Masculinity in

Fight Club

Masculinity

Masculinity is possessing

qualities or characteristics

considered typical of or

appropriate to a man.

Task

On the handout provided write down 5 characteristics / traits

that belong to the ‘typical’ male

This all changed

•The Second Wave of feminism •Women became increasingly empowered as legal reforms such as:The Equal Pay Act (1970) and The Sexual Discrimination Act (1975) can into force

The death of the industrial male

In the 1970s and 1980s a lot of Britain’s heavy industries were dismantled as the country moved towards a more computer driven, service based economy where traditional male roles were taken away and replaced by jobs that could be undertaken by women. Men left the home to work in factories and offices

Aids: the queering of the mainstream

AIDS raised the gay profile; suddenly you couldn’t ignore the existence of the homosexual male.

The financial muscle of the pink pound.

The queering of the mainstream brought eroticised images of the male body into fashion and advertising

The feminised maleWears nice clothes (or skirts in Beckhams case)

Keeps himself groomed

The emasculation of traditional male identity has led to a ‘crisis of masculinity’.

Men were no longer certain of what their role in society was.

Confused Masculinity

Robert BlyAn American poet, author, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men's movement, most famous for his Iron John: A Book About Men (1990)

A deeply troubled situation in which most men find themselves in

western societies today

Men raised by women

The decline of the father's role in the modern family

Men are an "experimental species" and have to be taught

what it is to be a man

Rites of passage

Older men would teach young boys on these gender-specific

issues.

Today's men as half adults, trapped

somewhere between childhood

and maturity

Confused masculinity in FCBoth the author, Palahniuk and the director have said that the story of Fight Club

reflects and explores real men’s lives today.Palahniuk said he wrote his book ‘in public’ by talking to real men in diners, bars,

coffee shops and their work places.Fincher said that the unnamed narrator is “an everyman. Every young man”

FC and collective identity3 principle examples of the modern man’s confusion over masculine roles and what being a ‘man’ actually means:

FC and collective identity

First example: the life of the narrator pre- Fight Club

Based on an illusion of materialist accumulation and career hierarchy,

The pursuits of these false goals = no male friends, no sexual partner in the ‘nest’ apartment, no physically demanding work or action-based solution to problems. No libido:

“we used to read pornography; now we read the IKEA catalogue”.

Sees himself through his meaningless possessions

“a refrigerator full of designer condiments and no food”.

He is emasculated by pursuit of consumerism

Second example: The ‘Remaining Men Together: testicular cancer group

This group is compromised of men who have attempted to conform to traditional roles, but who have failed. They have been emasculated by castrationFirst speaker- talks of ambition to be a father, a goal he will never achieve; the ultimate insult is that wife has abandoned him and procreated with another man.Bob- pathetic and grotesquely breasted. His attempt to attain a traditional male image, the Muscle Man has resulted in the exact opposite and becoming feminised

Third example: the group of men in Fight Club

Supposed to be the ‘solution’ to the problems of confused masculinity. But it eventually turns into another form of the same confusion: the neo-fascist-anarchist ‘Project Mayhem’. This form of ‘male fundamentalism’ is, ultimately as empty as the other male roles it reacts against. By moving the desire of money and sex men can establish themselves.

Recap on last lessonRecap on Last Lesson

What are the characteristics of a ‘new man’?What are the characteristics of a ‘Real Man’ according to Bly?What was Robert Bly’s theory called?

What were the 3 examples we looked at in class to demonstrate confused masculinity in Fight Club?

I’m still a guy

Brad Paisley is a Country and Western song writer and singerwho personifies what it is to be a man in his songs.

His song ‘I’m still a guy’ works well with Robert Bly’s theory

What aspects of this song relate to:A. The new manB. Bly’s man

The song lyrics are on the sheet in front of you

Fight Club and the Mytho-poetic Essentialism

Rejection of consumerist pleasure

Separation from the tender feminine world

Initiation through enduring pain

Self Flagellation to prove manhood to enemy

Father son relationship

Fight club could be used to examine two archetypal (model) male relationships:

Acolyte (student) and mentorSon and Father

The Narrator creates Tyler from his own subconscious needs (Bly would say essential needs)

Acolyte/Mentor:

Tyler is the cool kid in school, cares nothing for status or urban wit or etiquette.He is the ultimate adolescent fantasy – the ‘wild man’ showing the straight guy how to cut loose

Son/Father: The oedipal role

‘We are a generation of men raised by women’

‘You are not Gods delicate snowflake’

Tyler takes the narrator away from his ‘comfortable’ feminised world, he destroys his ‘nest’, takes him away from the love and support of the groups and exposes him to the harsh realities of the ‘real’ world.

TASK 1:After watching the first scene where the Narrator encounters Tyler – What

examples of traditional adolescent rebellion can you see?

Sigmund Freud’s Oedipus complex:

the unresolved desire of a child for sexual gratification through the parent of the opposite sex, especially the desire of a son for his mother. This involves, first, identification with and, later, hatred for the parent of the same sex, who is considered by the child as a rival.

Task two:Now think about the relationship between the characters as the film

progressesTo what extent is this traditional Oedipal narrative

Other examples:

23” Vibrating bag on plan – The Dildo NOT your Dildo

25” Possessions being burned – first signs of destroying the female

31” Cinema pornography – destroying it

43” Gucci MAN

58” Using women's fat and ‘boy scouts’

Essay Question

What different attributes and characteristics are associated with masculinity and femininity in Fight Club?