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Fight Club is such a great motivational story for the first half or so. And then it goes completely off the rails. I often credit my current position in life t

Fight Club is such a great motivational story for the first half or so. And then it goes completely off the rails. I often credit my current position in life to watching Fight Club with a friend when I was 16 and forming my views on the broader world and how I would fit into it.

mercer 7y ago
For me the second half (or so) was what made Fight Club more than just a motivational story and a proper classic, precisely because it went off the rails. The way I see it, the first half asked questions and explored various problems in society that many of us see and experience. It was cathartic and motivational. But the second half was more of a warning. If we can't replace the things we reject with something 'greater', the result is ugly. I credit Fight Club for helping me turn to various life philosophies (stoicism among them, and in particular Buddhism) rather than hedonistic abandon or angry nihilism, or something like utopian socialism, because I sure as hell didn't want things in my life to become some variation of the second half of the movie.
czbond 7y ago
I'm curious - could you give an exmample of how it framed your thinking?
- reviel 7y ago
  first rule is we don't talk about fight club...
- war1025 7y ago
  I guess the message I got from it sort of was that most of us live in boxes that we've built around ourselves that aren't actually there. "Working jobs we hate to buy shit we don't need" was a big one for me. Also "You're not your job. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your f-ing khakis." "First you have to give up. You have to know, not fear, that someday you're going to die." and the Raymond K Hessel thing from the article. You only have a limited amount of time and there's no point wasting it waiting for "someday". There's just a very real current of minimalism and intentionality underneath the absurdity.
  - czbond 7y ago
    Great points - I'm going to have to re-watch it. It sounds right up my alley, as I'm a bit too defiant and minimalistic. "You're a slave to the system, working jobs that you hate for that sh!t you don't need" - Papa Roach
vadansky 7y ago
Similar experience with Mad Men For a show about how work will not save you from the emptiness inside, it really motivates you. Guess it's better to be sad and rich then just sad
fetus8 7y ago
It's a shame that most people reference the film, instead of the book. The book deals with a harsher critique of society that doesn't come off as so heavy handed. It has a lot more satirical elements to it as well.

mercer 7y ago

For me the second half (or so) was what made Fight Club more than just a motivational story and a proper classic, precisely because it went off the rails. The way I see it, the first half asked questions and explored various problems in society that many of us see and experience. It was cathartic and motivational. But the second half was more of a warning. If we can't replace the things we reject with something 'greater', the result is ugly. I credit Fight Club for helping me turn to various life philosophies (stoicism among them, and in particular Buddhism) rather than hedonistic abandon or angry nihilism, or something like utopian socialism, because I sure as hell didn't want things in my life to become some variation of the second half of the movie.

czbond 7y ago

I'm curious - could you give an exmample of how it framed your thinking?

reviel 7y ago
first rule is we don't talk about fight club...
war1025 7y ago
I guess the message I got from it sort of was that most of us live in boxes that we've built around ourselves that aren't actually there. "Working jobs we hate to buy shit we don't need" was a big one for me. Also "You're not your job. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your f-ing khakis." "First you have to give up. You have to know, not fear, that someday you're going to die." and the Raymond K Hessel thing from the article. You only have a limited amount of time and there's no point wasting it waiting for "someday". There's just a very real current of minimalism and intentionality underneath the absurdity.
- czbond 7y ago
  Great points - I'm going to have to re-watch it. It sounds right up my alley, as I'm a bit too defiant and minimalistic. "You're a slave to the system, working jobs that you hate for that sh!t you don't need" - Papa Roach

vadansky 7y ago

Similar experience with Mad Men For a show about how work will not save you from the emptiness inside, it really motivates you. Guess it's better to be sad and rich then just sad

fetus8 7y ago

It's a shame that most people reference the film, instead of the book. The book deals with a harsher critique of society that doesn't come off as so heavy handed. It has a lot more satirical elements to it as well.