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Fight Club 3: Jacob Johnson Section 8

In my final post about fight club, I want to talk about the similarities between Tyler Durden's philosophy, and Karl Marx's, or Marxism. Much of Marx's ideas were based on the idea that men are there work. He believed men should work to profit themselves, not to profit others. Marx even said that a man only attain and maintain his humanity by producing for himself. In Fight Club, Tyler tells a group of men:

"Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this 

potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting 

tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working 

jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. 

No purpose or place."

Midway through the movie, the police inspector calls Jack to talk to him about his apartment that was destroyed. Tyler tell Jack to tell the inspector that "The liberator who destroyed my property has realigned my perceptions. Karl Marx believed we shouldn't own private property, and as I was scanning the internet I even found in The Communist Manifesto Marx wrote "abolition of private property." 

The final idea that shows Tyler Durden had Marxist beliefs would be his final plan in Project Mayhem; to destroy all of the major credit card companies so the records would be erased and those in debt would be set free. Therefore, everyone is able to start on a new slate, and it closes the gap on the separation between the different classes. Durden said in the movie "We are one step close to economic equilibrium." Karl Marx had the same idea, where there would be no class system, but rather everyone would have the same. This idea eventually led to what we know today as communism.

For everyone who hasn't seen Fight Club, you have got to go see it! And those who have already seen it, watch it again and see what philosophical ideas you can pull from it.