Satire wasn't dead (yet), but it was super easy for the intended audience (myself included) to miss it when they made Tyler Durden so. fucking. cool.
I didn't read the book until after I'd seen the movie, so I couldn't get Brad Pitt out of my imagination of the character. But...
They could have made some ridiculous, over- the- top Macho Man (tm) archetype. They could have leaned into the grime, made everything look dirty and like it smelled like piss. They could have done a better job showing the Narator as a disheveled man whose life was falling apart around him as he spiraled into a psychotic break. They could have made Marla truly unattractive, nasty and potentially sick and look like she was in the process of dying.
Instead, they glamorized all of it. Because they were making a fucking movie. And then (qoute) "they" were (quote) "surprised" when young men took the (quote) "wrong" message.
I mean, yes. And no. Again, it was the fact that they glamorized how he acted, by dressing it all up in a stylish, attractive veneer that makes it toxic. He didn't look cool because of his actions; his actions were (mistakenly) legitimized because he looked cool. My argument is only that the filmmakers are as much to blame as the audience for the satire going over most heads.
Tyler was a depressed man's imaginary, idealized version of himself. Of course, he is going to be a cool and stylish. Why would the Narrator imagine himself as an unattractive and lame person?
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u/tdbourneidentity 23d ago
Satire wasn't dead (yet), but it was super easy for the intended audience (myself included) to miss it when they made Tyler Durden so. fucking. cool.
I didn't read the book until after I'd seen the movie, so I couldn't get Brad Pitt out of my imagination of the character. But...
They could have made some ridiculous, over- the- top Macho Man (tm) archetype. They could have leaned into the grime, made everything look dirty and like it smelled like piss. They could have done a better job showing the Narator as a disheveled man whose life was falling apart around him as he spiraled into a psychotic break. They could have made Marla truly unattractive, nasty and potentially sick and look like she was in the process of dying.
Instead, they glamorized all of it. Because they were making a fucking movie. And then (qoute) "they" were (quote) "surprised" when young men took the (quote) "wrong" message.