Critically analyse presentations of the ultimate in the films - Fight Club and Life of Pi PDF

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'Critically analyse presentations of the ultimate in the films - "Fight Club" and "Life of Pi"
Explores the idea of the ultimate i.e. God or the ultimate force in the universe within the two films: "Life of Pi" and "Fight Club" wherein pluralistic and nihilistic/ existentialist views are cont...

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'Critically analyse presentations of the ultimate in the films - "Fight Club" and "Life of Pi" Film is an artistic medium in which important theological and moral messages can be communicated; whilst ‘Life of Pi’ and ‘Fight Club’ are wildly different in the areas of characterization, style and narrative – both communicate their own ideas of the ultimate in line with the theological discourse of Paul Tillich. For Tillich ‘Ultimate concern’ is that which an individual is grasped by ‘- namely, an ultimate concern about the meaning of one’s life and the meaning of “being” as such it also appears in other forms.’ (Brown 1965 p.6) Tillich was greatly open to the view that ultimate concerns could be communicated via art, even that which has no overt religious content, giving the example of painting and philosophical writings; In reference to ‘Life of Pi’ “President Obama no less was so convinced by Canadian author Yann Martell’s 2001 novel Life of Pi that he wrote him a short letter of thanks: “It is a lovely book – an elegant proof of God, and the power of storytelling” (McClinton 2013 p.1) According to Tillich the most obvious example of ultimate concern was God, but not as most followers of faith would think of their God; for Tillich God encompasses the ultimate, the unconditional which precedes our minds and all created things – as the ground of all being, which is beyond all objective understanding because to make an object of God would be a kind of idolatry which over-simplifies the true nature of the ultimate, thus “for this reason there cannot be a God. There cannot even be a “highest God”, for even that concept is limiting” (Brown 1965 p.2-8). Essentially Tillich suggests a kind of religious pluralism or pantheism wherein ultimate concern is present in, yet greater than, all forms of faith that point toward a higher power; not too dissimilar from John Hick’s ‘Copernican’ Theory of religious faith wherein the truth of god (the ultimate) is symbolised by the sun, with all religons revolving around it like planets (Hick 1999 [1973] chapter 9). Pi, the protagonist and narrator of ‘Life of Pi’ is seen readily accepting each religion he encounters in search of meaning and understanding – he states “Faith is a house with many rooms” – this is a sentiment that Pi lives by, in his childhood he first discovers God through his mother’s religion of Hinduism and during prayer he even utters “Thank you, Vishnu for introducing me to Christ” (Life of Pi 2012). Similary “Bapu Gandhi said ‘all religions are true’. I just want to love God”. Clearly, we too are meant to see that all religions are, at heart, the same because they seek an ultimate spiritual reality which will enable us to live better lives. In other words, both mystically and morally, they are different paths to the same ultimate truths.’ (McClinton 2013 p.1). Pi is often mocked for readily accepting religion, with other characters such as his father deriding him for his perceived lack of logical reasoning stating “I’d much rather you believe in something I don’t agree with than accept everything blindly – and that begins with thinking rationally” – to this Pi replies that he would like to be baptized because to him his faith already entails an informed decision; However for Pi, this choice is not so much rationally informed as emotionally informed. Pi, who sees all religions as different paths toward God [here, the ultimate] finds that when he partakes in religious ritual he focuses on the feeling that each act gives him – eg. He expresses “in performing Salah, the ground beneath me became holy ground and I found a feeling of serenity and brotherhood” (Life of Pi 2012); here Referring to the practice of praying on a prayer mat at certain specific times of the day whilst facing toward Mecca, which is found in Islam. Pi emotes that such religious practices stir a kind of feeling of brotherhood within him and he uses these subjective feelings as a basis for his belief. This Tillich would argue is the “grip” of the ultimate as he mentions in dialogue with a student of his that ‘the very term ultimate concern implies the emotional, perhaps even more strongly than the intellectual’. Tillich has However reasoned that whilst Religion creates important and useful symbols for the ultimate, following on from this line of thought ‘he insists symbols- the church, communion, or baptism – must be kept meaningful as society changes. Otherwise…they lose their redeeming power, and appear important in themselves’; Tillich warns against getting attached to and accepting symbols, such as doctrines, as inherently important in themselves, even going so far as to claim such practice constitutes idolatry because they can merely point at the truth of the ultimate but are not themselves the ultimate. To borrow Zen Buddhist imagery – venerating a symbol is like focusing on a finger that is pointing at the moon, rather than placing focus on the moon. That is not to say that logical reasoning is unimportant to Tillich’s idea of ‘the ultimate’ as he expresses “Man is finite, and whatever he knows he knows in terms of finitude. He escapes his finite prison only by his awareness of what Tillich has called the depth of reason” (McKelway 1964 p. 123). David Fincher’s ‘Fight Club’ considers that such ‘idolatry’ is rampant in postmodern consumer driven culture and also that there are many ways in which it has become easy for a person can ‘take a wrong turn’ in their own search for

meaning –in an interview in 1999 that the film is a modern ‘coming of age’ story for those of his generation who were becoming truly independent and coming of age much later in their lives, hence why Edward Norton’s character refers to himself as a “thirty year old boy” i.e. someone who is viewed as an adult in wider society, due to their age, who is still not entirely emotionally and psychologically mature. Whilst the protagonist and his alter-ego, Tyler Durden, out-right reject materialism, it is through Tyler that the unnamed protagonist (often simply referred to as ‘Jack’ through internal dialogue) loses his way. Tyler asserts that “the things you own start to own you” (Fight Club 1999), this comes as a revelation to the protagonist early on in the film, shortly after the protagonist has lost his home and all of his possessions – in the beginning of the film the narrator explores how he had been creating a sense of self through building a home, a wardrobe and a sense of style in effort to find a way to represent himself, yet in meeting Tyler he realizes that these things are inherently meaningless. However, this rejection of materialism is only the beginning of Jack’s journey – according to Fincher, Fight Club’s Tyler Durden is synonymous to Mrs Robinson in ‘The graduate’ in that he represents a very attractive path but one which is ultimately erroneous; ‘The Graduate is a good parallel. It was talking about that moment in time when you have this world of possibilities, all these expectations, and you don't know who it is you're supposed to be. And you choose this one path, Mrs. Robinson, and it turns out to be bleak, but it's part of your initiation, your trial by fire. And then, by choosing the wrong path, you find your way onto the right path, but you've created this mess’ (Fincher [Smith]October 1999). Ultimately it is a set of ideals or attractive ideas that lead the narrator of ‘Fight club’ into perilous situations and away from ultimate concern. Tyler Durden essentially becomes a leader of a ‘quasi-religion’ with imbedded ‘demonic destructiveness’ in Tillich’s terms as Tyler says, "Self-improvement is masturbation. Maybe self-destruction is the answer" and many other like-minded, unfulfilled men begin to follow him in fight club and the formation of Tyler’s ultimate vision of ‘Project Mayhem’ – a secret society based around neo-nietzschean ideals surrounding the evolution of man into something higher, the ‘Ubermensch’ or overhuman that goes beyond dogmatic concerns and begins to live on their own terms (Nietzsche 2010 [1891] p.13-15). Parallels between Nietzsche’s philosophy and the madness of Tyler Durden are easy to make as both begin with a separation from the idea of God as a useful one and turn to human reasoning and human development for direction in life. ‘No serious theological activity can take place without a consideration for the social, economic and cultural matrix within which it is practiced’ (Deacy 2008 p.3) with this in mind Tyler’s atheism can be understood in relation to his generation’s disassociation from their fathers and in turn from God – he passionately verbalizes this position when he says “our fathers were our models for God. If our fathers bailed, what does that tell you about God?” he then goes on react to this, concluding “Fuck damnation, man! Fuck redemption! We are God's unwanted children? So be it!” (Fight Club 1999) in other words “God is dead” (Nietzsche 2010 [1886-1891] p.13) so religion could not be a viable option for so many members of Tyler’s generation and they had to look for meaning elsewhere – this is not in itself condemned by Tillich who did admit to seeing formalised religion as a danger to religious life itself as they ‘tend to become rigid with age’ (Brown 1965 p.3) and who expressed an understanding that the secular humanistic ideal expressed genuine concern towards the infinite or ultimate (Brown 1965 p.22) – the issue with Durden’s philosophy, that ‘Jack’ soon discovers, lies wherein it diverges away from Nietzschean ideals of self-cultivation towards ones of self destruction. Self-cultivation appears to Tyler and his followers as something that is pushed on them by the ideals and standards of western society – particularly by corporation which want people to buy their products in the pursuit of perfection. Tyler says, "Self-improvement is masturbation. Maybe self-destruction is the answer." (Fight Club 1999) The protagonist of ‘Fight club’ essentially stands as an everyman for his generation (Smith 1999) – as such he suffers the common afflictions of people entering into adulthood between the 1970s and 1990s such as insomnia, materialism and a lack of direction. Both ‘Fight Club’ and ‘Life of Pi’ make use of a narrator who also represents the protagonist, giving us insight into their inner world of thoughts and feelings as well as imbuing their films with a sense of subjective sympathy for their respective leads. However as ‘Jack’ and Tyler are characterizations of gen x frustrations and desires and their story serves as an allegory for said people; Pi in comparison emerges as a dynamic and interesting individual as his life, thoughts and attitudes are unique to him, thus his characterization helps the audience to understand him and his relationship with the ultimate. ‘Fight Club’ and ‘Life of Pi’ can appear as opposing approaches to the ultimate; This can be seen in many ways including their presentation of personal isolation. Both ‘Fight club’ and ‘Life of Pi’ make a point of portraying this human situation in the sense of estrangement felt by the protagonist – Once again this is shown in opposing ways, for Jack this sense of estrangement comes from his position as an adult in contemporary western society where the

emotional distance between other people and his own work causes him to seek refuge in the all-embracing support groups of cancer sufferers and others going through rehabilitation wherein grown men literally hold each-other for comfort and support. According to a ‘sight and sound’ magazine film reviewer, ‘Fight Club’ ‘does seem transgressive [in that it]… put a brain on the screen as an exhibit - especially when the exhibit is connected to the loss of self’. (Taubin 1999 p.18). Meanwhile Pi holds a profoundly personal sense of isolation in his spiritual journey after having witnessed first-hand the cruelty of nature (in the way a tiger kills and eats its prey), as while he lives in an incredibly social and close community in India – he is not able to find the answers he seeks. Also ‘Fight club’ seeks answers to the ultimate in the mundane, with even cinematic elements such as the lighting being influenced by things that are normalities in the culture it had arisen in such as the dim flickering lighting; Meanwhile Pi is brought closer to himself through a cinematic adventure fraught with catastrophe and unbelievable circumstances, i.e. surviving on a raft with only a Bengal tiger for company, not too dissimilar from a religious myth – a similarity that is clearly purposeful considering the film’s message. Nonetheless both ‘Life of Pi’ and ‘Fight Club’ are good examples of how the medium of film can communicate deep themes with a connection to ultimate concern – ‘Fight Club’ considers how a maturing person can lose their way on the search for meaning and ‘Life of Pi’ considers how it may be found – film reviewer Kendrick Kuo suggested that Ang Lee’s adaptation threw up more questions than it prepared to answer – due to its pantheistic messages, however an alternate view would be that it presents not one but many valid answers to the meaning of life and ultimate concern in this manner, as expressed through Pi’s own sentiments. Word count: 2200 words Bibliography: Brown, MacKenzie D. (1965). Ultimate Concern: Tillich in dialogue. London: William Clowes and sons LTD. 2-8, 23. Deacy, Christopher and Ortiz, Williams Gaye (2008). Theology and Film: Challenging the Sacred/Secular divide. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. 3.

Fight Club (1999) Directed by David Fincher [Film] USA: 20 th Century Fox Hick, John. (1993). Copernican Revolution in Theology. In: Hick, John God in the Universe of Faiths. Oxford: Oneworld Publications LTD. 120-132.

Life of Pi (2012) Directed by Ang Lee [Film] USA: 20 th Century Fox McClinton, Brian. (March-April 2013). Pi in the Sky. Humanism Ireland . 139 (1), 1 McKelway, A.J. (1964). The Systematic Theology of Paul Tillich. London: Lutterworth Press. 123.

Nietzsche, Friedrich (2010 [1886-1891]). Thus Spoke Zarathustra. [Published Online]: FeedBooks. 13. Available: nationalvanguard.org [31rst January 2015] http://nationalvanguard.org/books/Thus-Spoke-Zarathustra-by-F.Nietzsche.pdf Smith, Gavin. (1999). Gavin Smith goes one-on-one with David Fincher. Available: http://www.edwardnorton.org/fc/articles/filmcom.html [31rst January 2015] . Taubin, Amy. "'So Good It Hurts'". Sight and sound November 1999: 18. Print....