The Unfulfillment Of Masculinity In Fight Club

Since its release in 1999, Fight Club has gone on to become an incredibly influential and celebrated cult classic. Throughout the film, we observe the journey of “The Narrator” and his alter ego, Tyler Durden, as The Narrator attempts to define his identity and role in contemporary society. The establishment of a fight club made up of men who are facing similar challenges and unfulfillment in their day-to-day lives forces The Narrator to question what it means to be a “man” in a world where it seems as if most individuals have been relegated to cogs in a machine. These questions resonated with a younger male audience at the turn of the millennium who were still trying to find their place in the world and grappling with new and unfamiliar ideas

Referring to sociological literature on this topic, we can see that masculinity is measured through traits such as agency, leadership, and strategic thinking (Risman 2018). On a more casual level, traditional masculinity is also commonly associated with principles such as aggression, anticonsumerism, and an “alpha-male” personality type. All of these embodiments of masculinity are represented throughout the movie in both subtle and exaggerated ways, whether it be through The Narrator refusing to maintain a professional appearance at his job or Tyler organizing a militia to commit various acts of terror throughout New York. Tyler is meant to be a representation of The Narrator’s “manly” inner urges, and the actions that the duo take throughout the movie are meant to illustrate a return to what Tyler believes manhood is all about. Looking at academic research on the topic of masculinity and femininity, it is clear that The Narrator’s subconscious belief that males must reject becoming civilized for the greater good of society is patently

This message is echoed by the movie once The Narrator realizes that he himself is Tyler Durden and has been unknowingly organizing terrorist acts throughout New York in an attempt to take down corporations, high society, and “The Man” in general. The Narrator comes to the realization that Tyler is a manifestation of his anger and disillusionment with his meaningless life as an materialistic and isolated office worker. The reality of his actions begin to set in when one of the militiamen dies in a gruesome manner, and The Narrator begins to perceive Tyler as the self-destructive and sociopathic being that Tyler truly is. Tyler claims to be a proponent of equality (claiming that taking down social institutions will “level the playing field”), but staunch belief in stereotypes regarding males and how males should behave (i.e. unemotional, unfearing, and consistently antagonistic) that mirror his ideals have shown to uphold gender inequality and existing power structures in the real world (Risman