Is Tyler Durden Masculinity Personified?

Tyler Durden

Good Evenin', how are you? I'm great, thanks for asking. Now let's jump into this topic like how I jump into a bacon-cheeseburger. Which is like, fast....I guess. Give me a break I'm new to this.

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Tyler Durden is a character from the 1999 movie Fight Club. He proposes that we are slaves to our society, and that society has shed us of our manhood. The narrator of the story buys IKEA furniture, lives in a small apartment, and has an everyday white-collar job. He is a visual representation of Tyler's theory. Tyler, on the other hand, is his ideal man.

Tyler lives in an abandoned house, has no obligations, and is completely free. No payments at the end of the month, no job that he has to keep to pay the bills, no fancy car, no nice furniture, and no items or responsibilities that have a hook on him whatsoever.

Tyler surrounds himself with three things: violence, self destruction, and irony. Let's talk about them.

Tyler tells the narrator to hit him just a short while after they meet. The narrator of course reacts like any other sane human being would (meaning he said, "No thank you."). The narrator asks why Tyler wants him to hit him so bad, to which Tyler says, "I've never been in a fight." The narrator suggests that that is a good thing, but Tyler disagrees saying, "No it isn't. How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight?" This is a great point! I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "That's ridiculous, what about getting into a physical confrontation would teach me anything I didn't already know about myself?" Well just settle down, I'm getting to it I promise. Fighting is one of the oldest and most complicated human interactions we can experience. Just watching one occur can get your blood pumping. Why does it make us feel the way it does? Because it threatens us. Our bodies usually process fighting as a prelude to death. You feel most alive before death, therefore you feel most alive while fighting. Tyler knows this, and has found freedom in it. This freedom is only amplified by the self harm that comes with it.

Self-destruction is Tyler's way of freeing himself from the fear of pain. Having never been hit in the face, I can tell you that I am very afraid of getting hit in the face. Most of the fear, though, comes from never having experienced it. I have never been beaten bloody, therefore when a large man says, "I'm going to beat you bloody," I politely give him anything he asks for. Tyler didn't want this fear, though. There is a scene in Fight Club in which the owner of the establishment they are using to fight in enters the room. He is very displeased with what he finds, and threatens the people there. He wants them out, but Tyler has other plans. Tyler asks the man if they can stay, which leads to him getting punched in the face by the man. However, to the man's surprise, Tyler just keeps asking. After every hilarious punch to the face, Tyler shows that he isn't afraid. To the man this comes off as crazy behavior, but for Tyler it is simply caused by the fact that he has become numb to the violence. This leads to him being free of the only thing left that people could threaten him with.

Tyler's love of irony is shown through his businesses. He works nights splicing film at movie theaters. This gives him a chance to splice single frames of pornography into films that parents take their young children to. He also sells soap. Not just any kind of soap though. This is the high end stuff. The stuff that only pretentious high society people use. What makes his soap so great? The special ingredient of course! What is that special ingredient? Well.....it's human fat. He steals it from liposuction clinics. So, after Debbie gets a little fat taken out of her rump to show up Jolene, she unknowingly scrubs it all over her face before bed.

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So, should we strive to be like Tyler? NO. "But, Anthony, this entire post has been about how Tyler is the man of all men! Now you're telling me to just throw it all out the window?!" Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoaaaaaa there hoss! Just hear me out.

Tyler is an anarchist. We, as men, are not anarchists. We are the opposite of anarchists. We want to establish order and peace, not blow up buildings (which Tyler actually does). Tyler Durden is not "masculinity personified". But, just like with any bad food, we can pick out the parts that we don't like so we are left with something good.

So what lessons can we take away from Tyler? Number 1: We do not have to get into a fight to feel alive and free. We just need to be more open to things and take a few more chances. Number 2: We do not have to get punched in the face in order to become fearless. The punches are just a metaphor really. It can be anything. Afraid of the ocean? Grab a big tub and fill it up with water. After that, move up to a pool. Ya know? Afraid to ask that girl out? Go try to make a new guy friend first. Build up your social skills like that first. Trying things will make them less scary. Number 3: Be down to Earth. You never know when someone is going to shove some soap in your face made from your own pretentiousness.