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Anti-Capitalism in Fight Club
Anti-Capitalism in Fight Club
Capitalism Definition
An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.
Henry Giroux
Giroux states that the film is a failed critique which focuses on the consumerist culture and how it shapes male identity and ignores how Neoliberal Capitalism has dominated and exploited society.
Consumerism
The Narrator does not have a name, but ironically, he has an IKEA catalogue. He buys extensively from this catalogue to fill up his empty sense of self The most memorable sequence in regards to Anti-Consumerism is the well-known pan around the Narrator's apartment as it slowly fills with IKEA furniture which he chooses from his catalogue. This accentuates the fact that people (in David Finchers view) rely too heavily on big corporate companies to live. I flipped through catalogues and wondered:
What kind of dining set defines me as a person?
Consumerism Continued...
Even the people the narrator meets on airplanes are classed (by him) as singleserving friends. This implies that he has even started to view those around him from the point of view of consumerism. They are simply there to accompany him on his journey, once the journey is over, he can metaphorically throw them away, he has no reason to be friendly with them anymore.
Everywhere I travel, tiny life. Single-serving sugar, singleserving cream, single pat of butter. The microwave Cordon Bleu hobby kit. Shampooconditioner combos, samplepackaged mouthwash, tiny bars of soap. The people I meet on each flight? They're singleserving friends. - The Narrator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9HuyJP1xo
To Conclude...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZqHYBezw x0