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| “ | You're not your job. 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 f-cking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world. | „ |
| ~ Tyler Durden to the audience. |
| “ | Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off. | „ |
| ~ Tyler's speech |
Tyler Durden is the main antagonist of Chuck Palahniuck's Fight Club franchise.
He is a soap salesman and the best friend of the Narrator, who starts Fight Club, and eventually Project Mayhem with him. However, at the end of the film and book, it's revealed that he is actually not a real person, but rather an alternate personality of the narrator who emerged due to the Narrator's depression and insomnia, setting out to "help" the narrator by driving society to chaos.
In the film adaptation, he was portrayed by Brad Pitt, who also played Jeffrey Goines in 12 Monkeys and Early Grayce in Kalifornia.
Personality[]
Tyler Durden in the 1999 film.
| “ | In the world I see, you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Towers. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighways. | „ |
| ~ Tyler explaining his vision for the world. |
Tyler Durden is the complete opposite of the Narrator. Whereas the Narrator is a rational, wage-slave consumer of modern society, Tyler is a minimalist and neo-luddite who is smart, capable, charismatic and intuitive, which is basically everything the Narrator wishes he could be.
Tyler greatly opposed societal programming, rampant consumerism, popular culture and human society in the modern era. He envisioned men and women living freely in an Arcadian utopia, with the humans who he led there having reached enlightenment. Tyler believed that hardships and disappointments are required to reach his esoteric enlightenment.
However, as the film progresses, we realize that Tyler is not a revered savior but rather a physical representation of ‘toxic masculinity’, with a hero complex that proves to be more dangerous than helpful. His actions prove damaging and his very existence is undermined.
But at the same time, he unleashes something toxic in society and in the end, feels problematic to admire. He’s a shallow character, one who initially seems to be living up to some kind of ideal but who ultimately is little more than a posture.
During his time in Fight Club, Tyler shows great potential as a fighter. As time passed on, he grew more skilled, stronger, faster and tougher, symbolizing the growth of Tyler psyche gaining more influence over the Narrator's mind. The Narrator eventually saw this as a hostile takeover of his own mind.
For unexplained reasons, when the Narrator is in control, Tyler is shown to be able to physically interact with the Narrator. In some explainable cases, as a hallucination, Tyler was even able interact with the real world environment. This combined with the fact that the security footage caught this as an act outside of the Narrator's mind, leads to questions as to whether Tyler is an alter ego or a separate eldritch being.
In contrast to the Narrator, Tyler was excessively charismatic and confident. He was able to sway many people into his line of thinking with only a few difficulties. He also displays a great deal of knowledge regarding chemistry, esoteric theology, sociology, psychology and strategic thinking. He is even resourceful, such as stealing human fat from liposuction clinic dumpsters for his soap products.
However, his actions quickly spiral out of control, with him having little care for the consequences. He brings destruction and chaos not only to The Narrator’s life but also to society and to innocent people, making him into the true anti-hero he is.
Biography[]
Fight Club (novel)[]
Tyler and the Narrator first meet on a nude beach. The plot almost matches up to the movie, however, Tyler is implied to be a serial killer and holds human sacrifices, whereas in the movie, despite his terrorist activities, he makes sure no life is taken, although unfortunately Robert Paulson is killed carrying out one of his plans, and he still attempts to kill Marla due to risk of her knowing too much about him and the Narrator. At the end of the novel he plans to kill himself and the narrator to make them a martyr. The narrator shoots himself, presumably eliminating Tyler. The narrator is locked up in a mental institution and believes he is in heaven, although orderlies say that they will be waiting for Tyler's return.
The ending of the novel is depicted in comic form as part of the Fight Club 2 comic book.
Fight Club (film)[]
Tyler is the imaginary friend of the Narrator (through dissociative identity disorder). Tyler comes into existence when the Narrator realizes that he has to change his life, but feels he cannot do it by himself. As a result, his troubled mind produces Tyler as his alter ego. Tyler manifests himself as physically attractive and exceedingly charming.
The Narrator "meets" Tyler for the first time on an airplane when the Narrator is returning home from a business trip. Tyler reveals to him that he runs a soap factory out of his basement, using stolen fat from a liposuction clinic. Tyler hands the Narrator his card before leaving, and when the Narrator arrives home, he discovers that his condo has exploded. He had unknowingly done this himself, during a period when he "became" Tyler (which would usually happen when the Narrator was asleep). As Tyler, he held two night jobs: one as a film projector were he spliced pornography into family films, and one as a waiter where he contaminated the customers' orders.
Later, the Narrator calls Tyler and they meet up at a bar named Lou's Tavern, where they agree to live together at Tyler's run-down house on Paper Street, rented in the Narrator's name. In the parking lot, they begin fighting with each other for no reason other than for the fun of it, with Tyler believing that this is the first step to fighting back against the rules of society in general. Their fights draw attention to many passers-by who begin joining in, eventually leading Tyler to create a Fight Club in the basement of Lou's Tavern. Fight Club becomes a great success and as its membership rapidly grows, Tyler secretly begins using it as a platform for his ideas. The Narrator soon witnesses the club develop into Project Mayhem, a terrorist group designed to destroy all that Tyler believed was wrong about society.
The Narrator in Tyler's personality.
The Narrator eventually becomes aware of Tyler's true nature and finally discovers that he is merely a figment of his own imagination. As he attempts to undo Tyler's actions, Tyler severely beats him before tying him to a chair and threatening him with a gun. However, the Narrator realizes that if the gun is in Tyler's hand, it must in fact be in his own hand. He then proceeds to shoot himself in the mouth, but imagines shooting himself in the head. As a result, a large bullet wound immediately appears in Tyler's head and supposedly puts a permanent end to his existence.
Fight Club 2[]
Tyler Durden on the cover of Fight Club 2 comic.
After the events of the novel, the Narrator (named Sebastian) is held in a mental institute; however, disciples of Tyler work there to ensure he does not die so easily.
Ten years after the events of the novel, Sebastian and Marla are married with a son and working in a do-nothing office job for a military contractor. Marla grows bored with suburban life, and wanting an "affair" with Tyler begins misplacing her husband's medication which is used to keep Tyler away. However, Tyler has other plans and burns down the family home and apparently kills their son.
Tyler in the Fight Club 2 comics.
It is revealed that Sebastian's psychiatrist has been on Tyler's payroll and had been freeing Tyler for one hour, three times a week for the past ten years. In that time, Tyler created a group named "Rize or Die" and turned Fight Club into a full-on terror group, which is responsible for war throughout the world. Another revelation is that Tyler may have been around before Sebastian's first apparent meeting with him, as his father was killed in a similar house fire, which helped finance him through college.
Within the comic's universe the world appears to be destroyed during Tyler's plans to start the world anew. However, Chuck Palahniuk (the writer of Fight Club and the comic book) is criticized by his fans for it. After a long trek they uncover several of the Fight Club characters from the rubble, one of them Tyler himself. Tyler subsequently murders Palahniuk at the end of the book.
Fight Club 3[]
To be written...
In other media[]
Fight Club (videogame)[]
Tyler as he appears in the video game.
In the 2004 video game Fight Club, the player takes the role of "Hero" who joins Fight Club and moves up through the ranks in order to become the second in command to Tyler Durden. Once the fights are completed, the Hero meets Tyler at the top of the building seen at the climax of the film, and he gives the player a fail safe device to blow up the buildings if anything goes wrong. After this, a gunshot can be heard as the Narrator shoots himself in the mouth in order to eliminate Tyler. With this interruption, the Hero blows up the buildings on Tyler's orders, which ties in with the ending of the film.
Quotes[]
| “ | I want you to hit me as hard as you can. | „ |
| ~ Tyler Durden |
| “ | The things you own end up owning you. | „ |
| ~ Tyler to The Narrator |
| “ | It’s only after we've lost everything that we’re free to do anything. | „ |
| “ | F-ck damnation, man! F-ck redemption! We are God's unwanted children? So be it! | „ |
| “ | Listen up, maggots. You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. | „ |
| ~ Tyler's speech to the Space Monkeys. |
| “ | We’re consumers. We are the byproducts of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty—these things don’t concern me. What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels, some guy’s name on my underwear. Rogaine, Viagra, Olestra…f-ck Martha Stewart. Martha’s polishing the brass on the Titanic. It’s all going down, man. So f-ck off with your sofa units and strine green stripe patterns. | „ |
| ~ Tyler to the narrator at the bar. |
| “ | Hitting bottom isn't a weekend retreat. It's not a goddamn seminar. Stop trying to control everything and just let go! LET GO! | „ |
| ~ Tyler Durden after letting go of the wheel. |
| “ | You were looking for a way to change your life. You could not do this on your own. All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I f-ck like you wanna f-ck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not. | „ |
| ~ Tyler Durden revealing himself as the Narrator's alternate personality |
| “ | Narrator: Oh, Christ. Tyler: Now, what are you doing? Narrator: I'm stopping this. Tyler: Why? Greatest thing you've ever done, man. Narrator: Nah, I can't let this happen. Tyler: You know there are 10 other bombs in 10 other buildings. Narrator: Goddamn it, since when is Project Mayhem about murder? Tyler: The buildings are empty. Security, maintenance, all our people. We're not killing anyone, man, we're setting them free! Narrator: Bob is dead. They shot him in the head. Tyler: You wanna make an omelet, you gotta break some eggs. |
„ |
| ~ Tyler telling the narrator about his plans. |
| “ | I told you not to cut it! | „ |
| ~ Tyler to The Narrator after disabling his bomb, kickstarting their final confrontation. |
| “ | 3 minutes. This is it. The beginning. Ground zero. Would you like to say a few words to mark the occasion? | „ |
| ~ Tyler after having captured the Narrator, minutes before the bombs go off. |
| “ | Hey, you created me! I didn't create some loser alter-ego to make myself feel better! Take some responsibility! | „ |
| ~ Tyler blaming the Narrator for Project Mayhem. |
| “ | Have I ever let us down? HOW FAR HAVE YOU COME BECAUSE OF ME! I will bring us through this, as always. I will carry you, kicking and screaming, and in the end, you will thank me. | „ |
| ~ Tyler's proclaiming how he has helped the Narrator. |
| “ | What do you want? You wanna go back to the shit job, fucking condo world watching sitcoms? Fuck that, I won't do that. | „ |
| ~ Tyler mocking the Narrator's original situation. |
| “ | What’s that smell? | „ |
| ~ Tyler’s last words in the movie after the Narrator shoots himself in the throat |
| “ | What did I say, Not in the Face! | „ |
| ~ Tyler to Angel face before brutally beating him to death. |
| “ | You are my right hand man. You know what this is? Good. If for some reason the detonation fails, this is the failsafe. | „ |
| ~ Tyler to “Hero” at the end of the video game. |
Trivia[]
- Tyler’s alternate personality traits have inspired many other films and television shows.
- Tyler’s true nature is foreshadowed at the beginning of the film when the Narrator was having a conversation with the Doctor, and he sees Tyler for a brief moment. This also occurs when the Narrator is at the cancer support group, again when he is outside after leaving, and once more in the Narrator's office when he describes his insomnia.