Fight Club Turns 20: What Tyler Durden Got Right and Wrong
The antihero skewers mindless consumerism and spiritual decay, but his rebellion demands conformity and builds little.
Released 78 days before the end of the world (October 15, 1999), this film touched down like a tornado and became a manifesto for anti-consumerism and living an authentic life. For letting go of the work-a-day drudgery and materialism that had hypnotized society. For shattering what it meant to be a human being, a real man. It spoke to our fear and anger, and our desire for connection and purpose. Fight Clubs sprang up around the country. Rule #1 became an infamous meme.
The end of the millennium was a time that had yet to see Facebook, 911, fentanyl, and the dot com crash. The world wide web was nascent and promised endless possibility and profitability, and yet the Y2K scare threatened doomsday. We were on the precipice of a new era as the millennium dawned, and talks of an apocalypse simmered. The World Trade Centers still stood tall, symbols of the capitalism Tyler Durden railed against. Little did he know that they, like the bank buildings in the film’s final scene, would come crashing down within a couple of years. What would have…
