Marxism
Tessa Rae Williams
Dr. Vayo ENGL 101.06
6 December 2012
“As the Middle Children, We Fight to Leave our Marx”
Karl Marx, the founder of Marxism, believed that in an industrialized society the working class would revolt and take over the ruling class, which would in effect create a classless society, taking everyone back to zero. Marx’s concepts are simple: in order to grasp the true meaning of happiness, people must separate themselves from their materialistic tendencies as well as each in order to refocus on themselves as individuals, much as Tyler Durden displays in the movie Fight Club. Although critically acclaimed by The New York Times to be a “sardonic testosterone-fueled science fiction” (New York Times 1999), the film Fight Club, actually takes it root in many of Karl Marx’s beliefs. Despite the films underlying indications of Tyler Durden’s Marxist ideas, many viewers don’t pick up on the similarities and leave them to go unnoticed. Viewers of the film need to understand that Marxism is the leading internal influence in film Fight Club and that Tyler Durden, is in fact, a Marxist.
The sociology of Karl Marx is evidenced through many different aspects including, the two main characters whom are Tyler Durden and the Narrator, as well as the development of Fight Club, and the later development of Project Mayhem. In order to understand how Marxism is intertwined with the film, the two main economic classes Karl Marx came up with, the proletarian and the bourgeoisie, must first be understood. A proletariat is a term used to identify the lower social class, usually the working class, such as Tyler Durden. The bourgeoisie, or bourgeois, is classified as a person belonging to the middle class whose attitudes and behavior are marked by conformity to the standards and conventions of the middle class, such as the Narrator (Marx). Evidence to support both of these classifications are present throughout the movie.
The Narrator, as bourgeois as mentioned
Dr. Vayo ENGL 101.06
6 December 2012
“As the Middle Children, We Fight to Leave our Marx”
Karl Marx, the founder of Marxism, believed that in an industrialized society the working class would revolt and take over the ruling class, which would in effect create a classless society, taking everyone back to zero. Marx’s concepts are simple: in order to grasp the true meaning of happiness, people must separate themselves from their materialistic tendencies as well as each in order to refocus on themselves as individuals, much as Tyler Durden displays in the movie Fight Club. Although critically acclaimed by The New York Times to be a “sardonic testosterone-fueled science fiction” (New York Times 1999), the film Fight Club, actually takes it root in many of Karl Marx’s beliefs. Despite the films underlying indications of Tyler Durden’s Marxist ideas, many viewers don’t pick up on the similarities and leave them to go unnoticed. Viewers of the film need to understand that Marxism is the leading internal influence in film Fight Club and that Tyler Durden, is in fact, a Marxist.
The sociology of Karl Marx is evidenced through many different aspects including, the two main characters whom are Tyler Durden and the Narrator, as well as the development of Fight Club, and the later development of Project Mayhem. In order to understand how Marxism is intertwined with the film, the two main economic classes Karl Marx came up with, the proletarian and the bourgeoisie, must first be understood. A proletariat is a term used to identify the lower social class, usually the working class, such as Tyler Durden. The bourgeoisie, or bourgeois, is classified as a person belonging to the middle class whose attitudes and behavior are marked by conformity to the standards and conventions of the middle class, such as the Narrator (Marx). Evidence to support both of these classifications are present throughout the movie.
The Narrator, as bourgeois as mentioned
Cited: Palahniuk, Chuck. Fight Club. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1996. Uhls. Jim. “Memorable Quotes from Fight Club.” International Movie Database. 1999. Singer, Peter. “Marx: A Very Short Introduction.” Oxford University Press, USA, 2001. Segal, Jerome. “Agency and Alienation: A Theory of Human Presence.” Rowan & Littlefield, 1991 Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Ed. Samuel H. Beer. Wheeling: Harlan Davidson, 1955.