Book vs Film: Fight Club

 

Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club is a fast 208 page read and perfect fodder for the ‘hero’s journey’ narrative structure preferred by Hollywood producers and the general film consuming public. Despite Palahniuk’s unorthodox prose, it was, for the most part, faithfully adapted by Jim Uhls for David Fincher’s 1999 film. As with any novel to film adaptation, there were a number of notable differences between page and screen. This includes a subtle shift in its overall tone; the novel’s nihilism is substituted for the audience friendly optimism of the film. During the final act, Project Mayhem’s ultimate goal changes from being purely selfish - erasing the past (destroying a museum), to being selfless and altruistic - erasing debt (destroying credit card companies). The protagonist was successful in achieving this goal in the film, and did so in one of the most iconic movie climaxes of all time. The novel, however, ended with Tyler’s bomb failing to detonate and the narrator committed to a mental institution.

In the film, a messiah. In the novel, a
murdering psychopath.

Most of the changes made by Uhls and Fincher were justified, successful, and the reason for Fight Club’s ongoing notoriety more than 20 years after its release. Others, not so much. In keeping with Repeat Viewing’s purpose statement of pointlessly dissecting popular culture for the benefit of no-one, here is the best and worst of David Fincher’s Fight Club adaptation.

Movie good. Book bad.

A Near-Life Experience

The car crash scene, as it appears in the book, is probably the best example of where the film surpasses the book in storytelling and meaning. In the novel, a mechanic and three space monkeys pick the narrator up in a Cadillac. Between the front seats is a seemingly incongruous birthday cake. Tyler has been missing for some time, and the narrator believes he is being chauffeured to Tyler. The mechanic tells him that our father is our model for God - a monologue that was repurposed for the chemical burn scene in the film. "What you have to consider," he says, "is the possibility that God doesn’t like you." The mechanic goes on to deliver many Tylerisms, including the fact that fight club will always be free to its members. This nameless mechanic, never before mentioned until this chapter, has been so indoctrinated into the cause that he might as well be Tyler at this point. Which is probably what the filmmakers were thinking when they swapped him out for the ‘real’ Tyler Durden.

While swerving into oncoming traffic, the mechanic asks each passenger what he wishes he’d done before he died. Their answers, "Ride a horse," "Build a house," "Get a tattoo," are significantly different to the film. As I mentioned in a previous post, Fincher’s version emphasises the necessity of creative outlets in order to sustain job/life satisfaction. The space monkeys’ wishes in the film are motivated by a desire to create, which is in stark opposition to Project Mayhem. In Palahniuk's book, the narrator says he wishes he’d quit his job, referring to his occupation as a recall campaign coordinator. This ‘birthday’ wish is relevant to information that is later revealed in the novel, and missing from the film. Prior to being picked up for the joyride, the narrator, as Tyler, had drilled a hole in his boss’ computer and filled it with gasoline. Later, when his boss returns from holiday and switches his computer on, it explodes and kills him. His boss isn’t murdered in the film, and instead a window display of computers are destroyed in a similar fashion.

Even though the character of the mechanic does perpetuate the philosophy that no one is unique or special, knowing that anyone could fill the role of Tyler takes away much of his dangerous charm. Fincher’s version builds the narrator/Tyler relationship to an exciting crescendo. It’s coda is also powerful. As Norton drifts in and out of consciousness, Pitt appears as a father-like apparition beside his bed, telling him to, “Feel better, champ,” before abandoning him just as his real father did. This scene appears only in the movie, and utilises a monologue lifted again from the mechanic in the novel.

By crashing the car and having its passengers reveal their true desires, the mechanic has performed his homework assignment of four human sacrifices. Their near-life experience is a rebirth of sorts; hence, the very ‘on the nose’ inclusion of a birthday cake. Palahniuk leads from here directly into the convenience store sacrifice of Raymond K Hessel. In the film, Fincher and Uhls invent a different scene in which Tyler completes a homework assignment before assigning the same task to others. And this, consequently, is the worst alteration made from novel to screen...

 

Movie bad. Book good.

I'm Fucken Lou

In the movie, the fight club is interrupted by the owner of the bar in which it’s being held, Lou’s Tavern. Lou is a generic mobster type, complete with beefy armed bodyguard. He is understandably upset that his bar’s basement is being used to house an illegal boxing match, and asks Tyler how much the barman is getting paid to rent the space out. Tyler replies with another line from the novel’s mechanic. He then goes on to plead with Lou to let them keep the space, and that Lou and his friend should join, before being beaten to a pulp. The speed in which Lou goes from anger, to fear, to compliance always struck me as unconvincing. Sure, it’s disturbing to have at least three different types of man juice sprayed all over your face, and okay, I imagine it would hurt to have Brad Pitt hanging from your necktie, but are we meant to believe that Lou would timidly back away and let a filthy not-for-profit organisation indefinitely use his basement free of charge? I can understand why the head of the police squad tasked with investigating fight clubs would give in after the threat of castration, but Lou’s acquiescence seems highly unlikely by comparison.

 

My favourite moments in Fight Club are purely cinematic and performance based. The negative jittering as Pitt delivers the line, “You’re not your fucking khakis,” directly to camera. Tyler dancing nonchalantly in the hallway after the police arrive at Marla’s apartment. His Bruce Lee imitation during his final fight with Norton. Pitt attempting to catch human fat as it dribbles from a torn bag. And although it is mentioned in the book, the fourth wall breaking moment when Tyler points to the ‘cigarette burn’ at the top corner of the screen is pure film geek joy.