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Spotlight on Fandoms: Fight Club
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 09:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tyler_goneHi, yes, this is three days late.
..Sorry?
Anyhow, this is a story about Chuck Palahniuk. Back in the mid-'90s, or so the story goes, he was a wannabe writer out in the Pacific Northwest, trying to get some short stories published.
And he kept getting rejection slips back that said, thanks, but this is too dark. Too disturbing. No one wants to read this.
In revenge or as catharsis, he started writing the most disturbing shit he could think of, based on the craziest stories his friends told him.
...and it freaking sold. And, more germanely for this, those short stories turned into the book and movie called Fight Club.
It's hard to talk about something that's as much in the culture as Fight Club. If you like it, you don't need me to tell you why it's brilliant and crazy and funny and true; if you haven't seen it, odds are you think it's too violent/macho/nihilistic for you, and you won't see it anyhow.
And then, of course, there's the fact the first rule is that you don't talk about it.
But let me break that rule and try anyhow. I'm going to combine the book (1996, excellent) and the movie (1999, more excellent yet) in this write-up because the movie's very faithful. All the best lines are Palahniuk's, and while some plot points are altered, they're all either fairly minor or changes for the better.
( The Characters: People are always asking me if I know Tyler Durden )
( The plot: This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. )
( Why you should Care: You met me at a very strange time in my life )
( Resources: The things you own, they end up owning you )
And remember, with enough soap, you can blow up the world.
I know this because Tyler knows this.
..Sorry?
Anyhow, this is a story about Chuck Palahniuk. Back in the mid-'90s, or so the story goes, he was a wannabe writer out in the Pacific Northwest, trying to get some short stories published.
And he kept getting rejection slips back that said, thanks, but this is too dark. Too disturbing. No one wants to read this.
In revenge or as catharsis, he started writing the most disturbing shit he could think of, based on the craziest stories his friends told him.
...and it freaking sold. And, more germanely for this, those short stories turned into the book and movie called Fight Club.
It's hard to talk about something that's as much in the culture as Fight Club. If you like it, you don't need me to tell you why it's brilliant and crazy and funny and true; if you haven't seen it, odds are you think it's too violent/macho/nihilistic for you, and you won't see it anyhow.
And then, of course, there's the fact the first rule is that you don't talk about it.
But let me break that rule and try anyhow. I'm going to combine the book (1996, excellent) and the movie (1999, more excellent yet) in this write-up because the movie's very faithful. All the best lines are Palahniuk's, and while some plot points are altered, they're all either fairly minor or changes for the better.
( The Characters: People are always asking me if I know Tyler Durden )
( The plot: This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. )
( Why you should Care: You met me at a very strange time in my life )
( Resources: The things you own, they end up owning you )
And remember, with enough soap, you can blow up the world.
I know this because Tyler knows this.