Critically analyse how 'Fight Club' might be considered postmodern - Essay Example

One of the pieces of the mosaic is consumerism and anti-cultural attitude promulgated in the film. At this point, it is necessary to stress that fragmentation of the issues brings them to the fore and the technique of “rapid cutting to reinforce the sometimes extreme action” exploited by filmmakers makes the viewer pay close attention to these fragments (Booker 2007: 37). People are eager to find the connection between the pieces of the mosaic and focus on the major topics discussed. Thus, consumerism is “criticised primarily as an ideological force . . .

that weakens and domesticates men” (Giroux & Szeman 2001: 101). Importantly, the trend spreading globally is not regarded as a peculiarity of the society but is presented as a political paradigm lobbied by the rich. According to the narrator and his alter ego, this ideological force is aimed at enslaving people. Tyler draws a line between capitalism and consumerism (which is a result of the former) as both ideologies oppress people and turn them into slaves. Thus, people are enslaved by things and they are forced to have “everything from IKEA” they “could possibly want” (Gibson 2004: 183).

However, the world of things is opposed to the real world as it is seen by the protagonists. This is a characteristic feature of postmodernism as it is based on opposition to what has been accepted. Tyler emphasises that the world of things is fake and even unreal and this is a postmodern view on reality. Likewise, Featherstone (2007: 6) notes that “through consumerism” people are creating “a destabilized, aestheticized hallucination of reality”. People are taught to fit into the world of IKEA and strive for more things and this makes them feel uneasy as a human cannot and should not become a part of such an unreal reality.

The very concept of free will ceases to exist in such a world. Apart from that, the world of consumers