People are always asking me if I know Tyler Durden...

I know I'm breaking the first rule here, but...damn I love Fight Club. And as I sit here watching it, it occurs to me, that it stands as an interesting portrayal of "groups," which we've been talking about a lot in class. The main character belongs to a number of groups. First of all: his job. He works at a "job he can't stand to buy shit he doesn't need." Today our jobs become a way of defining ourselves, our key group. However, the main character in Fight Club learns that "You are not your job." Therefore, he becomes an outsider in that group.

Secondly, the main character becomes involved in numerous support groups. The groups were for tuberculosis, testicular cancer, parasites, etc. However, the main character doesn't have any of these problems; therefore, he would be considered an outsider. But it's ironic, because these groups are the one place that the character can let go. In this case, maybe being an outsider to the group is exactly what's freeing about it-- "Bob loved me because he thought my testicles were removed too."

The third group the main character belongs to is the "Slaves of Ikea." Now this is a much broader group-- the materialists, which is a world wide group. The main character of Fight Club begins the movie as a regular member of this "group," but learns a "better" way and then becomes an outsider of that group as well-- " You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world."

Finally...the main group he belongs to: Fight Club. Fight Club is his group. He started it. He led it. He created the rules. He finally became a true insider. However..(SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't seen Fight Club, don't read on) it's interesting that this is the one group that he becomes a true insider, because it's the one group he becomes a part of while also becoming Tyler Durden-- his other self. Therefore, the one group he is a true insider in, he can't even be himself-- he has to create an alternate ego. This alternate ego then creates Project Mayhem, a group in which his regular self is completely left out of.

So what is Fight Club trying to say about groups?