This month sees the 10 year anniversary of the release of the film Fight Club. Promoted as a physically brutal film, that was just a veil for what was really a philosophically brutal film. Chris Summerfield explores some surprising parrallels with the message of Jesus.
I can still remember walking out of the cinema through the streets of Fremantle, stunned and feeling like I had seen something truly unique.
Ten years on, I have seen Fight Club (directed by David Fincher) and read the book, written by Chuck Palahniuk, numerous times.
Although denounced by some as a very unchristian film, it continues to resonate strongly with me and my faith. I see one of the film's two protagonists, Tyler Durden, as a Christ-like figure.
The premise is this: Jack works for an unscrupulous company earning good money with which he orders furniture for his apartment. Jack is living the good life—the American Dream—and finds it completely numbing and meaningless. Along comes Tyler to liberate him from this life.
In Christian theology we often talk about liberation and it is usually with regards to poorer people being liberated from oppression. Something a rich, white, Western male like myself can appreciate but cannot relate to.
In Fight Club, Tyler forces Jack to face the current reality of his world: injustice, love of money, obsession with the trivial; and to liberate him from that.
Below is a list of some of my favourite gospel and Fight Club parallels...
Fight Club: Only when Jack truly gives up his will to live is he saved.
Jesus: Luke 14:26. "Whoever comes to me and does not hate even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”
Fight Club: Jack quits job and Tyler destroys all that he owns.
Jesus: Matt 6:24-34. "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.”
Fight Club: Jack has no family; those around him follow Tyler Durden and his followers become his family.
Jesus: Mark 4:34-35. "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."
Fight Club: The first assignment for fight club members is for them to start a fight and lose.
Jesus: Matt 5:38-39. "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth'. But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.”
Fight Club: Tyler Durden destroys both Jacks' apartment and the buildings of credit card companies in order to make everything go back to zero so that no-one is in debt.
Jesus: Luke 18:22. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."
Be warned: the film is graphic and brutal and deserves its R rating, but if you are looking for a film to show disaffected adult Western males that exemplifies liberation, I can’t think of a better place to start.
Chris Summerfield works for DrugARM WA but recently decided to become a full-time dad. You can find out more about him at his blog achurchlessfaith.blogspot.com.
Act
Perth people can come along to a talk by Chris on the 'Theology of the Fight Club', followed by a screening of the film, at the Christian Centre for Social Action, 879 Albany Hwy, East Vic Park, 7.30pm, Friday 20 November. (A suggested donation of $5 will go towards the centre's work in East Timor.)
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