Identity Vs. Conformity In Fight Club

Superior Essays
“Identity cannot be found or fabricated, but emerges from within when one has the courage to let go” (Doug Cooper). David Fincher’s 1999 film Fight Club, addresses identity and conformity all throughout the film. There are many instances where the Narrator fights with how he wants to be identified. The Narrator wants nothing more than to become a strong independent guy so much so that he creates an alternate identity to better conform to the society he lives in. However, Fight Club in many ways shows how conformity in the long run gradually causes a person to lose who they are. Fight Club’s persistent focus on identity and conformity throughout the film indicates that the Narrator’s struggle with individuality eventually leads him down a dark …show more content…
The Narrator tells Tyler when talking that, “It is hard to imagine you as a boy scout” (Fight Club). From the beginning, it is obvious that the Narrator is not the typical man portrayed in clothing advertisements or shaving commercials, unlike Tyler. Tyler also known as Brad Pitt is the all-around stereotypical Calvin Clein model many men aspire to look like. He is even seen in one of the advertisements pictured in the film when the Narrator asks, “is that what a real man looks like” (Fight Club). The Narrator like many individuals struggle with his self-image. By the Narrator saying that he does not look like a boy scout is labeling him based on appearance. Advertisements and commercialism has had such a vast impact on how people are perceived that it has impaired individuals’ ability to become confident with themselves. The Narrator creates this alter ego, Tyler Durden, as how he wants to see himself based on society expectations. Tyler is everything the Narrator could not be physically or mentally. Tyler saying, he was a boy scout made the Narrator feel inferior because Tyler being a fragment of the Narrator was not how he essentially wants to be noticed. Boy scouts are often known to be nerdy nobodies, and when someone is called a boy scout it is often associated with those characteristics. The Narrator after …show more content…
Fight Club was able to showcase just how much of an impact society has on individuals conforming to better adapt to the world they live in. Addressed many times was how objects become the thing that identifies a person when what should identify them is their different qualities that make them different. Society has corrupted minds into thinking the only way to fit in is to look and act a certain way which is a main reason Tyler Durden came into play. If only society was more accepting more people would feel more comfortable with who they are instead of hiding behind a mask. Fight Club demonstrated just how much society has a hold on people to pressure them into something they are not. The Narrator and Tyler’s connection is not that of self-acceptance but self-destruction. In the end the Narrator never truly found himself, yet became what was

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