car with baseball bats, Tyler hits first, but the alarm is triggered only after the Narrator hits. 

Chuck Palahniuk revealed that when he wrote the book, he did not actually know that Tyler and the Narrator were the same person until he was two thirds of the way through writing the story, at which point he noticed that they acted together as one person and chose to finish the story as such. 

When the airport employee "lends" Tyler the car, the Narrator and Tyler get in through the same door. After the crash where Tyler was driving, Tyler pulls the Narrator out of the driver's side of the car. 

When the airport valet lends Tyler and the narrator the car, while addressing "Mr. Durden" he is looking straight at the Narrator. 

When the Narrator enters the house prior to seeing the news report of the happy face on the building, he is carrying one of Project Mayhem's folders. 

When the narrator gets on the bus with Tyler, he only pays the fare for one person. 

When Tyler and the Narrator are on the bus, the long-haired guy pushes past Tyler without a word, then says "excuse me" as he pushes past the Narrator. 

The buildings that blow up in the end are all Fox-owned buildings digitally composited into the shot. It was feared that they would invite legal action against the production if they portrayed real credit card companies blowing up. 

When Tyler Durden calls The Narrator back in the phone booth, the camera slowly tracks in towards the phone. On the left of the phone, a notice can be seen saying "No incoming calls allowed." 

The Group Leader (George Maguire) begins his speech at the Testicular Cancer support group by saying, "I look around this room and I see a lot of...". Later, when Tyler makes his 'Middle children of history' speech, he begins, "I look around this room and I see a lot of..." 

The shot of The Narrator shooting himself was originally to have been shot practically using synchronized high speed photosonic cameras, a dummy constructed by makeup supervisor Rob Bottin and live footage of actor Edward Norton. However, the filmmakers couldn't get the shot to look right, so at the last minute they decided to do the scene primarily CG instead of live. Ultimately, live footage of Edward Norton having 180psi of air shot into his mouth (to make his cheeks blow out) was used, but apart from the actual face, the only element of the shot which is real is the spurt of blood coming out of his mouth, everything else is CG. 

The final shot of the collapsing credit bank buildings was designed by Richard 'Dr.' Baily, who worked on the shot for over 14 months straight. According to director David Fincher, there are almost 4 million separately animated digital elements in the shot. 

In the closing seconds of the film after the camera pulls back from the exploding buildings, a single frame of male genitalia can be seen briefly like Brad Pitt's character added in his projectionist job. 

After the Narrator leaves Marla's apartment just before he meets Bob (who tries telling him about Fight Club) there is a graffiti written the wall to his right that says "I MYSELF I MYSELF I MYSELF I MYSELF". Parts of it can also be seen as the Narrator and Bob talk.

Pub Quiz knowledge about Fight Club

1. During rehearsals, Brad Pitt and Edward Norton found out that they both hated the new Volkswagen Beetle with a passion, and for the scene where Tyler and The Narrator are hitting cars with baseball bats, Pitt and Norton insisted that one of the cars be a Beetle. As Norton explains on the DVD commentary, he hates the car because the Beetle was one of the primary symbols of 60s youth culture and freedom. However, the youth of the 60s had become the corporate bosses of the 90s, and had repackaged the symbol of their own youth, selling it to the youth of another generation as if it didn't mean anything. Both Norton and Pitt felt that this kind of corporate selling out was exactly what the film was railing against, hence the inclusion of the car; "It's a perfect example of the Baby Boomer generation marketing its youth culture to us. As if our happiness is going to come by buying the symbol of their youth movement, even with the little flower holder in the plastic molding. It's appalling to me. I hate it." However, Pitt is quoted on the DVD commentary as saying he has since had a change of heart about the new Beetle. 
2. Much confusion exists amongst fans about the Narrator's name. Many believe it is Jack due to his use of the phrase "I am Jack's...", but others argue that he only uses the moniker Jack because that was the one he saw in "Annotated Reader". Interestingly, in the press packages released for the movie, which came in the form of an Ikea-esque catalog, the character is referred to as Jack, as he is on the back of the DVD, and in the booklet accompanying the DVD, where the Chapter list is referred to as "Jack's Chapters". Also, the original screenplay by Jim Uhls refers to him as Jack. On the other hand, in the closed captions for the film, he is referred to as Rupert. Edward Nortonreveals that he refers to the character as Jack on the audio commentary on the DVD and Blu-ray. 
3. The original "pillow talk"-scene had Marla saying "I want to have your abortion". When this was objected to by Fox 2000 Pictures President of Production Laura Ziskin, David Fincher said he would change it on the proviso that the new line couldn't be cut. Ziskin agreed and Fincher wrote the replacement line, "I haven't been fucked like that since grade school". When Ziskin saw the new line, she was even more outraged and asked for the original line to be put back, but, as per their deal, Fincher refused. 
4. After the copyright warning, there is another warning on the DVD. This warning is from Tyler Durden, and is only there for a second. "If you are reading this then this warning is for you. Every word you read of this is useless fine print is another second off your life. Don't you have other things to do? Is your life so empty that you honestly can't think of a better way to spend these moments? Or are you so impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all who claim it? Do you read everything you're supposed to read? Do you think everything you're supposed to think? Buy what you're told you should want? Get out of your apartment. Meet a member of the opposite sex. Stop the excessive shopping and masturbation. Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you're alive. If you don't claim your humanity you will become a statistic. You have been warned... Tyler" 
5. David Fincher claimed in an interview in UK film magazine Empire, that there is a Starbucks coffee cup visible in every shot in the movie

Study pack

Fight club is about the monstrous thrill of violence and the fragility of men

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Big Fat Fight Club Quiz

Big fat quiz

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Fight club: Discussion questions

1.    Did you find Fight Club funny? Why or why not?
 

2.    What truths are expressed in this film? What do you think it gets wrong?
 

3.    What happens to the Narrator when he goes to the support groups?
 

4.    What is the relevance of the Narrator's fatherless childhood?
 

5.    Why does the Narrator dislike Marla so much?
 

6.    Why is the Narrator drawn to Tyler Durden?
 

7.    What is the attraction of the Fight Club? What do men receive there?
 

8.    What is the significance of soap in this movie?
 

9.    Why does Tyler torture the greengrocer with the threat of death?
 

10.  What does Tyler hope to achieve by blowing up the credit card companies?
 

11.   Tyler complains that humans have lost value in society, yet the participants in Project   Mayhem are known only by number. What is wrong with his plan to change the world?

12.   Is the Narrator ever free at any point in this movie?
 

13.  What is the role of violence? Could it be a metaphor for something else?
 

14.  How did your feelings about the violence change throughout the movie?
 

15.  What are the ironies of the film, both in the story and in the movie as a whole?
 

16.  Like so many others, I had become a slave to the IKEA nesting instinct ... I'd flick through catalogues and wonder, "What kind of dining set defines me as a person?"' The Narrator has a high level of self-awareness when it comes to seeing his life for what it is. What other things are people slaves to in contemporary society? How can we make a difference?
 

17.'You were looking for a way to change your life. You could not do this on your own. All the ways you wish you could be - that's me. I look like you wanna look ... I am smart, capable and most importantly - I am free in all the ways that you are not.' (Tyler Durden) Where do people look for freedom today? Do they find it? Why or why not? The members of Fight Club paid for their 'freedom' with pain. Can freedom ever come without a price tag attached to it?
 

18.'What gets explored in this film is the idea that nihilism is a very sexy idea when you're young and feel frustrated, but that becoming mature means recognising the practical limits and in some ways the hypocrisies that nihilism lends itself to.' (Edward Norton, Fight Club DVD commentary) What are the hypocrisies of nihilism? What solutions does Fight Club offer?
 

19.  Discuss the following quotes: 'Every evening I died, and every evening I was born again - resurrected.' (the Narrator, talking about his experiences in the support groups)
'Fight Club wasn't about winning or losing. I wasn't about words. The hysterical shouting was in tongues, like in a Pentecostal church. When the fight was over, nothing was solved, but nothing mattered. Afterwards, we all felt saved.' (the Narrator)
'Our fathers were our models for God. If our fathers baled, what does that tell you about God? You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you, he never wanted you, in all probability he hates you ... We are God's unwanted children - so be it!' (Tyler Durden) 
'You have to give up. First you have to know - not fear, know - that some day you're gonna die ... It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.' (Tyler Durden)

Mock Exam questions

1. After watching Fight Club and The Game and using the information given to you in the pack please answer the following question: There aren’t that many directors around these days that you can truly call an auteur, David Fincher is a member of a very select group; discuss
2. Do you think Fight Club is an experimental film in its use of visual style and narrative structure? Does it conform to the conventions of Hollywood cinema in any way? Does it remind you of any other films you have seen
3. What different attributes and characteristics are associated with masculinity and femininity in Fight Club? What does this suggest about the ideology of the film?
4. What is it about the representation of violence in Fight Club that makes it so disturbing? (Bear in mind that the violence is no worse than other contemporary films)

Reviews

Total Film
http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/fight-club

"Fight Club" by Alexander Walker
http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~heather/mustard/walker.htm

News and Entertainment.com
http://rhinoxsis.homestead.com/zmfight.html

Variety
http://rhinoxsis.homestead.com/zmfight.html

Film Critic.com
http://www.filmcritic.com/reviews/1999/fight-club/