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I am Jack’s Interactive Study Guide…
Background:
Fight Club was a novel published in 1996, with a movie adaptation released in 1999. The novel was published at the edge of the 20th century, and gave us a preview of what was to become of the written word in the 21st century.
Background:
The book/movie is meant to portray, among many things, an entire generation of people, labeled as “Generation X.” Throughout most the study guide, we will be focusing on the movie adaptation of Fight Club. Look for aspects that define members of Gen X; you will be asked throughout the study guide to write down your observations.
Background:
The information presented in this PowerPoint is an introduction to the movie, and intended for high school seniors enrolled in the “Literature through Film” class. Fight Club is a book/movie intended for mature audiences, and I expect all students to handle the material in an appropriate manner.
Background:
Students are required to start with the section entitled “Movie Plot Points,” and move in a clockwise motion. Students should end with the section entitled “This is it: Study Guide Quiz.”
I am Jack’s Home Page…
Movie Plot Points
Book vs. Movie
This is it: Study Guide Quiz
Themes
I am Jack’s storytelling video…
Activity:Think up your own ridiculous support group. What would be the ailment, and how would meetings be run?
Summary:
From the information provided in this section, please write at least two to three aspects/qualities/observations of Generation X.
I am Jack’s “Themes” section…RULES OF FIGHT CLUB:
Theme: Inner desire to be something else, not what society makes us.
Through the Narrator’s creation of Tyler Durden, we constantly see a personal struggle to be someone/something else. The Narrator wants to be free from the constraints of 1990s materialistic America. Tyler Durden has the will and tenacity to carry out something as drastic as the fight clubs and Project Mayhem, whereas the Narrator is bound by society telling him that it is wrong to go against the grain.
Movie Quote:
Tyler Durden: All the ways you wish you could be, that’s me. I look like you wanna look…I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways you are not.
Theme: Anti-consumerismThe Narrator owns a lot of things. However, the Narrator’s insomnia and his lack of solace with the world around him highlights that the “stuff” he owns is not enough to fully satiate his needs. One thing Tyler Durden represents is the Narrator’s desire to live without stuff and find true happiness.
Tyler Durden: Do you know what a duvet is?Narrator: It’s a comforter…TD: It’s a blanket…Now why do guys like you and me know what a duvet is? Is it essential to our survival, in the hunter-gatherer sense of the word? No. What are we then?Narrator: …Consumers?TD: Right. We are consumers. We’re the bi-products of a lifestyle obsession.
Movie Quote:
Theme: Violence in the fight clubs
The men in the world of Fight Club are incapable of feeling anything true; society has robbed them of their desire to find happiness in anything but “stuff.” However, the fights offer physical interaction and physical pain. The fights help them to feel something in a society hollowed out by consumerism. They branch out and reject the notion that violence is only a “bad thing.”
Narrator: When the fight was over, nothing was solved, but nothing mattered. We all felt saved.
Movie Quote:
Activity:Edward Norton (who portrayed the Narrator) said the fights in the film represent man’s impulse to resist the “cocooning” effect the trappings of modern society have over us. Would you agree with him that society cocoons people, and if so, in what way?
The Narrator, who is unnamed throughout the course of his story, is meant to serve as an “everyman” for all males of Generation X. According to the movie, the men of Gen X are “spectators” and are not “real men” because they were a generation raised by single mothers. Also, the Narrator’s creation of Tyler Durden, and subsequently the creation of the fight clubs and Project Mayhem, ultimately lead him through the process of being “enlightened,” in a dark sort of way.
Theme: Dark coming-of-age tale
Narrator: If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake
up as a different person?
Movie Quote:
Tyler Durden: You’re not your job. You’re not how much money you have in the bank. You’re not the car you drive.
Movie Quote:
Summary:
From the information provided in this section, please write at least two to three different aspects/qualities/observations of Generation X.
I am Jack’s “Book vs. Movie” section…
VS.
Meeting Tyler DurdenBook: The Narrator meets Tyler on a beach as the former is
falling asleep.
Movie: Tyler is sitting next to the Narrator on an airplane, and the Narrator notices they both have the same
briefcase.
Interesting Fact:
Author Chuck Palahniuk first came up with the idea for the novel after being beaten up
on a camping trip. When he returned to work, no one asked him about his injuries,
and he surmised that this was because they didn’t want to interact with him on a
personal level.
Joe or Jack?Book: The articles are about Joe’s body parts.
Movie: They are about Jack’s body parts.
Activity:
“I am Jack’s…” What organ personifies you? What would it say/feel?
How They Got the Fat for SoapBook: Marla’s mother has a liposuction surgery and sends
her fat to Tyler.
Movie: The Narrator and Tyler steal huge bags of fat from a biohazard dumpster.
The Lye BurnBook: Marla receives a lye burn.
Movie: She questions why the Narrator has one and does not get one herself.
When Chuck Palahniuk was in school, Marla Singer was the name of a young girl that
bullied Palahniuk’s younger sisters.
Interesting Fact:
Inception of Project MayhemBook: Both Tyler and the Narrator initiate Project Mayhem.
Movie: The Narrator is shocked by the development of Project Mayhem and confronts Tyler about it.
Telling Marla about Tyler
Book: The Narrator asks for Marla’s help in dealing with Tyler.
Movie: The Narrator puts her on a bus to get her out of the city.
The Final Plan
Book: Tyler wants to bring the tallest building down on a museum, and be inside
the former building when it blows up.
Movie: Tyler wants to watch the credit buildings be destroyed.
The EndingBook: The building doesn’t blow up, and the Narrator is
placed in a mental institution. Members of Project Mayhem are still working on Tyler Durden’s agenda.
Movie: The Narrator and Marla watch the credit buildings come crashing down.
The movie was voted #10 on Empire Magazine’s “500 Greatest Movies of All Time” list, made in September of 2008.
Interesting Fact:
Summary:
From the information provided in this section, please write at least two to three different aspects/qualities/observations of Generation X.
I am Jack’s Study Guide Quiz…
Narrator: People are always asking me if I know Tyler Durden…
Question 1:
What is Ed Norton’s character’s name?A. Robert PaulsonB. David FincherC. Angel FaceD. He is anonymous
I am Jack’s disappointed response…
Try again.
Incorrect
Correct!
Narrator: This is crazy…Tyler Durden: People do it everyday,
they talk to themselves…
Click on the bar of soap to continue the quiz
Ed Norton lost 17-20 pounds for his role as the Narrator after playing the role of a Neo-Nazi American in American History X.
Movie Trivia:
Question 2:
Where do the Narrator and Tyler Durden first meet in the novel and in the film?A. Bus stop, beachB. Bar, in an airplaneC. A beach, in an airplaneD. At a fight club, bar
Tyler Durden: I make soap…
Click on the bar of soap to continue the quiz
Correct!
Author Chuck Palahniuk has stated that he found the film to be an “improvement” on
his novel.
Movie Trivia:
Question 3:
IN THE FILM, what happens to the Narrator that reunites him with Tyler Durden after they first meet?A. His apartment blows upB. He gets mugged, but still has TD’s phone
numberC. Marla reintroduces them at a partyD. They ride another plane together
Narrator: Like so many others, I had become a slave to the IKEA nesting instinct.
Correct!
Click on the bar of soap to continue the quiz
Question 4:
What does the Fight Club eventually turn into?A. The Support GroupB. Project MayhemC. Tyler’s ArmyD. The Armada
Tyler Durden: Fight Club was the beginning, now it’s moved out of the basement, it’s called
Project Mayhem.
Correct!
Click on the bar of soap to continue the quiz
The breath used in the cave scene is the computer generated breath Leonardo
DiCaprio had in Titanic.
Movie Trivia:
Question 5:
IN THE FILM, what is Project Mayhem’s final goal?A. Destroy the credit buildingsB. Destroy a museumC. Unite the support groups of the cityD. Destroy Starbucks Headquarters
Correct!
Click on the bar of soap to continue the quiz
David Fincher claimed in an interview that there is a Starbucks coffee cup visible in
every shot of the movie.
Movie Trivia:
Question 6:
The fights within the novel/movie DO NOT serve a useful purpose.A. TrueB. False
Narrator (after beating up another person): I felt like destroying something beautiful.
Correct!
Click on the bar of soap to continue the quiz
Question 7:
IN THE NOVEL, Marla…A. Receives a lye burnB. Is a part of the Narrator’s subconsciousC. Is asked by the Narrator to aid him in get
ting rid of Tyler Durden
D. Recruits young men for Project MayhemE. Both A & C
Correct!
Click on the bar of soap to continue the quiz
Originally, Courtney Love, Winona Ryder, Reese Witherspoon, and Helen Bonham
Carter were considered for the role of Marla. It was going to go to Witherspoon, but she turned it down, saying the role was “too
dark.”
Movie Trivia:
Question 8:
Who said: “When the fight was over, nothing was solved, but nothing mattered. We all felt saved.”?A. The NarratorB. MarlaC. Tyler DurdenD. Robert Paulson
Correct!
Click on the bar of soap to continue the quiz
Question 9:
After being beaten up on a camping trip, how did the author develop the idea for Fight Club?A. His friends joked that he was in a fight cl
ubB. He became detached from societyC. He noticed none of his coworkers respon
ded to his injuriesD. It came to him in a nightmare about the
experience
Correct!
Click on the bar of soap to continue the quiz
Question 10:
What does the Narrator represent?A. A victim of the timesB. Our inner desire to be someone elseC. The hollowed feeling materialism bringsD. The people of Generation XE. All of the above
Correct!
Click on the bar of soap to continue the quiz
Question 11:
What age group from the 1990s would represent Generation X?A. Children ages 0-7B. Ages 7-14C. Ages 25-45D. Ages 50-65
Correct!
Click on the bar of soap to continue the quiz
According to about.com, members of Gen X work to live rather than live to work.
Interesting Fact:
Question 12:
According the novel/movie, what had a pronounced effect on the men of Gen X when they were growing up?A. Introduction of home video game consol
esB. President ReaganC. Having to find jobs at an early ageD. Being raised by single moms
Tyler Durden: We’re a generation of men raised by women.
Correct!
Click on the bar of soap to continue the quiz
Question 13:
Economic and financial prosperity marked Gen X in the 90s.A. TrueB. False
Correct!
Click on the bar of soap to continue the quiz
Question 14:
The Narrator creates Tyler Durden to:A. Help unleash his reckless natureB. Reject the consumerism values of Gen XC. Be a representation of how the Narrator
wants to beD. All of the above
Correct!
Click on the bar of soap to continue the quiz
Pitt and Norton both hated the Volkswagen Beetle, and asked for it to be one of the cars they damage during a movie scene. Norton explained that the
car had been a 60s symbol of freedom and youth, but the youth of the 60s took that symbol and unfairly repackaged it for the next generation.
Movie Trivia:
Question 15:
According to Fight Club, one could say the men of Gen X feel:A. Hollow inside due to society’s drive to ow
n “stuff” but not seek personal happiness
B. As if they are no longer real men, but instead spectators
C. As if life has been fulfilledD. Both A & B
Click on the bar of soap to continue
Correct!
The End!
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