I've found myself in a state of restless, near-hopeless misery.
So I'm reading and watching Fight Club again.
It always manages to shock my brain out of its depressed state of apathy.
Personally, I am of the opinion that Fight Club is the seminal text of my generation. That is, Gen Y.
Perhaps it was written by a member of Generation X, but ultimately, the text was critical of the materialism ("...you're not how much money you've got in the bank. You're not your job. You're not your family, and you're not who you tell yourself.... You're not your name.... You're not your problems.... You're not your age.... You are not your hopes") and complacency that the older generation has continued to display.
Despite its intellectual importance, its culturally pivotal and controversial nature, Fight Club has not changed the people is was talking about.
But I do believe that it has set something alight inside the minds of many.
There will be no Communist uprising or impression of Project Mayhem- we need not more chaos- but there is clearly dissatisfaction with the Capitalist-consumerist hegemony of the current time.
The question is, will this trigger revolutionary action, or simply reactionary action?
Lessons garnered from the themes contained within the text:
Self Destruction > Learn some self worth.
Nihilism > Leanr what really matters.
Anti-Capitalism > Learn the cost of your actions.
Selfishness > Learn to relate and empathise.
Mental illness, crime, anarchy, murder, suicide > Learn to survive.
Dear Imogen Mortimer,
"Did you know that of any profession, dentistry has the highest rate of suicide?"
Sometimes you frighten me with your like-mindedness, but it makes me feel somewhat re-assured.
You're as much a revolutionary as our valedictorian, as strange as that may sound.
Somehow, in mentioning the book, the movie, the alter ego, you encapsulated our entire grade.
There's still a dichotomy within the ideals of Gen Y. Going to a Catholic, girls' high school, I am not about to debate that fact.
On one hand, we display our tendencies towards hyper-feminism and need for equality in all arenas of life. We are accepting of differences. We are politically aware and virilently opposed to social injustice. We want change.
This is all bound together with our inclination to binge drink, our racism and xenophobia, our thug culture.
Contrary to what critics argue, Fight Club is not a glamourization of violence/mental illness/anarchy.
It's the surreal reality of a world wrought by terror, technological advancemnets, a cultural dark-age that rivals the Medieval era and the Great Depression in terms of its affect on the indivuals wasting away within society.
"Let me never be perfect". Let me never be obsolete.
Today is Dystopia. Every day is just the future that has been reached, and ultimately, social criticism is never irrelevent. Humanity will always be the same, be it armed with spears, axes or i-phones.
Fight Club never told you to do anything. It had an impact because what has been staring us in the face for our whole lives suddenly gained momentum and smashed your perfect face in.
Even the Goo Goo Dolls got it right; "You bleed just to know you're alive".
So I'm reading and watching Fight Club again.
It always manages to shock my brain out of its depressed state of apathy.
Personally, I am of the opinion that Fight Club is the seminal text of my generation. That is, Gen Y.
Perhaps it was written by a member of Generation X, but ultimately, the text was critical of the materialism ("...you're not how much money you've got in the bank. You're not your job. You're not your family, and you're not who you tell yourself.... You're not your name.... You're not your problems.... You're not your age.... You are not your hopes") and complacency that the older generation has continued to display.
Despite its intellectual importance, its culturally pivotal and controversial nature, Fight Club has not changed the people is was talking about.
But I do believe that it has set something alight inside the minds of many.
There will be no Communist uprising or impression of Project Mayhem- we need not more chaos- but there is clearly dissatisfaction with the Capitalist-consumerist hegemony of the current time.
The question is, will this trigger revolutionary action, or simply reactionary action?
Lessons garnered from the themes contained within the text:
Self Destruction > Learn some self worth.
Nihilism > Leanr what really matters.
Anti-Capitalism > Learn the cost of your actions.
Selfishness > Learn to relate and empathise.
Mental illness, crime, anarchy, murder, suicide > Learn to survive.
Dear Imogen Mortimer,
"Did you know that of any profession, dentistry has the highest rate of suicide?"
Sometimes you frighten me with your like-mindedness, but it makes me feel somewhat re-assured.
You're as much a revolutionary as our valedictorian, as strange as that may sound.
Somehow, in mentioning the book, the movie, the alter ego, you encapsulated our entire grade.
There's still a dichotomy within the ideals of Gen Y. Going to a Catholic, girls' high school, I am not about to debate that fact.
On one hand, we display our tendencies towards hyper-feminism and need for equality in all arenas of life. We are accepting of differences. We are politically aware and virilently opposed to social injustice. We want change.
This is all bound together with our inclination to binge drink, our racism and xenophobia, our thug culture.
Contrary to what critics argue, Fight Club is not a glamourization of violence/mental illness/anarchy.
It's the surreal reality of a world wrought by terror, technological advancemnets, a cultural dark-age that rivals the Medieval era and the Great Depression in terms of its affect on the indivuals wasting away within society.
"Let me never be perfect". Let me never be obsolete.
Today is Dystopia. Every day is just the future that has been reached, and ultimately, social criticism is never irrelevent. Humanity will always be the same, be it armed with spears, axes or i-phones.
Fight Club never told you to do anything. It had an impact because what has been staring us in the face for our whole lives suddenly gained momentum and smashed your perfect face in.
Even the Goo Goo Dolls got it right; "You bleed just to know you're alive".
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