The document discusses key concepts of postmodernism and how they are represented in the film Fight Club. It analyzes elements of intertextuality, pastiche, simulation, superficiality, bricolage, hybridity, irony, and anachronism in the film. Intertextual references include artistic works and other films that influenced Fight Club. Pastiche is seen through stereotypical characters. Simulation is represented through breaking the fourth wall and blurred reality. Superficial scenes provide levity after intense scenes. Bricolage and hybridity are shown through the diverse visual elements used to create meaning.

1. Post modernism and Fight Club

2. Postmodernism is a social and cultural concept that has
dominated contemporary theory since the 1950’s. It has been
widely used in film theory as a critical perspective. .
It represents a departure from modernism and is characterized
by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a
mixing of different artistic styles and media.
John Francois Lyotard claimed that post-modernism could also
be defined by a rejection of theories that looked to simplify, he
called these metanarratives. He felt that metanarratives like
Marxism were too broad to explain individual action and
experiences.

3. Jean Baudrillard proposed that
postmodern culture is
composed of an endless chain
of simulacra – of substitutes
for a non-existent reality.
• What parallels do you see in
Fight Club? How aware is
the film that it is a film and
not a reality? Neo hides his illegal code in a hollowed out
book. The Matrix is a film about a nightmare
future where machines have managed to
create a simulated reality for humanity but still
use mini-discs.

4. • Intertextuality – the referencing of other cultural texts; either visually or
verbally within the content of the text. Pastiche is a more complex type of
intertextuality.
• Hybridity - the mixing and/or recycling of pre-existing genres and narratives
to construct new forms or a ‘hybrid’
• Simulation - a lack of any sense of reality to the real world
• Surface – a text that is more concerned with the superficial and/or devoid of
any depth of meaning
• Bricolage - the collection of disparate or differing objects to help explain the
nature of the prevailing culture and society
• Irony – playfulness with the style, form and/or content of a text
• Anachronism – When elements from different time frames are mixed

5. Intertextuality
There are a range of intertextual references in Fight Club ranging from the obvious to
the obscure. Fincher makes both ‘high’ and ‘low’ cultural references because in a post
modern text there is no cultural hierarchy.
• “Run Forrest, run” – This may seem a superficial reference to a Hollywood
blockbuster after Tyler has threatened to kill the clerk but the throwaway comment
adds bathos and a moment to question Tyler’s psychology.
Other intertextual elements are visual or stylistic.
• Edward Hopper was an American artist, known for his visual style of extremes
of light and dark and his recurring themes of the isolation of individuals and
the myth of American community.
The House by the
Railroad and
Nighthawks

6. • A good fit thematically, Fincher also took some of his visual style from
Hopper. Low key lighting and muted colours are recognisable shared
elements. The Bate’s home in Psycho was also inspired by Hopper.
• Another potential artistic reference is the comparison of Tyler in the bath to
Jacques-Louis David’s Death of Marat painting. Marat was a leader in the
French Revolution who was assassinated in the bath.

7. Intertextuality and Film
In Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse
Now, Marlon Brando takes on the
character of Colonel Kurtz, a US special
forces soldier who creates his own army
in order to fight the war in Vietnam his
way. Kurtz also tries to point out the
hypocrisy of war, ‘What do you call it
when the assassins accuse the assassin?
A lie.’ The irony of this ties in with the
idolisation of Tyler Durden. He wants to
destroy authority but becomes an
authority.
• Fincher makes the comparison of
Kurtz and Tyler in this scene with
composition, low key lighting the
diegetic sound of water dripping
(although Fincher also adds the
non-diegetic sound of radio and
jungle noises). During these
scenes both characters discuss
their visions of the future.

8. PASTICHE
Lou: Lou stands out as a stereotype of Italian-
American men. It’s as if he’s been pulled from
another film such as Goodfellas. Lou represents
traditional film masculinity and its failure; his
authority comes from ownership, physicality and a
henchman with a gun- Tyler rejects that authority
and wins by emasculating Lou into tears and
swearing on his mother.
Bob: the Narrator tells us the Robert Paulson was
a former bodybuilder, wrestler and creator of a
chest expansion program. Due to his use of
steroids, he got testicular cancer. As a result of the
cancer he had his testicles removed and due to a
hormone imbalance he later developed
gynecomastia. The irony of a man who becomes
feminine as a result of his attempt to manufacture
masculinity is part of the film’s statement about
masculinity. We first see Bob hugging the narrator
but after Fight Club gives him back his masculinity
the composition of the fight scene echoes the
earlier scenes.

9. Simulation
The use of real world items like
branded Starbucks cups add
verisimilitude to the film’s ‘world’ (and
make a point about the ubiquity of big
corporations)
Then breaking the fourth wall for the
Narrator to deliver exposition and
having Tyler reach up and point out
the film reel cue mark confirms to the
audience that this is in fact simulation.

10. • At two points in the film Tyler and the
Narrator address the audience while the
camera shakes so violently the perforations
of the film can be seen.
The irony here is there’s very little chance the
viewer would be watching this on film and
although the shaking was done with the
camera it was refined in post production.
The film also switches to the Narrator’s
imagined worlds without warning; the
plane crash and the cave for example .
When Tyler burns the narrator’s hand he
refuses to allow the Narrator to ignore
the pain by switching to an imagined
world, ‘Stay with the pain, don’t shut this
out… this is the greatest moment of your
life and you’re off somewhere missing it.’
• Tyler also references the film’s coda as
a flashback.

11. Tyler looks at his watch
TYLER
One minute.
JACK (V.O.)
I think this is about where we came in.
TYLER
(looking out window)
This is the beginning. We're at
ground zero. Maybe you should say a
few words, to mark the occasion.
JACK
i... ann....iinn.. ff....nnyin...
Jack tongues the barrel to the side of his mouth.
JACK
(still distorted)
I still can't think of anything.
Tyler checks his watch.
TYLER
Ah, flashback humor. It's getting exciting now.

12. Bricolage and Hybridity
Fincher creates meaning using a diversity of
visual elements from outside of film and
from other genres. Ikea catalogue pages
strengthen the commentary on
consumerism, the dictionary inserts when
the Narrator is trying to shut out the pain
suggest that he is willing to allow others to
define his life (although Tyler stops him
doing this).
• It’s difficult to define Fight Club in terms
of genre. Chuck Palahniuk says about
Fight Club -
‘One reviewer called the book science
fiction. Another called it a satire on the Iron
John men's movement. Another called it a
satire of corporate white-collar culture.
Some called it horror. No one called it a
romance.’

13. Superficiality
After two of the most dramatic
scenes, Lou beating Tyler and the
Narrator facing castration from the
police, Fincher follows up with two
seemingly superficial scenes.
• The first is the homework; Fight
Club members are told to pick
fights and lose. This involves
bumping into people, attacking a
car dealer and spraying a vicar.
After the brutality of Lou this
violence seems more slapstick.
• After the attempted castration the
Narrator is put into full action hero
mode; running down the middle of
the road with a gun, low angle and
slow motion. However Fincher
lightens the tone by having the
Narrator in boxer shorts.

14. Anachronism
The Narrator is very much a millennial
man, he wears Calvin Klein and DKNY
and shops in Ikea. On the other hand
Tyler style is taken from the 1970s. His
big sunglasses, fur coat and big collared
shirts belong to the decade when
masculinity was everything. Even his
fighting style is borrowed from martial
arts films.
• Tyler makes frequent historic
references and even desires a future
where humans return to prehistoric
times. ‘In the world I see -- you're
stalking elk through the damp canyon
forests around the ruins of
Rockefeller Centre.’
• The house on Paper St belongs to the
previous century and is set against
the late 20th century apartment and
offices. It represents a rejection of
the modern.