Like a monkey ready to be shot into space...

space monkey!

Ok, if you've never seen Fight Club, stop reading now and go netflix it. It's my favorite movie and I have always had this cool idea about it and I thought this would be a good place to articulate it.

The Hair is mightier than the Clippers

In the movie there are a variety of characters with varying levels of importance. You have Ed Norton, the central character, Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden, Helena Bonham Carter as Marla Singer, Meatloaf as Robert Paulson, Jared Leto as Angel Face and Holt McCallany as the Mechanic. There are others, but for my purposes these 6 are all that I will really need to reference.

Lets take a look at where these characters fall in the power levels in this movie. You have Brad Pitt and Ed Norton who are obviously the main entities despite the fact that one is much stronger than the other. However, they compliment each other well and given the conclusion of the movie, it makes a fair amount of sense. They are each in control of Fight Club at varying times in the movie meaning that they stand out above the rest. Notice here that I choose my words very carefully. They STAND OUT and they are ABOVE the rest in the sense that they are in control. However, it would seem that the dynamic of this group would challenge authority because they are challenging the general authority of a capitalistic government. We'll get back to that. But let me just say here that both characters have hair, it isn't really long, but it's there.

Now lets take a look at Marla Singer. She is a complicated character in both Brad Pitt and Ed Norton's respective roles. At times she is the dark angel that brings twisted joy into both their lives but she is also someone that is feared by Project Mayhem at certain points in the movie because she "knows too much". She STANDS OUT in this collection of faceless characters and threatens the goals of Project Mayhem towards the end of the movie. She, in addition to Brad and Ed, has hair, not really long, but hair none the less.

Ok so these are the three main characters that find each other outside the realm of Fight Club. They have their lives and their varying styles which include hair length, ok no big deal. Now lets take a look at some of the characters that join the ranks later in the movie.

Once the Fight Club thing has been rolling for awhile new members begin showing up to the door at the house on Paper St to begin their training in Project Mayhem. They have to sit outside for 3 days without "food, shelter, or encouragement" and they can then come in. The first person to do this is basically nameless and he sits outside for his required duration. However, once he gets inside what is the first thing that is done to him? He shaves his head to which Brad replies "Like a monkey ready to be shot into space. Space Monkey!" At this point, whatever feeble identity this character had is now absolutely gone. He has his hair butchered and now he is a cog in the Project Mayhem wheel.

Now who are the next two characters that join the ranks? Meatloaf and Jared Leto. When Tyler first discourages Meatloaf because he's "too old, fat man and you're tits are too big", he puts his tail between his legs and heads out. Ed stops him however and lets him know that he has to sit through the battery if he wants in. In any event, at this moment, Ed Norton's and Meatloaf's relationship transcends their initial "self-help" group relationship to something within Project Mayhem. There is emotion there and rather than have Robert Paulson be just another cog in the wheel, Ed Norton sees him as something else. Why do I mention this? Well after Meatloaf makes it in the door he DOES NOT shave his head. He hangs out, does his duty as a member of PM but he doesn't lose the do.

More of the same with Jared Leto. He steps onto the doorstep with his "too fucking blond" hairdo and waits out the 3 days. Angel Face's character is a bit more complicated than Meatloaf's. His importance does not come in until later but like Meatloaf, Marla, Tyler and Ed Norton, he gets to keep his hair. The time in the movie where Angel Face's significance is realized is when they apprehend the man in charge of the investigation of the "underground boxing clubs". Once they scare the crap out of the guy and then disband, Brad Pitt and Jared Leto are seen being friendly with one another while Ed Norton watches in jealousy and hate. This is where emotion enters the arena for this character. Ed Norton has a collection of ill emotions towards Angel Face and Jared's brilliant blond hair is a symbol of this. It is flaunted as a reminder that Jared STANDS OUT in the sea of bald hooligans.

So here are 5 characters with varying levels of emotional attachment and importance to one another. Now, lets talk about the representative of the faceless army crowd, the Mechanic. What a perfect character name for this person. He is die hard for PM and carries out every "homework assignment" with the utmost dedication and precision, especially the "two birds with one stone" job with the destruction of corporate art and franchise coffee bar. This character, like most of the bodies in the Paper St house, is bald and nameless. He, like the rest, doesn't matter, they are just worker bees that live and breath as one. A great line in the movie comes when Ed Norton thinks to himself, "the house had become a living thing" with all of these cells working as one. They carry no emotional attachment to Ed Norton and in essence DO NOT stand out.

So why all this dialog about hair length? Who cares? In my opinion the most exciting part of this movie comes when Ed Norton realizes that Brad Pitt is not an actual person, but a figment of his own imagination. When this happens, Brad Pitt magically enters the room bitching to Ed Norton about how he "fucking talked to her about me". But he has changed. His style still remains, but now instead of his short scruffy hair, he is now bald.

Now, instead of having Brad as an emotional entity in Ed Norton's life, he realizes that he is a figment of his imagination. He isn't real. Ed Norton may battle with his psyche about what is real and what is not, but for all intents and purposes Brad Pitt no longer stands out. He ceases to have an individuality and that loss of individuality is represented with his loss of hair. Now, unlike Meatloaf, Jared Leto, Marla and Ed Norton, he stops becoming a separate entity and is relegated to a cog in the PM wheel. His hair looks just like every other member in PM and his commitment to the destruction of corporate america is just as real as every other "space monkey".

So I say STAND OUT and emotional entity, but what does that really mean? Maybe hair length is the symbol of the real world beckoning Ed Norton to not slip into the depths of conformity along his PM lineage. It is ironic that PM has become the single, one minded, entity that Fight Club set out destroy at the onset of the movie. Perhaps it is poetic justice that Ed Norton destroys his alter ego and PM at the end. It is almost as if the two battling foes must destroy each other and from the ashes people can adopt a culture their own, without capitalistic influence. In any event, I think hair length is the shadow of Ed Norton's emotions and these emotions are what keep him from falling completely into PM. His twisted love for Marla is manifested into her deranged and unconventional appearance. His loyalty and morality is shown with his relationship with Meatlof. Although Robert Paulson may be a titted 50 something freak, Ed Norton sees the weakness within himself in this sad character and his commitment to protecting him is shown with Robert's hair.

Conversely, the twisted nature of Ed Norton, and perhaps the writer Chuck Palahnuik, is shown with his hatred for Angel Face. For the mainstream, Jared Leto is ideal, which is probably why he was cast as the character. He is attractive, non-threatening and has a beautiful head of hair. However, Ed Norton is an unorthodox character and perhaps he hates all that he is not or all that society wants people to like. Tyler's favoritism to Leto is only the beginning and his hate and anger is manifested in Leto's blond locks.

As for the Mechanic, Ed Norton has no emotional connection to this character. He is just puzzled at their behavior. "You guys were running around in ski masks trying to blow things up. What did you think was going to happen?". Words he mutters as he is trying to protect Robert Paulson from being buried like an animal instead of "a person". The Mechanic has no hair because the emotional exchange here is not towards the Mechanic, but for Robert Paulson. He may be frustrated but more than anything, he is afraid. He is afraid for Robert, he is afraid for Marla and he is afraid for himself, which is why all of these characters maintain their hair.

However, once Tyler loses his emotional connection to Ed Norton or perhaps a better way of wording it, is that Ed Norton's connection to Tyler now becomes internal. Ed's fear extends from Marla and Robert to himself. He is now terrified at what his life has become and Brad loses his hair because now the emotional response that Ed had for Tyler, in friendship and respect, has now been turned inward as fear and panic. Regardless, Ed's hair remains and Tyler's does not.

Ed Norton has basically snapped out of it and his emotional development has come full circle from an insomnia plagued corporate drone to an enlightened but hopelessly confused individual. Regardless, his development is very real and he has Marla to share in his new identity. It seems as if the destruction of Corporate America is a huge casualty of war in the struggle for self-discovery, but perhaps it is an irony that the author is trying to articulate. The whole movie is based on the idea that all things that do not matter should simply slide. In stuffing mainstream junk down our throats, Corporate America has in essence eliminated our self-discovery and only with the destruction of these conglomerates, can we begin to realize who and what we are and what we want. It is quite a price to pay and the route Ed Norton has chosen to take is quite bizarre. Project Mayhem was just that, Mayhem. I suppose the use of such an extreme by the author shows what we are capable of and what we are missing out on. Needless to say, Project Mayhem almost became the force that it set out to destroy and in the end Ed Norton had to eliminate it.

In any event, this is just something I have thought about for a long time and I always thought it was interesting. This is movie is amazing on a variety of levels and this is just one of them. Next time you watch, take a look and maybe you'll see something I haven't. Remember, every stupid nuance, every weird element to any artistic movie has a meaning. The author or director has a message in all of these elements and if you can find meaning in them (even if it is not the intended one) you have been moved by a piece of art.

just my thoughts

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