I AM JACK'S NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

 

VISUAL

Fight Club is a visually rich landscape of colour and contrasts, special effects and movement. Tyler Durdens clothing, sometimes matching, sometimes not … is a direct reflection of his personality (Fincher, DVD COMMENTARY). He doesn't care about anything, nor does he care what others think and the lack of uniformity in his appearance reflected that. He was usually found in colourful, often dirty clothing from his red leather jacket to his various T-shirts. This was in contrast to Jacks appearance, which in the beginning of the movie was clean, and socially acceptable attire such as a shirt and dress pants/khakis to reflect his conformity to the consumer image of a 'yuppie'. His clothes were absent of colour to further emphasize his personality, which was somewhat defeated and restrained. As Jacks character progresses through the movie however, his clothing changes to reflect the changes going on within his own mind. He shows up at work with a blood stained shirt (DVD TIME CUE 55:00), and increasingly distances himself from the socially acceptable image that he so conformed to in the beginning. His body language also changes to reflect his new mindset, as he goes from being reserved and unable to ask Tyler for a place to stay (DVD TIME CUE 31:26) to a more confident and aggressive individual by standing up to his boss (DVD TIME CUE 1:15:44) and stopping the bus for Marla (DVD TIME CUE 1:59:31).

The lighting of the movie can be generally classified as dark, as many scenes take place in dimly lit rooms (ex. the Fight Club fights take place in basements, DVD TIME CUE:45:20) or at night such as Project Latte Thunder (destroying a piece of corporate art, DVD TIME CUE 1:45:25) or painting of a smiley face on the side of a building (DVD TIME CUE 1:31:40). The lack of brightly lit scenes imparts upon the audience the general 'feeling' of the movie, which is about internal and external struggle, violence, and deeply thought provoking ideological concepts such as having a 'near-life' experience during a car crash (DVD TIME CUE 1:41:08). The visual impact of sweat glistening off of fighters' backs and bodies, provided a powerful visual contrast to the darkness surrounding them and contributed to the aggressive and almost 'masculine' feeling of raw power and energy inherent in battle … a traditionally masculine domain.