I just came across this gritty review of a gritty movie, James Harleman's take on Fight Club. I found a lot to like in Harleman's approach and his conclusion. This excerpt will be enough to serve notice to those of you who will be interested...Like Nietzsche's madman, wondering why—if God is dead—man still clings to soft, archaic, religion-inspired morals, "Fight Club's" Tyler Durden takes pure, atheist reasoning to its logical conclusion. Though simultaneously appalling, it's refreshing to see someone who—in rejecting God—lives out their worldview consistently. No God; no consequences; no objective morality. No one but me to define my morality; I define the world as I see it. My will makes me right; my might makes right... or in this case, the Fight Club makes right.
Fisticuffs, anyone?
Quite honestly, if I didn't believe in God, I would join Tyler Durden in his philosophy. If God didn't exist—if Christ didn't offer salvation—then Tyler would be right... and to live otherwise in this mad world would be hypocritical, and a waste of air.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Smash-Mouth Movie Review
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9 comments:
This review made me see something I'd completely not seen before: the resemblance between Tyler Durden and Flannery O'Connor's Misfit in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." As this is just a comment, I'll leave it at that and hope readers will see what I'm getting at.
Hello, I found your blog through a random search, and I am glad I found it!
Being a Blogger blogger myself, I am amazed with what you have done with the site template. Great stuff.
Hope you don't mind if I borrow some of the ideas, like changing the "homepage" link on the header. I have been trying to figure out how I could make my own special header and then still have it link back to the homepage, and that is an ingenious way to do it.
About this post, I was a little confused by the title, it made me think about the band named smashmouth, but I figured it out in the end. (What a relief, right?)
I never thought about any deep philosophical meaning when watching Fightclub, and I am sceptical that the the actions of the main character can be directly related to an atheist worldview, rather than him just being stark raving looney toons.
I enjoy the christian theme of your blog; keep up the good work!
Ariel, I am constantly amazed at how much you blog even when you have a major load of coursework to deal with. How in the world do you manage?!
John B., I'm about to pull O'Connor off the shelf and reread A Good Man... If you want to elaborate in the meantime, you are more than welcome. In fact, I'm extending a personal invitation, since I'd like to hear your take on the parallels...
John, thanks for stopping by. You're more than welcome to steal ideas and hacks, especially since I've "borrowed" virtually all of them myself. Clicking through the "bloggage" links in the sidebar may help; especially take a look at Freshblog.
Jamie, what you have to understand is that blogging has become a kind of survival mechanism for me, a way to relax and catch up with myself. Some people garden or go out and work in the garage. I blog.
Then of course there's the massive kickbacks I get from my big-name corporate sponsors.
Ariel,
Perhaps the moment has passed. Anyway.
You kindly invited me to elaborate on my comment above; here, finally, is that elaboration.
I also hope your rereading of O'Connor is going well. As I was writing my post, I had visions of a pastor preaching at least two or three sermons just on O'Connor's "A Good Man . . . ": what a challenging, even disturbing, meditation on the thinness of the lines between true and lip-service faith, doubt and belief, etc.
Ariel,
As a delayed response to your kind encouragement above, here is my elaboration on my earlier comment.
"I had visions of a pastor preaching at least two or three sermons just on O'Connor's "A Good Man . . . ": what a challenging, even disturbing, meditation on the thinness of the lines between true and lip-service faith, doubt and belief, etc."
That series would shake people up. And there are plenty of texts that talk about the danger of following Christ in word only. What an intriguing idea... I read "A Good Man" last week, and it's a haunting story.
I'm looking forward to reading your post.
It started at Resurgence in a review of the movie Fight Club by James Harleman and continues via a discussion by AJ, John B, and Josh. I'll continue with some thoughts tomorrow at Bloggin' Outloud.
Fight Club Discussion Continued - at Bloggin' Outloud.
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