The First Rule Is...

The 1999 cult classic film "Fight Club" is the story of a man’s’ struggle to reconcile societies equation for success and happiness with the reality of an unfulfilled consumer driven life. As he deconstructs the myth of the modern man his search leads him towards his identity.

For this project I attempted to synthesize the film into one image. The film centres on an unnamed, insomniac who works as an Automotive Recall Co-ordinator. He is searching for a way to change his life and enlists the help of a cavalier soap-maker. They form underground fight club as a means to awaken from their sedated lives and redefine what it means to be men in the 20^th century.

The model for my shoot is a friend in his early forties. I felt that he represented someone who might be experiencing a middle-life crisis. The wardrobe he is wearing by the truck represents the uniform worn by middle management office works. He is no one but he is also everyone. The wardrobe he is wearing by the workbench, or the lack thereof, reflects his freedom from the responsibilities of adulthood. The no shirt, no shoes, aspect of his wardrobe are part of the rules of "Fight Club". His battered face and knuckles illustrate the journey of self-destruction/self-awakening.

The auto mechanics’ shop which reflects the “day job” of the narrator but also doubles as a metaphor for his seeking to fix himself. My use of a vintage truck points to the struggle with an age-old question of one’s identity. The illumination coming from the motor of the truck is the enlightenment he is seeking. His stance illustrates that he has grown weary of looking inward and he now seeks enlightenment from someone else. That someone else embodies all the ideals and freedoms he lacks. The narrator sees these traits of this someone else as the means by which he will achieve awakening/enlightenment. What the narrator fails to realize is that he possesses traits he has been searching for all along.

I can’t believe I just broke the first two rules of "Fight Club".

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