When one talks about the films with the biggest cultural impacts, Fight Club often comes up. Despite not receiving a high amount of monetary success upon its original release in theaters, its quality shone through over the years, giving the film the fanbase it deserved.
A large part of this eventual popularity is often rightfully associated with the talented cast of the film, including names such as Edward Norton, and of course, Brad Pitt. Technically, both these gentlemen portrayed the same person, though very distinct personalities, representing contrasting facades of the main character.
While Norton’s performance and side of the character deserve just as much praise, this article will focus specifically on Tyler Durden, and how a brilliant performance brought the iconic character to life.
Preparations for the Role, Working with Directors, and General Info
Firstly, it is worth noting that Pitt’s performance doesn’t exist in a vacuum. His collaboration with director David Fincher was key to bringing Tyler Durden to life. Fincher’s distinctive visual style and Pitt’s performance work in tandem to create the unique atmosphere of the film. Often dark, gritty, and unpleasant sides of everyday life are contrasted incredibly well with Durden’s charismatic, explosive attitude, bringing life into the sedentary world. Of course, until it becomes a bit too explosive.
As for preparations, one of the most significant steps was getting down the physique. While Brad was already in good shape, he had to get quite a bit leaner for the role in Fight Club. The purpose of the film was not to show a bulky, bodybuilder physique, as Tyler himself does not seem to be the biggest fan of that, but rather a street-hardened, ‘fighter’ archetype, likely modeled after a striker martial artist.
For critical reception, while the film always had its supporters, it took some time to get into the position it is today. After all, nowadays no one will recommend watching Brad Pitt top 10 movies without including Fight Club near the top. Back then that was not necessarily the case.
Interestingly, sometimes the harsher critics would single out Tyler Durden as one of the few redeeming qualities of the film, an interesting, though admittedly rare perspective. Thankfully, it is far from a popular one today, as the release of Fight Club on DVDs is often associated with its rise in status and popularity, solidifying itself among history’s greatest thrillers.
Character Study: Tyler Durden
With the boring stuff out of the way, let us briefly discuss exactly what makes the character of Tyler Durden, and by extension, Fight Club so good. At the core, Durden represents a scary potential consequence of living a shallow life with no purpose, consumed entirely by the sedentary, repetitive systems you are pushed to be a part of. Throughout the narrative, Tyler undergoes quite a bit of change, becoming more and more extreme by the end.
We see this change, obviously, not only through writing and dialogue but interestingly, also through the appearances of the characters. Initially, when Tyler is introduced, and when the fight club is formed, Norton looks a lot healthier, and in control, and in turn, Durden himself is significantly skinnier. As the film progresses though, and as the initially fun, relatively harmless idea of the club transforms into something far more destructive, project mayhem, we see Edward Norton become more and more disheveled, and Tyler get stronger and bigger, representing the grasp he is starting to have as the dominant personality.
Ultimately, at the climax of the film, where the stakes are at their highest, and the consequences for failure would lead to the deaths of many innocents, at least in the main character’s mind, he can overcome, and supposedly destroy Tyler for good.
Though, with Edward Norton’s character/narrator being a rather unreliable source of information, considering his sanity, we cannot be fully aware of what happened at the end of the project mayhem, and whether or not Tyler Durden intended to have civilian casualties. We do see him cause acts of vandalism, as well as threaten a person, but that was to get them to attempt to improve their life.
An idealized version of Tyler represents rebellion. A struggle against a consumerist, shallow lifestyle that in his mind, emasculates men and robs them of pursuing true purpose and liberation. Judging from the other works of fiction tackling the same issues, such as American Psycho, though that film in a much more comedic sense, there does seem to be a strong, relatable message here.
It is a social commentary on a global scale issue that affected an entire generation, evidenced by the tens of millions who continue resonating with the film and its character’s struggles. While initially, Tyler’s charisma, personality, and outlook on the world may seem liberating, representing everything Edward Norton’s character was not, ultimately, it is a warning of how easily a dissatisfied, disenfranchised, and lost group of people can be pushed to the exact opposite extremes that they are fighting. It is a warning to not lose yourself during the fight, and perhaps a piece of advice to seek balance between Tyler Durden, and the system it is trying to erase.
