At long last we get around to a movie that was on our mind when we started this podcast: FIGHT CLUB, the 1999 David Fincher film starring Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter, based on the 1996 Chuck Palahniuk novel of the same name. If you don't like politics with your movies, then today's show isn't for you, because Fight Club was born in controversy, released to Boomer acrimony, and then, once it attained cult status, attracted the unwanted—but not altogether surprising—approval of some of the most loathsome ideologues of the 21st century. Today, Bill and Renan take on their most problematic fave, discussing themes of consumerism, capitalism, fascism, toxic masculinity, intergenerational animosity, violence in the media, the culture wars, the WTO, Columbine, Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos' mistress, the death of satire, and much more.
Episode links:
Fight Club on IMDb Fight Club on Wikipedia Fight Club (novel) on Wikipedia Roger Ebert negative review in CST David Denby negative review in NYer Liza Schwarzbaum negative review in EW Janet Maslin positive review in NYT Jim Emerson contemporaneous defense Dennis Lim 2009 positive reappraisal in NYT Garin Pirnia 2016 positive reappraisal in Esquire Best. Movie. Year. Ever. excerpt in The Ringer NYT op-ed: "The End of Satire" Poe's law on Wikipedia Maggie Mae Fish: "Cultural Fascism" video ContraPoints: "What's Wrong With Capitalism" video 2009 NYC attack blamed on Fight Club Broadly on Fight Club's appeal to the alt-right New Statesman on why Fight Club isn't fascist The Guardian on Fight Club, Brexit, and Trump Analysis of Fight Club's Marxist content Junkee on Fight Club's "bad fans" FSR summary of DVD commentary 11 Hidden Secrets in Fight ClubShow links:
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