Give Pete a Chance

Aggression

The concept of aggression has a strong presence in this film. Sigmund Freud saw aggression as the manifestation of the death instinct. Psychoanalysis believes in the existence of psychic energy which is the catalyst for mental and physiological activity and there are two innate instincts that form the basis for its function. In psychoanalysis, there are two instincts the life instinct (Eros) and the death instinct (Thanatos.)  Thanatos represents inborn destructiveness primarily directed towards the self. The ultimate aim is to reduce the unpleasant tension to a minimum and if possible eliminate it completely. Self-destructiveness, however, is in direct conflict with the Eros or life instinct. Freud believed that the self-destructive impulse is so strong that unless we find some way to exhaust it, we may end up directing the destructiveness back onto ourselves. In this way, aggression can be sublimated into common tasks such as sport and physical occupations.

In an extension to Freud’s belief on the concept of aggression is Dollard et al’s frustration-aggression hypothesis (1939). He agreed that aggression is innate but is triggered by frustrating events in one’s life. There is support for this hypothesis from the concept of aggressive displacement. That when the object of one’s frustration is not present or it is not possible to directly retaliate against the aggressor, the frustrated person vents his emotions on innocent third parties (Marcus-Newhall et al., 2000.) It is usually the case where the person chooses a weaker, safer target than the initial aggressor. Also noteworthy is that aggression is not limited to physical acts such as kicking a dog or hitting someone, it can also be psychological which was used at length in this film.

From a psychological perspective the Narrator as Durden vented his anarchic aggression, perhaps rooted in his anger towards his father and himself, by subtle but significant acts of vandalism and mischief. While working as a projectionist, he spliced frames of pornography into family films. While working as banquet waiter, he defiled the food that he served with human waste. Later on when Project Mayhem came into full force, Durden ordered the members to continue his acts of mischief by various means such as kidnapping monkeys and shaving off their hair, feeding pigeons so they defecated on first class motor vehicles, adjusting advertising billboards and redoing airline safety manuals. All of these acts do not actually have a lasting effect on the victims nor do they detrimentally harm them but it seems all they essentially do is cause a great deal of annoyance.

In this film, aggression and violence is not being glorified. Durden sees fighting as an avenue for spiritual enlightenment and growth.“How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been in a fight?”-Tyler Durden. It also serves as a reminder of the men’s masculinity, the fact that they are not robotic by-products of consumerism and that one day, they are ultimately going to die. “You weren’t alive anywhere like you were there.”-The Narrator. The fighting in the film didn’t provide answers to the men’s issues in their life but it provided a raw vent in for whatever angst they felt in their day-to-day lives.”After fighting, everything else in your life got the volume turned down. You could deal with anything.”-The Narrator.

Identification of the Psychological Principles

Some psychological principles found in Fight Club are:

1)      Dissociative Identity Disorder

2)      Aggression

3)      Deindividuation

4)      Emasculation

5)      Subliminal Messaging

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV, a person must have the following requirements in order to be diagnosed with the illness:

1)                The presence of two or more distinct identity or personality states, each with its own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to and thinking about the environment and self.

2)                At least two of these identities or personality states recurrently take control of the person’s behaviour.

3)                Inability to recall important personal information that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness.

4)                The disturbance is not due to direct physiological effect of a substance or a general medical condition. 

The Narrator had all of these signs even though it was not apparent to him. People afflicted with this illness are not always aware of the presence of other personalities residing within them but the alternate personality usually has the wider idea of the core personality’s true reality. Such was the case in this film. The Narrator created Tyler Durden and despite living and fighting with him, he (the Narrator) had no awareness of Durden being a fragment of himself. Durden is the direct representation of everything the Narrator would like to be. “All the ways you wish you could be, that’s me. I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not.”-Tyler Durden. 

 A fugue state or “flight” is also an important characteristic in the signs of DID. It is a psychological state which entails loss of memory accompanied by actual physical flight from one’s present life situation to a new environment or less threatening former one (Zimbardo 1975.)  The Narrator complained to his doctor about falling asleep somewhere and waking up somewhere else. He mistakenly thought he was suffering from narcolepsy but in reality he was experiencing periods of fugue. Later in the film, it was shown that the Narrator’s periods of fugue was when Tyler Durden emerged.

The individual with this illness will develop two or more personalities that alternate in consciousness, each taking over conscious control of the person for varying periods of time. Each part of the personality is based on a set of motives that are in conflict with the motives of the other parts. These conflicting motive patterns originally existed simultaneously in one personality but were so incompatible, but insistent on fulfilment, that the person is able to satisfy them all only by repressing consciousness of one set while temporarily gratifying another set (Zimbardo, 1975). Prior to Durden’s creation, the Narrator was living a life of stagnant commercialism. He felt trapped in the society around him and wanted a means of escape. His darker, inner beliefs and perception created a new persona that would help him cope with his life.

I major in psychology and we were told to pick a film and analyse 5 psychological concepts in it.

Summary of Fight Club

The protagonist (Edward Norton) is a chronic insomniac with an attachment to filling his home with materialistic items, which he believes, defines him as a person. He is unnamed and known simply as the Narrator.

At the suggestion of his doctor who refuses to medically treat him for his insomnia, he begins to go to group therapy sessions for various debilitating illnesses such as tuberculosis and testicular cancer. At these meetings he finds sympathy, care and the ability to vent his suppressed emotions, something that he can’t find in his stagnant reality. In this way, his insomnia is temporarily cured.

A woman, Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) begins to appear in all of the therapy sessions and he is unnerved by her presence. Knowing that she, like him, is a ‘faker’ he sees his lie reflected in her falsehood and therefore loses his ability to vent his pent up,  inner frustration. To avoid seeing her, he arranges a schedule around the times she will be present at the meetings.

Aboard a plane on a business trip he meets a man named Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), who is a soap salesman. Upon returning home, the Narrator finds his entire condominium demolished by fire. Having nowhere to go, he calls Durden. They meeting for drinks at a bar and after they decide that the Narrator will stay at Durden’s house, Durden asks the Narrator to hit him. They end up having a fight in the bar’s car park. The two of them then leave for Durden’s house, an isolated, dilapidated structure. They begin living together as housemates despite the utterly decrepit state that the house is in. The Narrator completely abandons his former lifestyle.

One night the Narrator and Durden are seen by a couple of men having a brawl. They seem to be fighting just for the sake of fighting. Soon more men are attracted to what will grow to be Fight Club, an underground group with the main premise of raw fighting as a means of venting frustration and aggression and as an avenue for self-discovery. The club grows to be very popular among men with established rules and branches opening up all over the country.

One day, the Narrator gets a call from Marla Singer in whom he isn’t interested. As she begins a monologue, he quietly puts the receiver down and leaves but it is picked up by Durden. Marla has taken an overdose of pills and is ‘high’ on her likely impending death. Durden saves her and the two of them become sexually involved. The Narrator maintains his disdain for her. Durden warns the Narrator never to speak to Marla about him.

The Narrator and Durden make their living from a variety of odd jobs which includes Durden working as a projectionist and as a banquet waiter while the Narrator continued his job as an agent for a major car company. Durden and the Narrator also steal discarded human fat from a liposuction clinic and make expensive soap which they sell.

Fight Club soon grows into Project Mayhem which is an organised venture with the main aim of corporate vandalism and general mischief played on the society. In a ritualised induction to Project Mayhem, men begin to appear at the house. The Narrator and Durden test their determination and resilience by leaving them for three days without relief, hurling insults at them. Those who remain, join the new club.

Then one day, after a fight with the Narrator, Durden vanishes. The Narrator, agitated by his absence, goes in search of him, boarding plane after plane. He realises that he has been going in circles. He enters a bar where people acknowledge him as Mr. Durden. Although taken aback, he calls Marla who confirms that she has only known him as Tyler Durden.

The Narrator realises the enormity of his actions and his true reality. He created another personality called Tyler Durden (played by Pitt but which in actuality is his real name) to help him change his life. He realises his illness but is also overcome by fear of what his second personality has set in motion. Durden has infiltrated nearly every order and plans to demolish several buildings which house credit card records to erase debt.

The Narrator tries in vain to destroy Durden and eventually succeeds by shooting himself in the mouth. It is too late to try to save the buildings and the film ends with the Narrator hand in hand with Marla, of whom Durden had ordered the capture looking on as the buildings explode and collapse.  

Source: booyahharrypotter

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