Dissociative Identity Disorder In Fight Club: Directed By David Fincher

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Dissociative Identity Disorder in Fight Club Fight Club, a movie directed by David Fincher, sheds light on the characteristic traits and symptoms of Dissociative Identity Disorder through the character portrayed by Edward Norton. Edward Norton, the protagonist of the story is seen throughout the film talking to a friend and engaging in chaotic and risky behavior which were influenced by his friend. This is seen throughout the movie where they made a Fight Club and started embarking on projects that caused destruction. It was later evident during the climax of the movie that the protagonist’s friend was just his split personality and was never a real person. Looking at the symptoms, the characterization, and the climax of the movie; it is …show more content…
The article suggests that “severe child abuse, a disorganized and disoriented attachment style, and the absence of social and familial support seem to precede the development of Dissociative Identity Disorder” (Gillig 2009). However there is no such evidence of any past traumatic event. This is a substantial flaw as this is the basis upon which Dissociative Identity Disorder is built upon. In the movie, the narrator 's alternate personality is seen to be built solely on the fact he felt overwhelmed, anxious and captive by society 's structure of consumerism. The personality of Tyler Durden engulfed the free-spirited, rebellious nature. Fight Club was instigated by Tyler Durden as a way to vent the frustrations and anger. This representation of the development of the disorder is fabricated. Although it shows that society nature of consumerism had a physiological effect on people, such a change is unreal. As the article states “The personality state [is] created to defend the self against abuse and injury” (Gillig 2009), which may have been caused during childhood. Therefore it is not a very true representation of the development of Dissociative Identity Disorder. The article claims that “Patients tend to switch personality states when there is a perceived psychosocial threat. This switching allows a distressed alter to retreat while an alter who is more competent …show more content…
The stigma around mental illnesses is that people are crazy more often than not and showing how the narrator 's alternate personality went haywire on society and cause destruction and mayhem furthers the stigma that people with such disorders are crazy. It leads to develop the people at any time and age can be prone to develop an alternate personality and causes people to fear for its adverse effects. Alternate personalities are generally a defense mechanism shown to cope with difficult situations but in the movie it is shown to be a chance to become like someone you always dreamed of being, your ideal self. Looking at the 4 D’s it is evident that such disorders are deviant and do cause emotional and physical dysfunction as seen in the case of the movie where the alternate personality did things that contradicted societal expectations. The disorder as mentioned above in the movie was developed as the narrator 's felt overwhelmed, anxious and captive by society 's structure of consumerism. This caused him to develop an alternate personality that broke the rules set by society. However a more realistic ethological theory would be the fact that as a child the narrator was abused physically and emotionally traumatized and let down. This would offer an

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