Masculine Identity in the Service Class: An Analysis of Fight Club

http://www.criticism.com/md/fightclub.html

The essay written by Adrienne Redd, addresses the issue of masculinity through the successful film “Fight Club”. The bulk of the essay deals with the concept of American white men being defined by their masculinity through identification. The essay writer makes a point of shedding light on the transformation of the American workforce from farmers and other types of self-employed work into office workers and clerical work and how exactly this change has led to a new concept of manliness. The film emphasizes traditional masculinity and appeals to a particular image of masculinity that is very alluring. The film scrutinizes a generation of men, emasculated, from redundancy by technology and a steadily growing society. The narrator, Edward Norton, symbolizes the failure of masculinity, and Tyler Durden, Brad Pitt, symbolizes, “the redemption of masculinity repackaged as the promise of violence in the interests of social and political anarchy.” The two main characters create a revolutionary club, where the objective, is to fight. They expand this seemingly small group into followers who receive military like instructions which are coordinated by Tyler and the followers are motivated by issues of socio-economic class and advocacy relating particularly to the involvement of men. This construction of masculinity is an imperative aspect of Fight Club. The emasculated men turn to violence as a way of escaping the dullness of their lives. The white male has lost all confidence in his role as a consumer and wants to face a “real” feel of being, which can only be accomplished through pain.
The film could imply that the only way a white male can really experience a true sense of masculinity, is through wounding. In the final scene the narrator accepts responsibly for his actions and acknowledges the frustration felt by the men in his club, but also acknowledgement that it is time to grow up and stop blaming society for making them feel like they have lost their individuality and identification.