Narrative Theory: Fight Club

I applied the theories of Levi-Strauss, Propp, Todorov, Barthes and Field to the film Fight Club. Below are my findings.

Levi-Strauss - Binary Opposites
- normality vs abnormality - the idea of people going to support groups for fun and also the idea of people fighting each other for fun.
- society vs situation - within the fight club it is acceptable to beat each other up and also later in Project Mayhem it is acceptable to blow buildings up for their cause when people could get hurt.
- prisoner vs captor - in a way Jack (narrator) is a prisoner to Tyler. Tyler is dominant and turns out to be in Jack's head, he is imaginary, created by Jack to allow him to do things he wish he could do but doesn't have the confidence to.
- freedom vs entrapment - Throughout the film Jack is captive under Tyler's schemes and ideas for fight club, he doesn't have the freedom to make his own decisions because he feels like he is being left out and so wants to join in. Jack stops himself from having freedom with his desire to belong.


Todorov - Narrative structure
Equlibrium - Jack is at work living a normal life in his appartment
1st disruption - Jack's appartment is blown up
2nd disruption - When Jack goes to stay with Tyler and Tyler asks Jack to punch him and they beat each other up and Fight Club is started.
Big disruption - Fight Club turns into Project Mayhem
Thwarted attempts at resolution - When Project Mayhem gets out of hand and Robert 'Bob' Paulson gets killed, Jack tries to stop the Project but Tyler disappears. Then Jack realises Tyler is part of his mind's creation and tries to kill him but is beaten up.
Resolution - Jack puts the gun in his mouth and shoots himself through his cheek, and Tyler 'dies'.
New equilibrium - Jack and Marla Singer hold hands as the buildings explode around their building and Jack says that she met him at a very strange time in his life.


Propp - Character types
Villain/antagonist - Tyler is the villain in the end
Hero/protagonist - Jack
Helper - Tyler
Princess - Marla Singer
Donor - Tyler
Dispatcher - Tyler
Father Figure - Marla Singer
False hero - Tyler


Barthes - Action & Enigma Codes
Action:
- Jack's appartment explodes - Jack goes to stay with Tyler
- Jack stays with Tyler - Tyler asks Jack to beat him up - Fight Club is started
- Jack goes to support groups - Meets Marla Singer & Robert Parlson
- Fight club is started - Fight club turns into Project Mayhem
- Robert gets killed - Jack wants to stop Project Mayhem
- Jack tries to stop Project Mayhem and find Tyler who has disappeared - Begins to realise that Tyler is part of his imagination

Enigma:
- Jack's appartment explodes and it looks like arson- who did it? why did they do it?
- Tyler asks Jack to beat him up - why is he doing that? what does he get from it?
- Tyler disappears - why did he suddenly go in the middle of Project Mayhem?
- Jack travels around trying to find him but people start saying that he is Tyler - does Tyler now look like Jack? Why do they think Jack is the leader and recognise him when he has never been there in his life?
- Jack realises that Tyler was in his imagination and he had been doing the stuff Tyler had all along - why didn't people say anything when he was being both Tyler and himself? how did Marla not find it weird when she was having sex with Jack as Tyler then coming out and talking to Jack as himself and he was talking about Tyler as another person?


Field - 3 Act Plot Structure
Plot points:
- Jack's appartment blows up & he goes to stay with Tyler
- Fight Club is started
- Fight Club turns into Project Mayhem

Act 1:
- Main characters are identified - Jack & Tyler
- Audience given reasons to take an interest in them - Jack is just a normal guy who seeks comfort in Support Groups and then through meeting Tyler he changes his life and starts Fight Club - he finds a release
- The problem facing the hero - Tyler is taking control of Fight Club and it was something they co-founded

Act 2:
- Jack is gradually more and more secluded from Fight Club, then Fight Club evolves into Project Mayhem which Jack doesn't agree with and he tries to stop Project Mayhem but then Tyler disappears and he has to try to find him.
- Jack realises about himself being Tyler
- Jack tries to alert the police but the police are members of Fight Club and try to kill him because that is what he has told them to do as Tyler if he ever tries to stop the project.

Act 3:
- Jack finds the buildings with the bombs in and tries to deactiviate them - but Tyler tries to stop him and he beats himself up.
- Jack is beaten up and Tyler threatens to kill him before making him watch the buildings blow up. But before they explode, Jack shoots himself in the cheek and kills Tyler for good.
- The members of Project Mayhem bring Marla Singer into the building as a hostage and he tells them to leave her there, they go - worried as to why he is bleeding.
- Jack and Marla stand watching the buildings explode around them as they hold hands and Jack explains he has been in a weird place since she met him.