digg

Join DiggAbout

Donkeys and Elephants and Delegates,oh my!
Check out the most popular Elections 2008 content on Digg.

The Financial Wisdom of Fight Club

wisebread.com — What about something Tyler Durden, the anarchist extraordinaire, said very early on in the movie? It ’s something profound that stuck with me from the second I saw it in the movie theater to this very day. And I think it should stick with you, too.

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • CoffeeJoost, on 07/01/2008, -0/+14That was worth the read. Determination between wants and needs, makes you think about it.
  • casspa, on 07/01/2008, -0/+7"It’s a fact of life that at least 95% of us will end up being owned by the things we have.".....I think I'm going to go watch Into The Wild now and feel even worse about myself...
    • geneticlemon, on 07/02/2008, -0/+2That movie is an emotional rollercoaster ride ... starts off high, ends on low.
  • MelissaLim, on 07/01/2008, -2/+3"All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I ***** like you wanna *****, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not."

    Ouch. Wow. Ooh. Boo. So painfully honest. And modest too. Heh.
  • dpazar2, on 07/01/2008, -1/+3The blonde in the stop stare and flirt add on the right can own me...id be alright with that.
    • UltramegaOK, on 07/01/2008, -0/+3Obligatory:

      What ads? I use Ad-Block Plus.


  • HuskyPuzzle, on 07/01/2008, -0/+3Ha, I knew it! I recited that last line to my friend the other day. He has all the toys in the world but hates his job, is unhappy with his gf and is never satisfied with his life. He keeps accumulating 'stuff' to make up for his general dissatisfaction but I'm trying to convince him to sell everything he owns (except the D-SLR), and buy a ticket around the world. To me, that's the ultimate definition of freedom: owning nothing and traveling your face off.
  • wfiupublicradio, on 07/01/2008, -0/+5i'm just trying to figure out what kind of dining set defines me as a person
  • DrCrankenstein, on 07/01/2008, -0/+4Cash only, baby!
  • d2002, on 07/01/2008, -0/+4The Great Depression is our lives.
  • StingingNettle, on 07/01/2008, -0/+3Yes, we get tied to stuff so easily. Learn to break these ties. I recommend starting of by killing your tv.
  • Thrilltone, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2I wanna get rid of loads of my crap and embrace this philosophy. The only furniture that I put in my living room is one small chair. The rest is plants and art
    http://nonsai.com/pics/screenwide.jpg
  • lordtyros, on 07/01/2008, -0/+4Edward Norton really looks like a douchebag on that dvd cover.
  • UltramegaOK, on 07/01/2008, -0/+3You'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 ***** khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4siTwwGvHLQ
  • summersam, on 07/01/2008, -0/+4The film gets way more attention that the book. In reality, Chuck Palahniuk, the author of the Fight Club book, is the real genius.

    I was lucky to read the book before I saw the film - and what a book, I still recommend it over the film.
  • sparkmonkeyz, on 07/01/2008, -3/+1"F**k Martha Stewart."

    agreed
  • arrow85, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1i tend to agree that not having debt is the best thing you can do. Owning a house however is far far better than renting. I am sorry i have to disagree with the writers point about the house owning you. If you pick the right size house and do not over step what you can afford then the house will pay you in the end. Remember your not flushing ur money away some of it comes back to you in the end and a little a long from uncle sam. I do fully agree make sure you know what you need not just what you want. Having wants are what makes us human material and physical and emotional wants and needs. I just find this far to general of a thought
    But i do agree down the the Stewart
  • warsongs7, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1Now all that's left is for me to decide whether I want to blow up all the Credit companies' HQs and financial towers supporting this hierarchical consumer structure....
  • ternes4x, on 07/02/2008, -0/+2Ok, I got this movie and book on the same day in April of last year. By the end of July, I had read the book at least 5 times, and seen the movie about 40 times. This movie and book make me want to set my house on fire, burn my wallet, empty my accounts and "accidentally" leave the money somewhere. The author of the article is about as close to right as you can be concerning most things. Here's some other interesting points about Mr. Durden: in the movie he actually does have a few paying jobs. Soap maker, waiter, projectionist. In the book, he splices porn into the movies to use as leverage against his boss. He gets to quit his job, but they keep sending paychecks to keep him quiet. Same reason he pisses in the lobster bisque, jacks off in alfredo sauce, farts on merinques, etc. Also, in the book, he doesn't buy clothes. He goes to various businesses and charitable foundations and asks to see the lost and found, taking whatever fits. After him and Jack/Joe start fight club, he gets most everything for free.

    One of my other favorite Durdenisms is, "Reject the basic assumptions of civilization, especially the importance placed on material possessions."
  • JayCruz, on 07/02/2008, -0/+3The film has so many themes, but this one is a new one for me. Great article.
  • sgiffy, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1I'm not sure your house owns you. Sure you have make the payments, but if you were homeless you would still have to find shelter. I guess you could say shelter owns you. Same with a car. Transportation has to occur, there are many ways, of which a car is one, all that require work. Also one pays debts to either avoid losing what they have, the same position they were in before. Or, on pays them to enable the purchase of future things, again not the thing they currently have, but their own desires that are owning them.

    We own ourselves, no matter what its our decisions on how to balance, work, play, desire, suffering, etc, that truly own us.
    • phazyme, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1"A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. You can see that when you're taking off in an airplane. You look down, you see everybody's got a little pile of stuff. All the little piles of stuff. And when you leave your house, you gotta lock it up. Wouldn't want somebody to come by and take some of your stuff. They always take the good stuff. They never bother with that crap you're saving. All they want is the shiny stuff. That's what your house is, a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get...more stuff! " - George Carlin
  • born2slippy, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1"Fight Club" changed my life. The next day after I've seen it, I lost my $200 DKNY sunglasses. I had a smile on my face the whole day then I got new ones from CVS Pharmacy which I still use to this day.

    Great Article!
  • ryan83189, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1*spoiler
    Did anyone else think this would be about him destroying the credit card companies at the end?
  • lwoodnj, on 07/02/2008, -0/+1Nice to see someone take the Fight Club message to heart, but:

    1. Kind of obvious, which is alright, but really anyone who watches the movie should instantly realize these realities.
    2. The truth is "not owning" isn't as "great" as it sounds. Yes, you could become entirely self-sufficient, but you're still working, and also Tyler lived off money made from the insurance of the stuff, lived in a house that only existed because of the system he was supposedly against (whether he paid for it then or not) and ultimately benefited from the system he fought against.

    Now, should we consider how much ***** we need? Yes. However, the reality is we will have to work to produce and though you can leech off the system it is ultimately the system that will provide you with that abandoned house or whatever it is you use. But yeah, in general, I agree it's something to think about. My personal motto is to never own anything that I couldn't stand to see destroyed, either because I invested too much in it--like a car that's out of the price range of "replaceable"--or because it's somehow trendily significant. What you choose to value and not value defines you, and you should make these choices incredibly carefully.
  • ambermelissa, on 07/10/2008, -0/+0I LOVE this movie and all the wisdom that comes with it. I have watch at least 10 times and learn something new everytime.
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.