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Marla is real. As much as people say otherwise she is 100% real. And project mayhem did exist. Only thing that wasn't real was Tyler durden (Brad Pitt)
Marla Singer is a real character, not simply another figment of Jack's imagination. Too many third-party characters interact with her for her to be immaterial. The bit about her standing nonchalantly in the middle of traffic is simply to highlight her feelings of existential nihilism.
In the novel, yea. In the movie, she is fictional. People interact with Tyler, but he’s still interacting with people. They’re the same person, Marla never have a address but they know where she lives? He’s actually staying at that hotel, that’s how he knows. When he’s her, the hotel is called hotel lindy but when it’s him the hotel is the actual real name “hotel Bristol”
I read the book as Marla being the ONLY real character. She mentions her father wanting a boy, and at the start of the novel, Tyler and the Narrator are polar opposites of 21st Century men...as though she'd made them BOTH up. It also explains the scene where the Narrator is captured on the bus and is going to be castrated by the mob...but then is let go "intact" without further explanation.
Anyone remember When Bob talks to The narrator about Tyler and says “they say he only sleeps one hour a night.” That’s another call to the fact it’s him
A cool theory would be the first rule of Project Mayhem being “You do not ask questions”. Instead of it being interpreted as “questions shouldn’t be asked” it could be meant to be interpreted as “YOU (Tyler)” “Tyler doesn’t ask questions”. They are already aware of his split personality and Tyler could have to them that he doesn’t ask questions, only the narrator does as an indicator of which personality is currently in control.
Yeah, I cannot imagine the movie would have worked so well with another cast. Also I don't think it would have made any significant impact with another cast. The cast is PERFECT.
The Tyler Durden he sees at the airport is a real person because Edward Nortons back is turned to him. He saw this person and then subconsciously recreated him in his mind.
Another thing is the poster of a Brad Pitt movie you can see in the background in some scene. So Brad Pitt might exist in this movie, too and that could be why Tyler looks like him.
When the car they crash pulls up, the first driver opens the door, looks at Ed Norton's character and says, "Don't worry, Mr. Durden, airport parking long term." This was another clue that Ed Norton's character was Tyler all along.
@Jacob Dean you need her to be real for any of that story to work she is doing her own thing with the kids who look old when the narrator is doing other things at the same time and how do you expect the kid
Unless you take into account the possibility that he never went to save her from her suicide attempt and Marla died. But as Tyler says, he's all that Jack wished he could be, including a hero to the one he abandoned dying over the phone, so he fantasize about going to sweep her from her demise and then fucking her like there is no tomorrow and that she'd fall in love with him. Then Marla would be real right up to the point she dies and then becomes part of his imagination.
If Marla isn’t real then who is selling clothing when the narrator and Marla are splitting up meetings? Who do the club members drag up to see the narrator at the end? They are physically dragging her through the street when the narrator is talking to Tyler.
An additional interesting bit: after Marla's monologue about the discarded prom dress she's wearing, and "Jack" effectively kicks her out, she leaves singing a song from "Sybil" which is the movie based on the 1973 book about a real woman who was presented as having an extraordinary dissociative personality disorder (That woman, Shirley Mason, was later found to have made it all up - she'd developed an attachment to her therapist, who was interested in "multiple personality disorder" as it was known at the time). It's a hint about "Jack" and I *don't think it's about her being imaginary. I'm Team Marla-Is-Real....
Marla is Jacks feminine side. Tyler is Jacks masculine side. Bob has two full grown children that no longer return his calls. Bob is in essence a hermaphrodite with male and female organs. Bob is the creator of Marla and Tyler. No one is real.
All of the things tyler does are actually done by the narrator, the movie shows that. If Marla was imaginary then he would be talking to himself like he does with Tyler. But then why would he imagine tyler talking to her and going to her house, which would be things that couldn't happen? Along with the imaginary house you might as well say everything in the whole movie was just imaginary.
Someone hasn't read the Fight Club 2 graphic novel, also written by the original author, Chuck Palahniuk. The narrator's name is actually revealed to be Sebastian. He and Marla get married and have a kid together.
Also in the beginning when they're in the terminal, Edward Norton says something along the lines of "if you go to sleep, can you wake up as someone else?" All while the camera is on Tyler Durden. I've always assumed that was obviously foreshadowing what's to come too.
This movie made me go back and read the book. Then I ended up reading everything Palanuik wrote up to 2011. I need to get back to reading his newer stuff.
Denis well beautiful you sucked. Seemed more like a foray into erotic, but it clearly was a commentary on the over use of cellphones and internet. Damned was good, being the sequel. It really didn’t disappoint, but just not as impactful. All others are up for question.
The insomnia is what really drew me into this film. The madness it creates in you is pretty much exactly as it's depicted in the film. You are essentially slowly going mad. You can feel yourself going mad but occasionally you get a half-decent (by insomniac standards) stretch of sleep and you feel like you've held back complete insanity for just a bit longer.
Right, I've had insomnia since early elementary school mixed with not being allowed to go out of the yard for most of my life I started talking to myself and still refer to myself as us or let's or we're.
@@JorenMyers I usually forget names in movies (except for the rememberable ones) and I think that I just remembered "Tyler Durden" and thought I just forgot The Narrator's name. It made me a bit annoyed that I forgot it because I liked his character so much, so I watched the movie again (no complaints there) and sure enough he didn't have one. hahahaha
The name of Edward Norton's character is... well, depends on who you ask. The script and credits refer to him as the narrator. On set during filming, he was referred to as Tony. If you watched the VHS with closed captioning, he is referred to as Rupert. The fans refer to him as Jack. Oh, and all the names he uses for his Hello My Name Is... stickers are all names of Robert DeNiro characters.
Hmm. I still maintain that Tyler is both characters, the creator and the monster. Check out my comments above; the story is very similar to Mary Shelley's Frankenstien.
I cant see Reese Witherspoon or Sarah Michelle Gellar "not having getting fx*ked like that since grade school" to goodie Two-Shoes. Maybe Christina Ricci.
SMG could have done it. There's a Buffy outtake where one of her friends is shocked to hear the 'neutered' vampire Spike is being sheltered by her and SMG goes off script. Willow: He sleeps here!? Buffy: Only when he fucks me before dinner.
Did the comic carry on from the book ending where Tyler was continuing to run Project Mayhem for much of the time that Jack was unconscious in the Hospital?
Definitely gonna give it another watch. One of my favorite movies, I went to see it 3 times at the theater. I think I'm gonna give the book another read too.
I thought that the case of Marla Singer saying, "I want to have your abortion" was changed, or maybe also changed, from the book because Brad Pitt explained to David Fincher saying that his mom is gonna see this movie. This was said by Chuck Palahniuk the author himself when he was on Joe Rogan's' podcast.
If you had read the book you would know that Marla is real. For the narrator, the house is also real. I don't want to spoil the book ending but his 'other self' double crosses and protects him from his own suicide by ensuring that he is 'looked after' by other members of 'project mayhem', what I got form the book is that the narrators personality is actually a figment of his own imagination, and Tyler is the conscious self, as he slowly has a complete break from reality, I still question whether he actually talks to the cops or not. Excellent book!
true but if you had alswo read the real sequel written by the original author of the original book then you would know that tyler durden is actually a demon and can leap to other people
Marla called Norton Tyler durden, near the end of the film when he's asking her if they've slept together and what his name is. It's a gigantic plot point towards the end. How did you miss that?
@@donalmcg4185 He has multiple personality disorder, so whatever Brad Pitt does it is Edward Norton doing it, which means Tyler is "Jack" too. Tyler is as real as the Narrator persona. Tyler is an extension of The Narrator. Tyler Durden is the only name we know him by and he made cards with such a name. He is unknowing of Tyler is him, as part of his condition.
Marla is real, her character is referred to and also real in the book. Anyone who hasn’t read the book should. The film was so loyal it’s a quick easy read only about 149 pages.
Another clue about Tyler's true identity is when Marla calls the narrator at Tyler's house and tells him he left a forwarding number. That forwarding number was left way before the apartment blew up.
#21 Norton was having a hard time getting into character because he didn't have a name. So he gave the narrator a name that he shared with the director and no one else. To this day he refuses to tell anyone the name he used to get into character.
One other thing I noticed was when the narrator hit himself to set up his boss, he didn't seem uncomfortable with it. It was as if he fought himself before. Knowing that Tyler is his split personality, this is just another detail that makes perfect sense.
Josh. The last 3 things you theorize are not THINGS WE DIDNT KNOW. They’re theories. You can’t include them in this list without writer or director admitting them. They’re your theories, or somebodies theories...and that devalues all future lists you expect us to watch.
This isn’t “10 things Josh thinks could be secrets about Fight Club”. So don’t include your theories in a WatchCulture Video. It devalues the channel. Save it for “Josh’s Stoner Hour”.
Showed Fight Club to a couple kids when I was about 15, think they were 12 and 14, they loved it and it blew their minds… turned out their parents were evangelical and sheltered their kids until that time, I blew up that over protection like the banks were blown up at the end
One reason why the number of shirtless scenes for Pitt would be such a negotiable issue is because he had to "dehydrate" himself days before each shot to achieve that sort of ridiculous muscle definition.
this all happens because jack has brain cancer. marla is the hallucinatory representation of the tumor. her first line in the movie 'this is cancer, right?, can be taken as a self introduction. also note her preoccupation with death and how she wants 'the whole brain' in the clothes selling scene. jack starts going to groups because the doctor told him to, hes just in denial about it and deludes himself hes there for some other reason. jack says if he did have cancer he would name it marla. marla says she saw him practicing telling her off, but how would she? its likely he was practicing in a mirror in private. jack shoots himself and tyler dies but marla doesnt, because in shooting himself he finally accepts death, and gets rid of the resistance to it {tyler - the representation of his fight against the morbid reality}, immediately after which marla shows up and they hold hands - his protective illusions crash down around him represented by the buildings and he has made peace with the reality of his cancer. the gun smoke coming out of tylers mouth as he dies mirrors the smoke from marlas mouth as she says her first line about cancer, indicating marla has won the fight for jacks mind} just my take on it
I live on Paper Street in the toxic waste part of town and I love it!! My neighbors are industrial and other than the highway at the end of the street, this whole area is mine after 7:00 p.m.!!!
jack, says somthing about Tyler and marla never being in the same room, and his parents pulling the exact same trick.... in this sense it like a reconstruction of his childhood
I wish What Culture and Cinefix would sit down with Screen Rant and help them understand how to create content (other than Ryan George, who is terrific).
I love that scene where Jack Narrator and Tyler Durden pass each other on the escalator. Also, for some reason, I keep thinking about awesome Ash Millman for no reason
Marla doesn't exist. Just forget the scene where a waiter clearly adresses her and takes her order. Also the house doesn't exist because even though there a many scenes in it with Marla, the space monkeys and a working phone which the cops call, the number doesn't match the card. Really grasping at straws to finish the list on an even number huh.
Well she doesn't exist and mayhem doesn't exist and the house and it wasn't the first time he hallucinated a phone call then yes the waiter was clearly a member of the non-existent fight club who could interact with the fake girlfriend and the fake girlfriend could be in the fake house and the members of the fake club could drag the fake girlfriend to the top of the building.
@@taylormoore3400 it's funny you'd say that because that's exactly the problem Narrator/Tyler has given his mental condition: differentiating what is real from what is not. For him everything he sees and therefor what you see is real but then you slowly realize that things you thought were real were in fact imaginary and then who's to say what is real. You can't very well ask someone you know and trust because you just got the realization that the one person you knew and trusted the most is your imaginary friend. So what ever you read in the novel or comic book or what ever is related to Ed Norton's character can be a figment of his imagination but the reader doesn't have a clue because the reader sees the world through the eyes of the narrator who's an hallucinating schizophrenic.
@@momothebear just read the fight club two Chuck wraps the whole thing up for everyone esp the people who didn't read the book and only watched the movie. Hate to be the bearer of bad news but she's real, so is fight club.
@@taylormoore3400 the question is not whether or not she and the fight club are real, the question is to what end is the narrator's interactions with them real. See Marla is real when he meets her in the groups therapies She's real when he phones her after blowing up his apartment but from then on, there is no explanation as to how she got a phone number for a house he didn't have during their meeting when he didn't even give his number for the apartment he had when they met. Let me put it this way, if you dream about having sex with a movie star, does that mean that said movie star "isn't real"? No. But does it mean the sex you had was real? Absolutely not. The image of that person you had sex with was a figment of your imagination. And that's what the theory suggests. There is a real person attached to this fantasy but what you see (or what the narrator sees) isn't happening for real. And that would indeed be characteristic of paranoid schizophrenia. I mean the symptoms are all there: Seeing, hearing, or tasting things that others do not. Suspiciousness and a general fear of others’ intentions. Persistent, unusual thoughts or beliefs. Difficulty thinking clearly. Withdrawing from family or friends. A significant decline in self-care. But of course there is a real Marla, and there is a real fight club... they just never did most of the things you saw in the movie.
When Jack beats himself up in front of his boss, he says that it reminded him of his first fight with Tyler, hinting that Tyler is not real and that Jack was just beating himself up.
3;30 you can't convince me that Carter WASN'T a chain smoker already. Look at the way she just CRANKS that cigarette. That's inhaling on a whole new level.
also, in the book ending, "jack" realizes project mayhem is very much still going on, as the orderlies tell him "we're waiting for you [to come out of the asylum]".
@Corby Dorian Watch the movie again, then slowly read my comment again. There is one person that Marla knows as Tyler Durden, the leader of Fight Club. This is the person we the audience think of as the Narrator. Both we and himself incorrectly believe there are two different people: The Narrator who doesn't know that he is actually Tyler (Edward Norton), and the person who he thinks is Tyler who is a figment of his imagination (Brad Pitt). He realizes this when he explicitly asks Marla, "who do you think I am?" and she says, "You are Tyler. Tyler f***ing Durden!" Now gtfo You brain dead moron.
A interesting fan theory is that the Narrator is Cameron the sidekick on Ferris Buehler's Day Off grown up and with a job he hates. In Ferris Buehler's Day Cameron is home sick and daydreams what a day off sick would be like for Ferris. I really like this theory!
2 minutes into this video my heart started to float inexplicably. Did I see a subliminal flash of Ash Millman? Damnit... I’m gonna have to rewatch this whole thing for flashes... I’m American, so you’ll have to excuse me if I’m pronouncing this incorrectly: You cheeky buggers.
Marla is real, if you don't think so it's completely canon that "the narrator" (later known as Sebastian) marries her in the fight club 2 comic, once again completely canon
the film is an adaptation of the book, it’s not meant to follow it. It has its own story. Also if you watch the film again you will notice clues that none of these people are real. And they’re fighting to remain a personality to the narrator. In the novel, yea. In the movie, she is fictional. People interact with Tyler, but he’s still interacting with people. They’re the same person, Marla never have a address but they know where she lives? He’s actually staying at that hotel, that’s how he knows. When he’s her, the hotel is called hotel lindy but when it’s him the hotel is the actual real name “hotel Bristol” After seeing Marla he comes out of the hotel at night?? But was only in there for less than 5 minutes and it was daytime? Then sees Bob (who is also a personality) trying to salvage what himself on the hotel walls it says “I love myself” 4 times. It didn’t say that before..it’s a clue to his 4 distinct personalities so far. Tyler Bob Marla and jack Also the 4 condoms in the toilet. If you really watch you’ll see so many clues
after numerous viewings of the film (but only reading Chuck Palahniuk's book once) i'm on the side of the "Marla isn't real" theory...but then i'm on the side of the "whole thing isn't real and only exists inside the narrators mind". once you're given the info about the true nature of "Tyler", the rest begins to unfold and collapse in on itself...like Paper! my final understanding of the tale is that its the Narrator trying to reconcile the masculine and feminine in his psyche. admittedly both Marla and Tyler represent fairly toxic extremes of these, but that just the acceptance of Marla needs a veritable army of Men to balance out before they seem to disappear into irrelevancy. When they finally hold hands at the end, he has realised his his need to accept the feminine, and that it might just save him.The Narrator also tells us that Marla and Tyler remind him of his parents. Also i'm sure many fans of the film have noticed that after the big revelations about who he is, and who he is to so many others (ego gratification anyone?), Narrator returns to Paper Street House and finds it swept clean of any signs of the Club...as though it never existed in the first place. Despite the Club growing exponentially (safety in numbers, while it only takes One Marla to unsettle him with her scrappy, passive aggressive nature) , soon even numbers aren't enough...it has to include increasingly violent actions...from self-abuse to mutual-abuse to group plots of anarchy, and then to bringing the whole world down. Narrator needs bigger and bigger acts of physical violence to withstand what is essentially the love of a woman...or in this case, the love of the self (with both its masculine and feminine aspects)..something he just cant get with until it's almost too late, but achieves in the nick of time. When i found out Palahniuk is gay, a friend went "Well Duh!", but i don't think "Fight Club's" layers are so easily defined by its authors sexuality. But perhaps it did give him insight. In any case i expect my "theories"to be totally refuted when i finally get a copy of the Graphic Novel of Fight Club 2! Fight Club will remain one of my all time favourite films.
Yessssss!!! Like we are clearly not meant to be able to trust anything the narrator saying, he’s not trustworthy. He even says “with insomnia nothing is real, everything is a copy of a copy of a copy”You’ve literally got it! And the film is only an adaptation of the book, it’s meant to tell its own story. Nothing is real! His psyche is just breaking
Apparently, it was missed that Edward Norton's character AND Brad Pitt's character were the same person, thus sharing the same name. If you remember, they backed this up with the phone call with marla. Kind of the root of the movie, to be missing it. Sure, it's implied, inferred, and then confirmed, both vocally and visually, and told pretty well in the storyline...
@@PrinceIsot Tyler durden is the name of the character AND the personality. They are the same character. I've also read the book, and seen the movie MANY TIMES. Despite the usage of the name "JACK" in some POETRY that was found inside the house, that is NOT the name of the character Edward Norton Portrays. This is verified not only by the fact of the phone call where EDWARD NORTON called marla where she called him Tyler, but is also foreshadowed earlier in the film. It is true that some people were smooth brained enough to believe that Tyler Durden is a totally different character instead of being the same person as the narrator. This does NOT fit into the storyline or narrative, it is only speculation by those less aware of what was going on in the film/book. So... keep thinking you're right, but you aren't. To any capacity whatsoever.
Ok I am so relieved that those flashing Tylers were actually a thing and I wasn’t seeing things wow! I was watching it at like 2 AM and thought my lack of sleep was screwing with me
Edward Norton’s character’s name IS Tyler Darden. Tyler Durden had testicular cancer &this was the cause of his bouts of insomnia. Paper St didn’t exist, Marla didn’t exist, Meatloaf’s character isn’t real, everyone involved in Project Mayhem are figments of Tyler’s mind.
Movie and the book is genius! This movie is why I love the movies. Fucks with your head and makes you question every fragment of life. It makes you understand what is really happening and what is not. I think that this is applied to everyday mentality of people. Just to think that people like this is exist. Is mind boggling! Absolutely splendid!
I'm not saying I agree with the video, but if we're to buy the video -- durden isn't real, the street, house isn't real, therefore project mayhem can't be real, therefore none of the army can be real, therefore nothing any of them did could be real... that way Marla could also not be real and anyone who would've ever reacted to her (really the narrator being the only "non-imaginary person" to react to her or acknowledge her or one of his imaginary creations) then sure she could be fake and he's literally imagining everything pretty much from the time he meets Tyler -- maybe even before that he has a psychotic break. But meh... that trope is even more played out like "it was all a dream" than the idea of this one personality was in your head because you needed it. Although if we're going by literal psychology and breaks of DID, it would make sense for him to have a few throughout life -- just it's pretty uncommon for people to imagine a whole world (like in identity). But eh it's a movie. From the standpoint of "we know Marla's not real" in the video because they're both not wearing pants, I'm kinda unimpressed with their proof and not thoroughly convinced.
I love. this film .I usually don't watch this type films or thanking serious actors such as Brad ,Edward Helena but now i do and i that also Meet Loaf done pretty much good job.
Chuck Palahniuk has stated that he thought the screenplay was a better version of the book. The book jumps around a lot and is much less linear than the movie. I would agree the movie is better and easier to follow without being boring.
one of the best films to date . try to watch it every 2-3 years or so just to put my cinematic mind at ease and will probably pick up something new after 25 years . see comments below for reference
