Xiaoqian Zeng

ENG 311
Essay I
15th Mar, 2015
Castles in the Sky: The Credibility of Solutions in Fight Club and American Beauty
Today, people share a similar destiny in this era of a rapid development, especially in the
western countries; the United States, for instance, has developed dramatically under capitalism.
However, there are a lot of problem hidden in this prosperous society. The movies American
Beauty and Fight Club criticize American consumerist culture and how it has influenced male
identities. I would argue that both of the movies paint an accurate picture of social phenomena, but
neither of them provide a credible solution. To support my point, I will quota Henry Giroux and
Imre Szeman in their article IKEA Boy and the Politics of Male Bonding: Fight Club,
consumerism, and violence, as well as Marx and Nietzsche.
Jack is the main character in Fight Club. He is a male who is focused on furniture and feels
dissatisfied about his job, so he has to repress his emotions and he suffers from insomnia.
Generally, he starts to fantasize about another person--Durden, who is actually himself. Durden
has a different personality than Jack. He criticizes society for being too focused on materials, as he
says in the movie, we are by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Therefore, he establishes a Fight
Club, where males can prove their manhood by beating each other, and eventually this fighting
escalates into terrorist activity.
Personally, I think each detail in this film uncovers the consumerism of society. Even though
the film is in some ways too exaggerated, I think it is indeed reflective of real social values;
however, the solution lacks credibility. Critics Henry Giroux and Imre Szeman also express their
opinion in the article IKEA Boy and the Politics of Male Bonding: Fight Club, consumerism, and

violence. As Giroux and Szeman point out, Fight Club offers a critique of late capitalist society
and the misfortunes generated by its obsessive concern with profits, consumption, and commercial
values that underling its market-driven ethos (34). However, they also believe that Fight Club
has nothing substantive to say about the structural violence of unemployment, job insecurity, cuts
in public spending, and the destruction of institutions capable of defending the social good (34).
In other words, Fight Club only castigates consumerism and reflects on how males fighting each
other can shape the male identity. Because the movie fails to address the complete social structure
that contributes to the problem, the solution lacks a foundation, it is built in mid-air. There is a
scene in the movie that impressed me: Durden points a gun at a young Asian clerk named
Raymond, threatening to kill Raymond unless he tries his best to make his dream of becoming a
Veterinarian come true. This scene indicates that in Durdens mind, success is related to individual
choice or how much you desire to do be satisfied. Durden totally ignores realistic factors such as
societal dynamics. In the end of the movie, Durdens fighting club escalates into terrorist activity
to against consumerism, because he believes that only that way can solve the problem, which is as
Giroux and Szeman demonstrated that seldom seen on the big screen in the United States (34). I
think Marx would agree with Giroux and Szeman because in The Manifesto, Marx says that
When, in the course of development, class distinctions have disappeared, and all production has
been concentrated in the hands of a vast association of the whole nation, the public power will lose
its political character (262). In other word, Marx give communism as a solution to capitalism
rather than violence, which support Giroux and Szeman argument and my opinion. Actually, Fight
Club and American Beauty are similar, people in both movies show consumerism. In American
Beauty, Carolyn pays more attention to her furniture than to her husband. Even though her

husband feels affection for her, she still focuses on her sofa which is upholstered in Italian silk.
Thus, she becomes hard to satisfy in her life. However, look at her husband--Lester, when he
found his life unhappy, he started to think he should has sex with his daughters friend--Angela,
quit his job and brought a fancy car. After that, he became happy and be satisfied with himself. As
Nietzsche said that For one thing is needful that a human being attain his satisfaction with
himself...only then is a human being at all tolerable to behold... In my opinion, I do not think it is
an effectual solution. If Lester really has sex with Angela, how could he deal with the relationship
with his daughter and his wife; he resigned his job, but how could his wife took the whole sole
financial responsibility. Angela showed up bring the sense of fresh to Lester but how long this
fresh could last? Lester resigned his job because he did not like it anymore, but being a middle
class in America, it was unfair that put all the added pressure of being the sole breadwinner to his
wife. Therefore, I do not think it is a realistic solution. There are not only a way being happy, I
think maybe Lester should be looking inside himself rather than trying to change his
circumstances. Just as in Fight Club, American Beauty also has the same issue of an unrealistic
solution. In Ikea Boy, Giroux and Szeman mention that ...these films end up reproducing the very
problems they attempt to solve. Rather than turning a critical light on important social
issues...trivialize them within a stylized aesthetics that revels in irony, cynicism, and excessive
violence (36). Nevertheless, Ricky, a key character in American Beauty, finds the beauty in life
and enlightens Lester to be satisfied with himself. This character is similar to Durden in Fight
Club. Both of them represent that kind of person who gets at the meaning of life and is able to
illumine others. Those two characters did not care how the society or other people view at them, it
is fix what Nietzsche called the seal of liberation--no longer being ashamed in front of oneself.

However, in the Ikea Boy, Giroux and Szeman argue that Durden values a Just Do It ideology,
which makes him unable to imagine a politics that connects to democratic movements... (37).
Thus, the solution from Durden is lack of reality factors from society, which I think is similar with
building castles in the sky.
In conclusion I think both of the movies American Beauty and Fight Club reflect modern
society struggle with consumerism and masculinity, but both of them did offer an incredibility
solution which like built in mid-air. Solution, which against the consumerism without social
dynamic, it would be unsubstantial and not help to change the society. Rather than coming up with
violent or exaggerated solution, we need to do a better job in media of posing real solutions to
societys problems.

References
Butterfield, Bradley Critical Theory Handout, 2015.
Giroux, Henry and Szeman, Imre. Ikea Boy Fights Back: Fight Club, Consumerism and the
Political Limits of 1990s Cinema. Lewis 95-105.
Marx, Karl, Engels, Friedrich, and Bender, Frederic L. The Communist Manifesto / Karl Marx ;
Prefaces by Marx and Engels ; Annotated Text, Sources and Backgrounds, the Communist
Manifesto in the History of Marxism, Interpretation, Edited by Frederic L. Bender. 2nd ed.
New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton &, 2013. Print.
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, and Kaufmann, Walter Arnold. The Portable Nietzsche / Selected
and Translated, with an Introduction, Prefaces, and Notes, by Walter Kaufmann. New York:
Penguin, 1982. Print.