Disillusionment and the Allure of Destruction

Abstract

If these words flicker with a kind of menacing appeal, it is not because they are spoken by a hard-bodied and glistening Brad Pitt (Figure 7.1). The idea that catastrophe provokes liberation, an idea that the film Fight Club tests to its breaking point, promises phoenix-like transformation on the other end of pain. It promises newness and an escape from limitations made possible by total loss. But the freedom promised by Tyler Durden has its own complications. Like most imaginations of escape, these complications are often hidden in the initial romance of liberation. It turns out by the end of the film that Tyler is a self-made terrorist who has gathered a following of men to carry out “Project Mayhem,” a plot to blow up a dozen buildings in the city. Apparently, a consequence of the promise that with disaster comes freedom is that one starts making one’s own disasters.

Only after disaster can we be resurrected. It’s only after you’ve lost everything that you’re free to do anything.

—Tyler Durden, Fight Club