Freudian Theory In David Fincher's Fight Club

David Fincher’s Fight Club is a movie about self-exception and the true self as it appears to society, but it is also about a man so caught up in the consumer world that he not only alienates himself, but through his alienation he is also an insomniac in an ordered lifestyle that he ultimately detests. The narrator in return is personified by the character Tyler Durden. Tyler ultimately isn’t a real person, but in relation to the narrator he is seen as the destructive id. Which is a concept brought on by Sigmund Freud known as the Freudian theory. This theory brings together the distinction between the unconscious and the conscious into three principles known as the id, ego and superego. Tyler leads them both through the duration of the movie …show more content…
The narrator kept to himself, was mainly reserved and followed the rules of society. He was also an insomniac who had a regular nine to five desk job. When he meets Tyler however, someone who doesn’t care to conform to society and follows no rules all of this is overlooked when they move in together, begin to do everything together, all the way up until they begin to start fight club. “Who you were in fight club is not who you were in the rest of the world.” Flight club in a sense was a way for both the narrator and Tyler to escape harsh reality tap into their id and just “let go.” Tyler, being the one in control creates the idea of structured chaos through his use of rules and structure that the members of the club must uphold, as it relates to fight club. He is seen as a leader from the way he dresses in red, which could be a symbol of “the bad,” or demonic power, all the way to the red car he drives. Although his apartment doesn’t match his possessions, he has fun which attracts the narrator. As the movie continues and the narrator becomes less consumed but more pleasure-seeking Tyler becomes more controlling. Not only with the men that are within the club but also in his interactions. He begins to have relations with Marla; another character that challenges the narrator, and makes people follows his rules with any hesitation. They must now conform not to the world but to Tyler because he “says so.” …show more content…
The manifestation of the idea of the unconscious is brought to surface through Tyler Durden, which is ultimately his other personality. The character Tyler is there as not only a leader for those within fight cub, but also in a way a parent to the narrator. Tyler is able to satisfy the desires of the narrator brought on by emotions, sexual desire and the need and want to belong. Tyler not only is the mastermind behind flight club, but he also takes the idea of being free to the extreme. So much so, that as the story unfolds, the narrator begins to not only gain a sense of self, but through gaining, he also loses himself through the chaos that Tyler has put a disguise on. Freud’s Oedipus complex reveals that the conscious and the unconscious will also go along with the id, ego, and superego as they all relate to fight club and the intention behind each character mainly Tyler and the narrator. Studying the Freudian psychoanalytic criticism discloses the underlying analysis of the characters and the director and/or author and they all relate to the depths in which our minds go to psychoanalyze and pull out what Freud would call a dynamic model, stating that “our minds are a dichotomy consisting of the conscious and the unconscious