Subject:
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Re: LEGO Theatrical "trailer" Fight Club Spoilers!
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.fun
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Date:
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Tue, 12 Dec 2000 17:52:19 GMT
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Viewed:
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145 times
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The purpose of this reply is to retain the text of the soon-to-be-cancelled
message below, but in a way that won't put a spoiler in the "preview" section
of Lugnet. Therefore, I'm being as wordy as I can in this opening part, while
really not saying anything at all; hopefully, if I keep this up, it will
displace the offending material to a place below the level that gets shown in
Lugnet previews. If you're still reading this, I really think you should just
go ahead and skip down to the quoted material below, down below the row
of dots, because there's really nothing in here that is of any interest.
Alright, that oughta do it, but just to be sure:
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In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Eric Joslin writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Dave Schuler writes:
>
> > Haven't read the novel. I wasn't too wowed by the message, which has been
> > done to death elsewhere (perhaps the novel preceded that, but the film
> > presented nothing new to me in that way.) That whole treatment of identity
> > is a foundation piece of postmodernism, so in that regard the movie's simply
> > following a trend.
>
> I actually think that the point of the movie had little to do with the
> "surprise" of Tyler Durden and {Narrator} being the same person. To me, it
> said a lot about the way humans are living in the modern world.
>
> > In addition, I found the whole "oh-my-gosh-he's-me" bit to be arbitrary
> > and not especially interesting or useful. This, again, has been done to
> > death in various media, and usually to better effect. The fact that it had
> > little positive impact on the film can be illustrated with similar surprise
> > examples from other films, such as The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, and
> > The Crying Game. All of these films had "gotcha" surprises central to the
> > plot, such that if someone had revealed them to you beforehand, something
> > tangible would have been lost from your first viewing of the film. That's
> > not the case with Fight Club, wherein the "he's-me" bit comes across as
> > unbelievable and arbitrary. If I'd known about the "surprise" beforehand,
> > the movie would have been no better or worse, so the gimmick is just a
> > gimmick.
>
> !!!! This sentiment I'm afraid I have to STRONGLY disagree with. Watching • the
> movie for the third, fourth, or even seventh time, I'm constantly picking up • on
> new things in the interplay between Ed Norton and Brad Pitt's performances • that
> show how the two personalities are relating.
>
> Just as an example, take the scene in which {Narrator} gets the phone call • from
> Marla saying she's taken a bunch of pills and is dying. Tyler is in the
> background, playing with a pair of nunchuku (sp?), being his overly agressive
> self- but he stays in the background, humming along and making it hard for
> {Narrator} to concentrate. {Narrator} can't deal with his feelings for Marla
> in any way, so Tyler takes over- {Narrator} puts the phone down, and Tyler
> picks it up. Tyler goes over to Marla's. Tyler brings her home and they do • it
> all night. {Narrator} wakes up in the morning with no memory whatsoever of
> what happened- or does he? He "dreams" about having sex with Marla, and even
> he says that he "knew the story [of Tyler picking up Marla] before Tyler told
> it".
>
> There are a thousand little things in almost every scene that show Tyler and
> {Narrator} interacting, and the film gains a LOT from this device.
>
> > I have no trouble suspending disbelief when I watch a movie or read a
> > book; in fact, it's essential to the enjoyment of most modern entertainment.
> > However, I have trouble when we're required to accept that characters within
> > the film have suspended their disbelief, too.
>
> What other characters suspend their disbelief? No offense meant, but I think
> you suffer from watching the film too literally. Of course they inhabit one
> body, but everyone who knows {Narrator} as Tyler Durden *knows* him as Tyler
> Durden. They don't have conversations with people at the same time- Tyler • even
> tells {Narrator} *specifically* to never discuss him in front of Marla. Some
> cracks begin to show to the people in Fight Club/Project Mayhem (especially
> once it's advanced to being Project Mayhem), but those people are such devoted
> followers that signs of insanity look like signs of genius- and there's a lot
> of off-screen work by Tyler to undermine {Narrator} ("ok, guys, I'm ordering
> you to not do this!" "You said you'd say that.").
>
> Like we both agreed before, taste is an individual thing, and I'm certainly • not
> here to say that if you don't like Fight Club you're insane/stupid/lame or
> anything, but I think some of the things you say above are disputable.
>
> eric
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