Existentialism & Fight Club Essay

?From an existentialism point of billet, there is no right or wrong choice, since one gives an action value by the merit of choosing it. Choices set up only be judged on how involved the decision maker is when making it. sagaciousness by this standard, the cashier is justified in killing Tyler, since he fully became involved in choosing to both accept and reject Tylers values by that action. Existentialisms first move is to make every man aware of what he is and to make the full responsibleness of his founding rest on him. In my essay, I shall first reason how slam Tyler is crucial in allowing the bank clerk to achieve the first move in embracing existentialism. He acts as the catalyst for the narrator to make the first move in existentialism being aware of what he is by ack at presentledging all his rudimentary instincts and assuming responsibility for his universe of discourse. Tyler does so through his acts of escalating violence and atrocity to provoke the narrator t o confront both who he is and his responsibilities, culminating finally in his own finish.I shall also discuss the theme of consumerism as portrayed in the movie, and how the decision of barb Tyler relates to the narrators interpretation of this theme. The narrator had been hesitant to walk out full responsibility for his worldly concern at the start of the movie. He dislikes his present circumstances- he is jaded with his current job and lacks a clear purpose, as illustrated by the quote A mavin serving package, a single serving Once he consumes the single serving, he is done. He makes a fleeting impression in someone elses life before he fades from their memory.He feels his cosmos is meaningless because he has no connections with anyone. He is not content with the present state he is in, moreover makes no active effort to consciously delimit his own existence. He shows bad faith in this respect, because he deceives himself into believing that he lacks complete license of involvement in making this decision. He is a coward by Sartres definition Those who hide their complete freedom from themselves out of a spirit of sincerity or by means of deterministic excuses. He possesses the desire to redefine his existence by rebelling against the values in society, but this conflicts with his conscious mind (the ego), which restraints him from doing anything socially unacceptable. His conscious mind hides these unacceptable desires in the subconscious mind, coming up with excuses that prevent the narrator from fulfilling these desires. Eventually, the repressed energy from these unconscious desires resulted in the fracturing of the ego itself- into cardinal conscious minds, hence resulting in the manifestation of Tyler.Tyler represents everything that the narrator subconsciously wishes to be. He is the personification of the ID itself, representing the narrators repressed death instincts (our innate instinct for survival), hostility instincts (instincts for violence), and the libido. Before he meets Tyler, the narrator is defines his existence though furniture he purchases and assembles from IKEA. He attempts to make himself into a being-in-itself, believing his perfect state of existence can be reached by purchasing that last piece of furniture he needs.When the narrators house was bombed, annihilating the means by which he defines his existence, the narrator felt as though his existence itself was erased. Every stick of furniture in there was my life. Tyler teaches him not to rely on material goods but to define his existence by his actions. The fight club thus became the new means through which the narrator could define himself through acts of fighting. The narrator learns to revel in violence and physical anguish as a means of defining his existence and to transcend the physical limits of the body.He achieves the first step of self-awareness by satisfying his primal instincts for aggression. His first epiphany occurs when he real izes Tyler is himself. In a sense, he realized that he (as Tyler) is free and capable of inventing and creating himself as whom he chooses to be. This is an important step because he now wants to assume responsibility for his existence. His second epiphany occurs when he shoots Tyler, and thus himself. On the first level, the narrator acknowledges his death instincts by confronting his fear of pain and death.He accepts Tylers ideas of experiencing death so as to be fully conscious of his physical existence. When he shoots Tyler, he does so with the awareness that he is shooting himself. This is the final step he needs to take in order to be fully aware of what he is. On the second level, by rejecting Tylers nihilistic ideas of destroying institutions and value systems, he chooses what values to stand for and thus bring into beings his own purpose for himself. In choosing his ethics, world makes himself. He also translates the belief in these values into the actual action of shoot ing Tyler, thus defining his existence through actual action.On the third level, by shooting Tyler, he assumes responsibility for all of Man, not just himself. He assumes responsibility for Man because he invents what Man should be one who does not act in an uncaring and destructive manner towards others. On the fourth level, shooting Tyler allows the narrator to be defined in a way he wishes to be defined in the eyes of the other. Shooting Tyler is crucial towards removing the existence of Project Mayhem. He does not want Marla to find out about Project Mayhem because he will then lose his connections with her.It is important to the narrator to have a close relationship with Marla. Firstly, she is the only surviving real human being he has a close relationship with in the movie. Secondly, Marla, contend the map of the other, allows him to seek out knowledge about his existence and she is the condition for his existence. By shooting Tyler, he prevents the loss of this other that i s crucial for his existence. Copernican themes discussed in the movie include consumerism. To be specific, it shows how the modern consumerist society affects Mans determination of his existence.In Sartres words, how a change in the a priori limits which outline mans funda mental situation in the universe affects Mans determination of his existence with respect to these limits. According to Sartre, all configurations all appear as attempts to pass beyond them or recede from them or deny them or adapt to them. Consumerism imposes limits on Man to work and to consume, because only if Man works can he consume, and he can consume only if he works. He is emasculated because he is unable to fulfill his natural role as a hunter-gatherer as dictated to him by biology.Man is limited or restricted in the sense he is unable to fulfill his primeval instincts. As seen in the movie, Tyler tries to pass beyond these limits by destroying symbols of consumerism, such as credit card companies, so as to return to Ground Zero. Since umteen people define their existence by numbers in their bank accounts, destroying the bank records will erase their previous existence and allow them to create their existence anew, much like how the narrators apartment was bombed so that he could create his new existence through Fight Club.Tylers ultimate destination seems to be changing the limits by which people define their existence by. He envisions the destruction of modern civilization, and a regression back to a more original hunter gatherer state. In the world I see you are stalking elk through the same canyon forests around the ruins of Rock fellow Centre. In the world he envisions, the new limits by which people will define themselves with respect to are undoubtedly physical strength and prowess. On the other hand, the narrator, like so many of us today, adapts to these limits by embracing consumerism as indoctrinated into him by society through advertisements.He avidly purchases IKE A furniture and defines his existence by these material goods. In Tylers words, he works jobs he hates so he can buy s bring in he doesnt need. He assumes that his furniture uniquely defines him as a person, from the glass bowls with imperfections made by the simple and honest people of wherever to his yin-yang coffee table, plot of land missing the irony that IKEA is a chain-store that mass produces furniture. He is no other different from many other consumers of IKEA who believe that their furniture is unique on virtue of it being selected by them.At the end of the movie, the narrator realizes he needs to strike a balance between the two opposing configurations, one that is in the pre-consciousness state, afraid to confront his freedom, and the other that embraces existentialism and freedom to the point of reckless destruction. Shooting Tyler thus allows him to reunite his opposing configurations and strike a middle balance. Marla is an exemplification of how a person recedes fr om limits that outline the human condition. She does not know what values to choose to define her existence.As a result, she adopts a nihilistic attitude and attempts to hit rock-bottom by trying to court death. Lastly, another important theme in the movie is that of mental pain. Many characters in the movie experience mental pain because they are unable to reject the being in itself others force upon them. Thus, they cannot achieve a true state of being for itself This is because we perceive others as a condition of our own existence, as how Sartre puts it. According to Sartre, once we realize we exist, we realize the existence of others who are free to define us according to how they view us.We are objectified in the eyes of others because others view us as a being in itself. We lose our freedom through their perception of us. Only we expression back and viewing others as objects can we regain our freedom. Bob is viewed as a man who has lost his masculinity. He accepts this being in itself, believing that he is condemned to this fixed and unchanging physical body. Thus, he suffers mental pain because he does not reject the attempts of being in itself others force upon him by realizing his freedom to create his own existence.The narrator similarly suffers from accepting the being in itself society forces upon him- as a member of society whose purpose is to work, to consume and to obey his superiors. His nonesuch self-image is that of a strong and ruthless primal human being. However, he dares not embrace his freedom to reject this being for itself and work towards the transcendent goal of his angel self-image. Thus, his mental pain caused Tyler to manifest, who violently abuses the narrator to symbolize the mental pain the narrator is experiencing.Tyler tries to push the narrator to be fully aware of his unconscious desires, and to assume responsibility for his freedom. Only when he confronts this mental pain (Tylers physical abuse) can he reject being for itself and achieve true being-for-itself, the state where he is constantly and freely choosing his future. His decision to shoot Tyler was justified-because he is freely choosing to reject Tylers destructive ideas, and to transcend his initial transcendent goal of becoming Tyler.In conclusion, the movie has strong themes of existentialism running through it. The act of shooting Tyler was justified because it signifies the first step of existentialism for the narrator- he becomes fully aware of what he is, and assumes full responsibility of his existence. It also shows how human beings may choose to define themselves with respect to the limits of the world they exist in. Lastly, shooting Tyler allows the narrator to confront his mental pain and reach the true state of being for itself.