Belonging - Fight Club

Belonging is not a human need in itself but rather a possible path to an individual’s self actualisation, different paths offer different conclusions. A sense of identity can be defined by belonging or not belonging to a particular group. The 1999 film ‘Fight Club’ directed by David Fincher demonstrates these aspects in the relationship between the narrator and his alter ego as this relationship acts as a catalyst for the changes he undergoes during the film.
The Narrator’s new involvement with Tyler Durdenin starting underground fight club’s is an attempt at escaping from the lifestyle he had too quickly become accustom to. Mirrored in Tyler Durden’s attitude the first time the two fight, ‘How much can you know about yourself, you've never been in a fight?’ Proposing the thought that the Narrator in fact was wrong in his prior judgement of self actualisation.
Contrasting quite well with the narrator’s earlier remarks is a moment in the film between Tyler and the Narrator, upon boarding a train the narrator comments through voice over; ’we all started seeing things differently, everywhere we went we were sizing things up, I felt sorry for guys packed into gyms, trying to look how Calvin Klein or Tom Hilfiger said they should,’ dialog then changes to conversation with the Narrator asking ‘That what a man should look like’, indicating to a Gucci ad, Tyler laughs and remarks: ‘Self improvement is masturbation, now self destruction...’
The film Fight Club reflects belonging as a potential path to self-actualisation where the Narrator’s views of self actualisation change in the transition of social groups that he effectively belongs to. The film also shows identity as a derivative of belonging or not belonging to certain groups, where the Narrator’s identity changes without him knowing as he becomes Tyler Durden the more he becomes involved with Fight Club.