FAQ for
Fight Club (1999)

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags are used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Fight Club can be found at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/parentalguide.

Fight Club is based on a book of the same name, written by Chuck Palahniuk. It was first published on August 1996 (ISBN 0393039765).

No. The film isn't just a word-by-word translation of the book, but goes beyond the story. Screenwriter Jim Uhls wrote the first draft of the script himself, then worked with other writers on subsequent drafts, such as Andrew Kevin Walker. He also collaborated with director David Fincher and producers Ross Grayson Bell and Art Linson.

Chuck Palahniuk actually found the movie to be a lot better than his own book. This is what he said in an interview (which can be found in the booklet of the 2-Disc Region 1 DVD):

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The film is great. When you consider how much of the convoluted plot is intact, and how many ideas and surprises are presented in such a short time, it's staggering. In the same way I love to use non-fiction forms without fiction, Fincher uses so many brilliant non-entertainment visual forms such as the furniture catalog, the security camera, the television news, to tell the story. He's the master of computer animation, using it in short powerful sequences that never outlast their impact. Norton and Pitt were their characters incarnate. Bonham-Carter broke my heart. Everybody involved brought so much more to tell the story, I felt a little ashamed of the book.

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Opening credits "Stealing Fat" by The Dust Brothers.

Ikea sequence "Corporate World" by The Dust Brothers.

Narrator starts going to therapy groups "Tzigany Waltz" by George Fenton and John Leach.

Marla invades Narrator's therapy groups "Marla" by The Dust Brothers.

Montage showing Narrator traveling all over for his job "Single Serving Jack" by The Dust Brothers.

Narrator and Tyler fight for the first time "Jack's Smirking Revenge" by The Dust Brothers.

Guys enter the bar for the first official meeting of Fight Club "Goin' Out West" by Tom Waits.

Tyler has sex with Marla for the first time "Marla" by The Dust Brothers.

Marla and Tyler escape from Marla's apartment just as the paramedics show up "Single Serving Jack" by The Dust Brothers.

Marla sings while leaving Tyler's house "Theme From 'Valley of the Dolls'" by Dory and André Previn.

Narrator and Tyler steal fat from liposuction clinic "Stealing Fat" by The Dust Brothers.

Tyler burns Narrator's hand "Chemical Burn" by The Dust Brothers.

Fight Club members try to start fights with innocent people "Space Monkeys" by The Dust Brothers.

Montage showing homework assignments escalating in vandalism "Homework" by The Dust Brothers.

Tyler teaches Raymond K. Hessel a lesson / exploding computer store "Hessel, Raymond K." by The Dust Brothers.

Tyler and space monkeys attack the commissioner in the bathroom "Commissioner Castration" by The Dust Brothers.

Car crash scene "Medulla Oblongata" by The Dust Brothers.

Narrator travels all over, trying to track down Tyler "Homework" by The Dust Brothers.

Narrator realizes that he is Tyler Durden "Who Is Tyler Durden?" by The Dust Brothers.

Narrator runs from police station / finds bomb in the van / gets beaten by Tyler "Finding The Bomb" by The Dust Brothers.

Narrator and Marla watch the buildings explode "Where Is My Mind?" by The Pixies.

The Narrator's name is never specifically stated in either the novel or the film. In the novel, the Narrator finds old "Reader's Digest" magazines containing articles written by organs in the first person. The organs identified themselves as either Joe or Jill's organ. After reading this, the Narrator would occasionally say, "I am Joe's sense of ..." to describe how he was feeling. In the film, the same effect was used, but the name "Joe" was replaced with "Jack" due to copyright issues with the publisher of the articles. Neither Joe nor Jack is the actual name of the Narrator.

In the film, we are led to believe that the Narrator's real name is Tyler Durden, but since his alter ego was more dominant, the name was applied to Pitt's character. In the novel, the Narrator states near the end that he shows Marla his driver's license, and says only that the name on it is not Tyler Durden. Therefore, in the novel, the Narrator's true name is never revealed, and in the film, we can presume his name is Tyler Durden.

Incidentally, the blurb on the back of the cover of the Fight Club DVD, as well as the Public Service Announcement bonus feature, refer to Norton's character as Jack.

If you watch the movie with the captions on, the Narrator is named Rupert. For example, anytime the "Narrator" speaks to tell the story, the caption reads, "Rupert: How I came to live with Tyler is...". This is also a name that the Narrator at one point in the movie puts on his name tag for his support group; and Marla even asks him if that's his name.

Due to the incredibly graphic appearance of the gunshot in the mouth at the end of the film, many viewers believe the Narrator is killed and 'imagines' the last few moments of the film, or even that he never really shot himself at all. The Narrator's face at the end of the novel is much more grotesque than it is in the movie. In the novel, the narrator already has a hole in his face due to the fight where he let himself have the living crap beat out of him. The gunshot hit the other side of his face, causing another hole. In the novel, the holes in his face have connected with his mouth, creating a huge, joker-like grin. Director David Fincher has stated that the gunshot causes confusion because it is over the top, appearing to go through The Narrator's jaw. But the Narrator is not supposed to have suffered any serious injury from the blast. If you look closely, you can see the bullet bounce off his jaw and back out of his mouth, thus proving the injury was not lethal.

There are all sorts of theories as to the symbolism of the gunshot and its effect, such as the death of Tyler. Some say the gunshot was The Narrator's final way of "hitting bottom" as Tyler wanted, so Tyler ceased to exist. Other fans argue the gunshot was The Narrator's absolute rejection of Tyler, thus killing him. Another theory surrounds the idea that the bullet did pass through the Narrator's head, but since he was two people, it was Tyler who was killed and not the Narrator. Some argue that rather than dying, the two characters merge. This is evident when the character states "My eyes are open," which would signify his ability to be Tyler. After the gunshot, the Narrator has clearly become a different person, evidenced in that he has stopped denying his feelings for Marla, is bossing around the space monkeys of Project Mayhem and peacefully watches the destruction of financial history arm in arm with Marla. The flash of the penis shortly before the credits start would support the idea that Tyler is still alive somehow or somewhere.

Another interpretation is that by "attempting" suicide, the Narrator was no longer afraid of death or pain. For this reason, Tyler Durden's role becomes useless, as the Narrator only created Tyler to help express the reckless nature that he had tried to repress.

It is significant to note that the affliction that the Narrator seems to be suffering from, known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), has been known in some cases to be "cured" or otherwise eradicated if the patient experiences a traumatic event. Receiving a gunshot to the face undoubtedly counts as a traumatic event.

No. Some people believe that the penis that flashes on screen at the end of the film belongs to Brad Pitt, but Chuck Palahniuk and Jim Uhls mention in the DVD commentary that it belongs to someone else.

The packing is different, nothing else. The content on each DVD is exactly the same.