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Non-fiction / The Healing Power of Violence
The Healing Power of Violence
One way of looking at the violence in the film Fight Club is to view it as a means for a man to re-establish himself as a powerful being in a world where his masculinity has been diminished to such a point where all that is left is a hollow aimless being. Because of this, the violence in Fight Club is primarily being used as a healing power, rather than one meant to specifically destroy. If you take note you will see in the movie that the most revered men among the fight club members were the ones who took the greatest beating, not the ones who dealt it out. Yes, overt violence played a great part in establishing their roles as men in this world, but it was their ability to suffer through more and more of it, and their willingness to offer up the greatest sacrifice-of-self at the cost of physical well-being that earned these men the most respect among their peers.
Arguably Norton’s character dealt out one of the greatest beatings of all then he felt compelled to “Destroy something beautiful” and smashed into pieces the face of Jared Leto’s character, Angel Face. But, when Norton left the room that night he was only met with disgust by the fighters and from himself (as his alter ego Tyler). Norton knew this was not healthy behavior, and when he walked out, you could hear the contempt in his voice that he had for himself when he explained why he went too far. The losers were in control of these fights. The losers determined when they stopped, and there were rules set in place with the intent of honoring this. These fights were for the benefit of the loser, not the winner, and Norton’s character broke these rules.
As a contrast to the Norton’s abuse of the system, Tyler had earned a great amount of respect with the club earlier in the movie when he won an argument in their favor by refusing to defend himself as he allowed the bar owner to beat him repeatedly. Tyler ended up making his point and winning his argument, not by using blunt force intimidation and fighting back with his fists, but by taking every hit like a man, and eventually using fear of the unknown to scare the bar owner into realizing that no amount of violence was going to help him convince these guys to leave his basement. Violence was probably all the owner knew, and he soon realized that violence wasn’t going to help him win this fight. This is a specific instance in the movie where the most respected fighter in the match was the sufferer rather than the person issuing the attack.
The final straw in this match came when Tyler was spitting and drooling his blood in the owners face and telling him “You don’t know where I’ve been”; This convinced the bar owner that his best bet would be to give in and get out. Tyler accomplished all of this without inflicting any physical pain to make his point, and was greatly respected that day. It was then that he decreed that all members of his fight club must intentionally start and lose a fight somewhere out in the real world before their next meeting.
The man who earned the most respect from the other fighters was Meatloaf’s character. He wasn’t revered because of his ability to beat the hell out of people during the fights. He wasn’t a statuesque figure of what a man should be. In fact, he was the least masculine man in that club; but ironically he was the only person who earned the right to be called by his true name. “His name was Robert Paulson.”
While Paulson was out committing non-lethal acts of violence for ‘the cause’ against the corporate world, he took the greatest beating and earned the highest honors of all, the right to be recognized as a man, by getting killed doing what he believed. Even Norton’s alter ego Tyler instigated the first fight by begging to be beaten, not by throwing the first punch. The point seems to be clear that you don’t need to hurt anyone to earn respect with these guys; the whole point is that you are willing to take it.
In the end Norton took the one final step he needed to earn himself his self respect, he took a bullet himself, from himself. He knew the only way he could possibly be rid of his demons wasn’t to beat out his aggressions on someone else; if it was that easy he would have been cured when Angel Face got his thrashing. And, allowing everyone else to beat it out of him wasn’t working either. But Norton needed to take a beating so severe, that he could only inflict it upon himself if it was going to do any good, he needed a shock to the system.
One of the themes throughout Fight Club revolved around Norton’s character essentially beating himself up more and more until finally he was able to beat himself to such a degree that he could successfully beat whatever demon out of him it was that he so desperately needed to be rid of. Norton was the “center of their universe”, but even the respect of everyone around him still wasn’t enough to allow him any freedom from his inner turmoil. In the end, he finally learned to respect himself as being able to endure his world rather than trying to perfect his world, and that was when he was finally at peace.
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stephanie482 reviewed Version 1 -
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I enjoyed the way you compared and contrasted the characters. It added a quality to the article, and made it easier for those of us who haven’t seen the movie.
That being said, this sounded rather “stiff.” It was like you knew what you wanted to say, but felt that you needed to hunt around for the proper words with which to say it. I think this would read a lot better if you relaxed into it – writing shouldn’t be a chore.
All in all, a very good, clearly written piece.
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AstroBoyJ7 reviewed Version 1 -
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This is a solid critique that can actually give readers an appreciation for a film they may not have even seen. The passion you have and depth of said passion really makes this a stimulating read on a number or levels.
I’m not sure if you remember the wrestling promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling, (the original, not the WWE brand,) but the fans at the ECW arena had a very similar mentality. Hense guys like Mick Foley, Mikey Whipwreck and Spike Dudley were out and out revered by the fans in Philadelphia. (Tommy Dreamer was HATED originally for his great physique and believe it or not solid wrestling ability and it wasn’t until he took the mother of all beatings in the ring and kept on going that the fans began to respect him and he eventually became the most revered ECW wrestler of all.) You should check out some of the tapes of the 1994-1998 ECW to see what I mean. I think you would appreciate them too.
All in all this is a great article!
CourtshipLives reviewed Version 1 -
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this is a great interpretation/review of Chuck Palahniuk’s masterpiece. even after having seen it twice this condensed summary helped me better understand the themes of violence as an almost therapeutic “healing power.” paragraphs one, two, three, five, and six were especially insightful. you’ve clarified any doubts i had about why they were addicted to fighting, why tyler took the beating from the bar owner, and why they respected each other for it. you actually made sense in justifying Norton’s suicide as well. this’ll shut up any bad critics, though i doubt fight club has any! xD i look forward to reading more from you.
robertryburn reviewed Version 1 -
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I seen Fight Club and thought is was a marginal movie. Violence is appreciated by the ones who do are afraid to try it or have tried it and it has scard the hello out of them
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