“The first rule of fight club is; you do not talk about fight club” (Tyler Durdan). Inspired by the book, Fight Club is a movie that seems like an all-out brawl film, but has a much deeper meaning. Breaking the bonds of society’s opinions and notions of normality can be freeing. The main argument of the film is; to break those bonds, one must hit “rock bottom”. This scene imp articular portrays the madness inside Tyler Durdans (the films main antagonist) psyche needed to hit “rock bottom”. The initial destruction contrasts the calm depiction of quiet insanity that follows. Zooming into Tyler’s eyes in a slow but consistent manner evokes an emotional reaction from the viewer. Tyler’s face is badly bruised which foreshadows the constant self-harm that will happen during an individual’s journey to societal freedom. Every part of this scene is used to provoke a primal reaction to break the mold society deems expectable through subtle camera angles, music, and injuries portrayed though Tyler Durdan.

Starting the scene, is a fiery explosion highlighted with many bright orange and yellow colors very close to the viewer. Following this is a dark broken room in which Tyler is pacing back and forth. Nothing in the room is uniform, everything is either broken or run down. The contrast from light to dark makes Tyler initially hard to see. Once the room is viewed in its entirety earlier destruction is clearly present. Darkness puts all the focus on Tylers presence because he is the only thing moving. The dark seemingly empty room symbolizes the viewers’ conscience, the aftermath of doing unspeakable deeds. This scene takes place at a turning point in the movie, where the main character who has no name, slowly starts to realize the affects the devastation will have on his conscience. Viewers also go through this as they realize the lie they have been living, puppets in the everyday world. 

Zooming in closer to Tyler, the scene becomes overly personal. Getting this close puts the viewer in a one-on-on experience. The camera begins to shake as vile language is being used. Also at this point Tylers eyes are the only blurry part of him you can see, but his words do not stop. Since the viewers can no longer see a mouth or body, the words seem to be coming from their subconscious. This discussion being placed in the corner of the room makes the viewer feel trapped, forcing them to really think about everything being said. As Tyler faces away from the camera, he is shadowed in a way that makes any facial features impossible to depict. In a way, a silhouette puts the viewer in a situation where that could be him/her.

The scene does not show how large the rest of the room is or if it is empty. Through the small echo following each of Tylers words the viewer is left to assume how large the room is. Almost every line in the scene is part of a repetitive scheme used to drill into the viewers mind the main argument. “You are not” your material possessions. Anything you earn or buy in life will not matter in death. As these lines are said over and over, viewers start to realize material objects are defining their lives. This invokes a feeling of partial hopelessness, that everything accomplished up to this point in life has been meaningless. During the last half of the scene, while Tyler talks, a sound gets louder and more random as the scene goes on. A sound that can only be described as dysfunctional or broken. This sound makes the impression that society, rules, normality, is all coming apart at the seams. His final line drives the point home that any individual is expendable, for every person in the world there are thousands just like them. The “all singing all dancing crap of the world” are common working people who conform to standards and rules set in place by corporate America. 

From this point forward in the movie, viewers find that chaos and harm are acceptable. The camera does not pan out or shift at the end of this scene, Tyler walks out of the shot.  The overall purpose of this is to leave the viewer alone with his/her thoughts. As the image starts to go black, opinions and judgements happen. Agreeing or disagreeing with the message of the film, viewers start to judge themselves for the split second of silence between this confrontation and then next. “Have I been solely judging my happiness by the money I make or the things that I buy?” 

Unknowingly, our instincts cause a fight or flight reaction driven by all the factors in this scene making us as viewers uncomfortable, scared, mad, etc. Initial contrasts of loud and soft, light and dark, bring on a feeling of evil intensions. Left up to the viewer however is whether or not those intensions are necessary. Making the room dark and broken constricts all positive thoughts and encourages feelings of negativity. Not showing all other corners of the room gives this scene no boundaries. Similar to the main message, you cannot be constricted by material objects. This scene alone encases every aspect of braking the bonds of society and could not do so without the harsh tones, close up camera work, and badly beaten exterior of the movies main antagonist, Tyler Durdan. 