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.

Die Hard, Blade Runner And The Movie Tie-In.

Since the dawn of time, the film industry has looked to novels for inspiration, frequently mining books, comics and graphic novels for movie fodder. Conversely, movies that were scripted without any pre-existing source material were routinely adapted into comic or novel form (the novelisation). To close the loop, novels that were adapted into movies would later be re-released, featuring artwork from the film (and occasionally a title change), to create what is known as the movie tie-in. These rebranded novels were sometimes completely different to the film. Some might even suggest that slapping a celebrity's face onto a novel is a cynical attempt to cash in on the adaptation's success. Case in point:

Colouring Books: Not Just For Adults.

Colouring books haven't always been designed for frustrated middle aged women with too much free time on their hands. There was a time in the not too distant past when colouring books were meant for children to colour while they waited for iPads to be invented. I've added some images from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi colouring books to the PRINT MEDIA collection. Follow the link, or click the tab at the top of the page to see more examples of Star Wars themed anxiety relieving mindfulnessness.

Text On Film: Collector's Magazines, Storybooks And The 'Making Of'.

Back in the days before the internet spoiled everything for everyone with its wealth of information and zany cat videos, people would purchase books and magazines to meet their info gathering needs. Although they took up valuable living space and were a potential fire hazard, books were an excellent source of movie knowledge - especially for the young film aficionado.

Generally, there were four classes of film related print media available, each aimed at a certain demographic - the 'making of', the collector's magazine, the storybook, and the novelization (or movie tie-in). These were the DVD special features of my youth, expanding the film going experience beyond the theatrical release of a movie. 

I have photographed some of my pre-90s favourites and uploaded them to the PRINT MEDIA collection, which can be accessed via the tab at the top of the screen. Below are a few examples of those items awaiting your perusal.

Giger's Alien is a 1989 reprint of a 'making of' book, first published in 1979. It contains many of Swiss artist H.R. Giger's concept artworks for the film Alien, as well photos from the production. Giger himself supplies the text, documenting his transition from fine art to the commercial film industry. Of particular interest is the following section, which details the scene in which Ripley finds Dallas' cocoon - a scene that never made it into the final cut of the film. Prior to James Cameron's Aliens, we had never seen what happened to the biomechanoid's victims. According to early versions of the Alien script, the human host would actually become the egg that would later eject a facehugger, rather than the eggs being laid by a queen alien (as in Aliens).

Glossy collector's magazines have been promoting films for many years. The following example was printed in Japan and released in conjunction with the 1967 James Bond film, You Only Live Twice.

Released in 1964, this next James Bond magazine contains stories, photos and information on all of the Connery Bond films up to, and including, Goldfinger. 

To see more images from this magazine and others, click on the link or hit the PRINT MEDIA tab at the top of the page.