Obviously Fight Club is gay because Tyler is inside the narrator the entire time

when I was reading fight club i physically raised an eyebrow when the narrator said something along the lines of “Tyler wants Marla. Marla wants me. I want Tyler.” Also the part of the book where the narrator gets a chemical burn from tyler is the gayest shit i’ve ever read.

One of my favorite moments in the film that I don’t think is analyzed enough is the lou fight scene. When tyler’s on the ground, begging lou to hit him over and over again and then finally spitting the blood into lou’s mouth and yelling about how he doesn’t know where he’s been. This film is happening in the lull after the peak of the aids epidemic. The desperation and anger and hysteria in that scene is so insane

Jack was so in love with Tyler it was hilarious seeing how jealous he was of him and Marla and how mad he was at her

This is why I was confused when people were describing "Bottoms" as gay Fight Club, because Fight Club was already gay.

Also at the end of the movie, when Marla and the narrator are holding hands, there’s a large penis that flashes across the screen for a single frame. Which is reference to what Tyler said he used to do when he worked at the movie theater. This, to me, represents how even though the narrator thinks he’s suppressed his darker side or his “gay” side, Tyler is still in there. Waiting and watching.

It's a story that gay men can relate to. And it's a story that straight men can relate to. That's the beautiful thing about literature & cinema.

Maybe the real Fight Club was the friends we made along the way.

I'm straight, but when I saw the film was aware of the gay theme right away. Because, in our town we were hip to some of the guys who liked fighting other guys in bar fights, etc. being repressed gay men. We even made jokes about it back then - in the 70s. And we knew about the 'rough trade' cruising subculture in our town. A guy at work used to show up with black eyes or weird bruises - turned out it was his boyfriend whompin' him. I met the boyfriend once - shaved head, moustache, wife-beater tee shirt, black leather pants, doc martens....he was straight out of Central Casting!!

fight club (1999) has queer subtext, whereas fight club (1996) has queer text.

I have no idea what fight club is but I agree with you 100% and trust you with every atom in my system

Fight Club (the book) was written in 1995. The internet as we know it effectively "started" in 1996. While it's possibly Palahniuk knew enough about computer systems and backups to know that blowing up those buildings wouldn't do anything, its equally likely he believed it would. And to some degree he was likely correct. The data loss if Tyler's plan succeeded in the book would be substantial and possibly irreparable for many people in that city. A lot of those records would be stored on paper still and the backups might have been in different floors rather than different buildings.

For those who think that he's reaching with this (he's not, I'm a heterosexual male and I picked up on almost all of what he's talking about upon multiple viewings), read the book. There are some things changed around, but there is ALOT of subtext. There's also some subtext in the movie that he missed IMHO (like how after their 1st fight, Jack and Tyler share a beer. Like.......cmon) Also, the fact that all women in this movie outside of Marla really aren't acknowledged.

That part about video essayists not coming up with anything by themselves hit so hard after the James somerton incident that i was legitimately surprised the video wasn’t published a few weeks ago holy shit.

I'm super late to the party but I'm willing to say fight club for women is girl interrupted, there's just as much queer subtext and the twist towards the end feels the same.

If it makes it any better i am a lesbian and i've never shipped or care for male x male stuff, like ever. Unless the gender were flipped of course I can at least confirm that the whole tyler and narrator thing is an exception, the lovey dovey infatuation was too genuine to not imply anything more, too bad the final twist recontexturized everything so you can't really push that lens anymore without people trying to dispute it using the "same person" argument and looks at you crazy Really enjoyed the tensions and i can feel it radiated through the screen, Fight Club is the gayest shit man, it captured my attention more than 90% of medias featuring gay men and they didn't even do shit here, so yeah, agree

An important little note is the book was initially written without the twist and these were just two different guys, so anything from the movie that’s in the book which seems particularly gay and involves them acting sort of gay with each other probably seemed alot more obviously gay before the twist was added. I wonder if this theme of repressed or covert sexuality continued into the comic sequel. It always surprises me that people miss this about the movie. I’m not gay, but this movie might just be the gayest movie. It’s like the Matrix being a trans movie. It’s all there. For another fun little fact, look up the Chinese edit of the ending.

This is one of the best analysis for Fight Club I’ve ever seen, I’m only 4 minutes in and I already know this is going to be a banger

Maaaan I love your narrative style so much. So quick and manic, but also plausibly explaining interesting topics thoroughly. Just upset I’ve already caught up on all your videos so now I’ve got to wait in real time like a non netflix tv show

Oh what a good video!!! Don't know if you've watched Our Flag Means Death but the part about associating physical violence with gayness reminds me of how the character of Izzy Hands invented homophobia to internalize it and pushes Blackbeard to be violent with him bc it's the only kind of physical intimacy he gets with him.

I loved it when tyler said " this is my Fight Club" and star- No. Fuck this joke

Imagining Brad Pitt in all those outfits to hang out with u always 🤔

Does your brain automatically work like this, where you're able to analyze stuff and understand metaphors and not just take things at face value? Is it my autism that makes me not be able to do this, or is it something I could learn to do? How/where should I go?

"Don't talk about fight club" also feels like a little wink at the queer audience, "yes this is queer, yes we have to hide it from the straights who would ruin our fun otherwise"

you could use the same logic on any movie that is about struggling to fit in

Fight club can be gay Fight club can be straight Fight club can be whatever you want it to be because it’s about finding out who you really are as a person, IMO. Other than that great video, I subscribed!

first video ive seen from you, immediate follow lol this shits good. just finished rewatching fight club so i looked up the gay subtext as one does and this video seemed good lol

The craft of this video is so strong! Tight editing, great jokes, well supported analysis in an efficient manner, a perspective I hadn’t considered. U naaaaailed it

I’ll ship it

every movie that's related to masculinity can be interpreted as a gay movie apparently! lol

I thought this was satire, and I laughed Then I realized it was serious, I laughed Then it got confusing, now im mad

The problem with Fight Club is that there are a couple of views from which to approach it. It doesn't preach to people like so many of today's movies. I do believe that the LGBTQ approach to Fight Club is very valid, especially after Chuck Palahniuk came out. There is also the Capitalism approach to Fight Club and the emasculation of men in general approach. Movies that are open to multiple interpretations are often the most interesting but also retain the power to make people uncomfortable years later. One movie that may be of interest to you to do a review of is 'Cruising' with Al Pacino from 1980. It actually is a bit of a forgotten movie these days. Many LGBTQ's these days have never even heard of it. One thing that fascinates me about Cruising is that, if one looks at the Gay community from two views: aesthetics and activism, then the community of gay men that is presented in Cruising is 100% aesthetics and 0% activism. The outside world simply doesn't mean anything to them. They are tribal in nature and tribal identification is easy for them due to the aesthetic. Cruising is a murder thriller which makes it unique amongst gay-themed movies. As such, it features lots of nighttime photography, which is a staple of the murder thriller genre. In this case though, the nighttime scenes serve a purpose ala' Fight Club in that this is the space in which these men can be themselves. They also have daytime lives but only out of necessity and not with any authenticity. Like the men of Fight Club, the men of Cruising are nocturnal and move through the New York scene of the late 1970's like leather-clad werewolves with saving the world and social justice being the last thing on their minds. In that sense, it is a movie that has become a kind of time capsule for a particular Gay scene that no longer exists.

i just watched the movie today and I am currently needing to find people review this film bc I need to feel in a way that i am talkin about it with someone!! From the moment "Brad Pitt" was fucking Marla and just walking around shirtless, from the moment fight club was getting hella members, from the moment "TYLER" was getting jealous of Jared Leto's character I knew this was LGBTQ!!! I am so here for it. This has been the best movie I have watched in a while!!

XD I thought the thumbnail was Will Schuester from Glee

always love your vids man

ngl i went into this video thinking you would be over analyzing and reaching HARD but after watching i can say that oh my god you are so right and correct im sorry for doubting you. i cannot see this movie any other way now

Well that was a long video about you projecting onto the main character. While the book can be read as gay the movie was heavily changed and lost any of that messaging.

Reading up on the writer has been interesting. Learned about the Cacophany Society and Suicide Club secret society prankster stuff. Fun shit.

ur so fantastic i luvd this vid

i always thought marla singer was a trans girl it turns out because i am a trans girl who hasn't had enough experiences yet to find out my sexuality but i think i'm a trans lesbian

I don't think its just about being queer it's for those who also struggle under the concept of trying to fit in general. I also see a connection with me, I really find it hard to full fill permanent tasks, I am more of a I see a problem fix it and move on type of guy.

While i think this is an interesting analysis, and i enjoyed listening because it was pretty interesting, I would have to say that in MY opinion, this is low-key reaching

You have Dan is not in fire vibes in a really cool way

14:39 If you'd like to see someone's take on what it would look like if you took that concept and ran with it, then you should watch Mr. Robot! Admittedly, I don't know if the showrunner Sam Esmail kept all the underlying symbolism you so masterfully pointed out in his reiteration of the idea, but it still is probably my favorite show of all time so I find it worthy to recommend nonetheless!

The Narrator is obiously canonically gay and trans 🙄(I'm totally not proyecting myself into him because I can deeply relate to his experiences and this is like my favourite movie ever)

Also i can see this guy is trying really hard to break the video essayist's dry humour mold and just the mold in general and i gotta respect that but i guess thats just the side effect of being a fight club watcher, you start going meta and break fourth war and try to set yourself apart and shit you did great bud

I dunno, during the 90s, them having backups stored at a separate site seems fairly unlikely. My hometown lost a bunch of ppl's vital records cuz of a fire back in the day. Even now, as long as you get the physical servers, it's probably still do-able.

I would enjoy you coming to get me, in the context of this film's metaphors.

When you said deviantart OC. I lost it.

Chuckie P's book Survivor is freaking fantastic. Better than Fight Club, imo. It starts with the main character hijacking a plane, letting everyone off, and then crashing it into the earth, and the pages are numbered in reverse, and the whole book is a giant countdown to the main character's death. Can you guess why it didn't get made into a movie? Fight Club was out in '99, and after 9/11 no one was going to touch the main character who you are supposed to identify with hijacking an airplane to crash it.

That was brilliant. Thanks. 😁

I know a bunch of right wing/conservative gay/lesbians.

In my opinion, the symbolism of Fight Club might be interpreted in many ways. As much as I believe there was at least some gay subtext, I also think that it's not the main point of the story.

THATS WHAT IM SAYIN

Beautiful essay.

There is a theory that Marla is another personality of the narrator, don't know how it fits with your analysis

That was fabulous. Sending a link to my people RIGHT NOW.

IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE!! I swear to fucking god the queer subtext of fight club is so incredibly loud like I don’t know how anyone can watch it without seeing it!!

Hell yes it is! Loved the video.

great video!

Mind…..blown.

I like your video and your wit.

I haven't seen this movie and I'm not convinced by the commentary. You're pretty funny though. 10/10

In the book Tyler and the Narrator admit to loving Marla. That being said when the Narrator meets Tyler in the books is much more homosexual

And talking of Breaking Bad... what about the homoerotic subtext between Walter and Jesse? I felt that was an interesting dynamic in their relationship, and was tied nicely to the themes of toxic masculinity, but ultimately I don't think it was handled all that great in the end.

I feel it straight marla is a huge point of the story and how he connects with someone who truly cares about him she loves him mentally and physically, you convinced me maybe he's bi how has imagines Tyler and his body fun video 🎉

Well fuck, now I know why I was so entranced by this movie as a closeted trans gay (TM)

There's sequels in comic book form.

I too used to think the male sexuality was subtext but now have the viewpoint that he actually does have testicular cancer and the effeminate references are geared more around how it must feel to a man losing his testicles

I only have one question how is supernatural gay? 😭

I think one of the reasons I love this movie so much is that it does lend itself really well to interpretation by any form of queer humanoid. I'm nonbinary and bisexual and I always kind of saw it as a bisexual/trans experience, where the narrator is unable to come to terms with their identity. I think the fact that he does clearly care deeply for Marla and yet can't have sex with her as himself (just as he can't have actual sex with any of the guys and stands back to watch Tyler fight other men) to me at least, seems to indicate that he's not just afraid of his gayness but of his sexuality in any direction. More significantly, the way that he seeks out connection only through anonymity makes me feel like it's not just sex that he's afraid of but love. Perhaps because he is actually a they, or even a she, or just because of their queerness in general they don't believe that they can be loved and so the only way they can bring themselves to touch and experience touch is either through disassociating or violence. The violence aspect especially speaks to the trans theory to me since violence as a form of self expression is one associated pretty heavily with masculinity. As in, he's overcompensating. Eventually when Project Mayhem consumes fight club, it takes him connecting with a woman to realize the danger of everything and decide to do the right thing. And what's the punishment he faces for doing this? Emasculation. It's not just his gayness that they're running away from but their femaleness. And the movie ends with them killing their hypermasculine form by voluntarily shooting a gun into their mouth (how much more phallic can you get) and then holding hands with a woman. In other words, being okay with desiring men and women and identifying with both femininity and masculinity. (It's also worth mentioning that Marla is also pretty androgynous. Her hair is quite short and her makeup isn't really designed to be pretty and she smokes, which is traditionally a pretty masculine activity and one that the dudes in the movie so just as much as she does.)

There's another side to Fight Club and it involves a philosopher Frederick Nietzsche who was never gay so whether Fight Club being gay or not I don't care as long as it has a good story good characters in the freaking good plot twist that's what I'm interested in ........sexuality is meaningless when it comes to this film in my opinion

Just adding that the terms "split/double personnality" isn't used anymore it's dissociative identity disorder (or DID)

Angelina Joles weirdo ex??? They both weird. She kisses her biological brother on the mouth🤣🤣

If your looking for another older movie with queer subtext then please do 2001: a space odyssey!! Hal and Dave are deffo gay for eachother trust 🙏

🤦‍♂

Great video! Im glad im not the only who thought the theme of presenting differently than you actually are to be pretty queer.

The movie was giving "Homosexuality in ancient Rome" lolololool

comfort video fr

Fight Club for women is Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistlestop Cafe.

You know, it doesn’t have to be a bonafide queer film for you to enjoy it as a queer person. Everything doesn’t NEED to be LGBTQ for y’all to get on board with something and just enjoy it. And I think most film makers and writers are okay with their viewers/readers interpreting their stories however they want. I think Fight Club could mean a lot of different things for many different people. I personally think that “Fight Club” is a movie that’s truly made for men. Gay, straight, bi, trans whatever dude, doesn’t matter. It’s a film about men having the guts to free themselves from what they’re told they need to do. It shows that most men aren’t happy with mediocrity and day to day life, that we have a deep desire for adventure and discovery and even combat. Deep in our hearts, no matter what kind of man you are or claim to be, there is an individual trying to break free that the world seemingly tries to suppress. And it takes large toll when it goes suppressed for too long and can channel our inner masculine to latch onto ANYTHING that takes us away from our conventional lives and makes us feel free, even if it’s something objectively terrible such as terrorism. I don’t think at all that it’s about the queer community. It’s about every community of every single man. Our inner hunger for struggle and even sometimes opposition, it gives us purpose on a primal level that cannot be replaced with material wealth or social status.

My lttle fav gay

i that that too wen i wacht it

The matrix was wrote by sophia stewart a native woman not them

Always trying to turn everything into something gay.

If films were music genres this would be emo

He is off meds again...

nie niszczcie tego dzieła sztuki swoimi problemami...

Great analysis!

When you're a hammer everything's a nail

Make more videos man 😭😭🤣🤣🤣

Okay, I know I'm a year late to this, but isn't Chuck Palahniuk a right wing gay dude? 😅

Societal emasculation does not translate directly into gay. Many of the themes of the book and movie are how men have lost their purpose and can not share their emotions with one another, none sexually. It's as if men have lost that 'certain something'. Though, the only means necessary is to expresses themselves as men are 'supposed to be': Fighting and then fighting more to get the frustrations out and then on to bonding... I do agree with some the homosexual subtext, but these ostensibly heterosexual men are not. They were sharing themselves, I do think you are missing very much...

This video grossly misinterpreted Fight Club and what it really means, making it a modern distortion which turns out to be a sweet fantasy and not the reality that many men experience: the wasted and monotonous life without meaning or purpose.

This is embarrassing to watch. Edward Norton and Brad Pitt never talked about this movie about being gay. Brad Pitt himself said that it was about two men eventually fighting for Marla. There are the interviews!! Stop with this nonsense lmao

Three minutes in and loving it, but if you are going to reference the gay canon, you need Lianna in there...

There are definitely trans readings of the narrator, though him being a gay man makes more sense. One can read him as attempting to perform hegemonic masculinity as hard as possible as a response to gender dysphoria. Also, I would disagree with the idea that project mayhem are anarchists, they are fascists. They operate a death obsessed cult of heroism which aims to violently assert their masculinity. It does not provide a solution to men's alienation under capitalism, it is just a reproduction of the wider systems which objectify and dehumanise men.

Yo this entire essay is a master level troll XD

ever thought of the fact that straight men also struggle in life.. not everybody going trough a hard time is secretly gay

funny how people only came up with this gay shit in the past few years, even though the movie released in 1999.