Okay. So. I'm low-key (high-key) obsessed with Fight Club right now, to the point where I've seen the movie multiple times, read the book, both graphic novels, and tracked down a copy of Make something up: stories you can't unread specifically for the Fight Club related short story Chuck snuck in there, and now I have Thoughts™ that need to escape so here we are.
FIRSTLY: you do not talk about fight club. Secondly, I'm actually going to start talking about the movie and books now.
I love the movie. It's probably my favorite out of all the Fight Club flavored media I've consumed. 11/10, I wish I hallucinated slutty gay Brad Pitt whenever I got sleep deprived. It was also my introduction to Fight Club, so maybe I'm a little biased, but whatever. It's such a well crafted movie, all the little details I've picked up on in subsequent rewatches just make me foam at the mouth, and while I am slightly bummed that Tyler and the Narrator didn't meet on a nude beach like they did in the book, I do feel like the way they introduced him was still really good, and kind of tightened up the story a bit (which is good for runtime). I also really like the voice over that they utilize throughout the movie because 1) Edward Norton's voice and 2) it keeps so many good lines from the book in. I'm also low-key obsessed with Tyler fucking around with nunchucks in the background of that one scene. You know the one. And riding a bike and crashing into stuff. He's so chaotic and goofy. And--
Okay most of the stuff he does I'm obsessed with. Extra props to the costume designers because they fucking delivered. I also really liked the Narrator's haiku phase. And the song choice for the ending scene? The last shot? Last line? Immaculate. It's an excellent movie is what I'm trying to say.
I ALSO love the book. It took me like... 10 hours, maybe less to read the whole thing. I sat down and just blew through it in about two/three sittings. All in one day. I was like a man possessed. It gave me an existential crisis worse than the movie did and I'm obsessed with the writing style. Like, the fact that the Narrator never speaks with quotation marks so we don't know if he's actually saying things out loud or if he's talking to Tyler? Very unique, took me a second to get used to, and also SUCH a choice. And the descriptions were awesome, like when the Narrator was talking about Chloe. Top tier lines right there. I love the fact that the first time they met was on a nude beach (what the heck was the Narrator doing on a nude beach???) I also liked that we got to see more of the Narrator's haikus. I need to track down a copy to actually keep because the one I read was from the library. Then I can go fully insane.
The graphic novels... are a different story. In theory, I love the idea. Tyler comes back and fucks up the Narrator and Marla's stagnant suburban life? Sign me up! I want shenanigans. But in execution, they just didn't really work for me. I liked the idea of pills and rose petals blotting out some of the speech bubbles and covering things up. That could be cool! But the actual story was so abstract that I kind of needed the speech bubbles they nixed. And that brings me to the actual story, which, like I said... way too abstract for my tastes. I thought the fact that it was a graphic novel and had a bunch of pictures would make it easier to follow... it did not. Not remotely. I really wanted to like it. I did not. The stakes felt too large, and again, abstract, when compared to the original novel. The art was alright, I enjoyed the style, but the way they drew the Narrator (or SEBASTIAN, as they call him in these books... ew) in the third book, after the whole plastic surgery thing... not for me. That whole plot actually. Was horrible. Did not enjoy.
Chloe returning? Not for me either. The Narrator and Marla having a kid together could have been more fun than it was, I thought they missed some opportunities for some truly awful parenting.
And Chuck inserting himself into the story was, honestly, so fucking pretentious. He made himself overly important and almost everything about these books seemed to clash with the original so horribly.
Not to mention Tyler coming back because "Sebastian" started taking placebo pills makes NO goddamn sense if he's a supernatural creature.
Yes, you heard that right. A supernatural creature. This is also addressed in the short story I was talking about, which was one of the worse stories in the book (that said, I did enjoy the book overall). It's short, so there's really not much for me to talk about, other than the fact that I liked the labyrinth, and it reminded me vaguely of the hallways in House of Leaves. The actual content of the story was super mediocre.
But back to Tyler being a supernatural being. A demon, if you will.
Might I say: what the fuck? Why the fuck?
One of the things that made Tyler so fascinating to me was the fact that he was purely a figment of the Narrator's imagination. An alternate personality, a tulpa, what have you. What was important to me is the fact that he is a part of the Narrator, because that makes their power dynamic so much more interesting! In the first book (and the movie), the Narrator is constantly viewing Tyler as a godlike figure, as someone who has power over him and someone who he wants to have power over him. He's in love with Tyler. That's basically canon.
And he wants Tyler to have power over him. That's canon. The fact that Tyler is a part of him that the Narrator could manipulate (like he does at the end of the movie when he realizes he's holding gun instead of Tyler, and takes the situation over from there) but that Tyler STILL has so much power over him is absolutely fascinating! But if you turn Tyler into a demon, make it so he could possess whoever he wants and do whatever he wants (hell, he could possess the president and launch a ton of nukes if he wanted to!) it just makes the whole first book seem... I don't know, almost pointless? Why possess Just Some Guy if your end goal is to cause worldwide chaos? Why not cut straight to the chase and possess someone with power? (I think he actually ends up doing that in one of the graphic novels, so like... what was everything before that for?)
Tyler as a demon who has hundreds of years in controlling people and terrorizing the masses is just boring. Tyler as a part of the Narrator who is new to existing and just kind of wants to fuck shit up? Way more fun. I'd much rather see that than whatever we got in the graphic novels.
That said... I would so watch a cinematic adaptation of the graphic novels, if only to get the chance to see the Narrator and Tyler in their 50s/early 60's. It's not a want at this point, it's a need.
Anyway! Feel free to tall me your thoughts, this is just my POV. If you've read the graphic novels and liked them, I'd love to hear your reasoning, it might help change my perspective, and very open to that because I really did want to like them.
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