I re-watched Fight Club recently. It's one of my favorite movies and I've seen it more than any other movie.
There's always been one line I really did not like. At some point Jack points to a Kelvin Klein underwear advertisement and asks if the model in the photo is what a man looks like. Tyler Durden laughs and says "Self-improvement is masturbation. Now self-destruction is the answer."
I always disliked this line because it's from the mouth of Brad Pitt. It would make more sense if Tyler Durden was acted by some random greasy looking Slavic dude with a fucked up face, but no, it's by one of the most conventionally attractive men on the planet.
However, after Nick Fuentes said something to the same effect recently and now I really think I hate that line.
The original purpose of that line - I THINK - was not that bettering yourself is a bad thing. It's that trying to make yourself out to be a consumerist icon is chasing a dragon. You need to look a certain way, act a certain way, and (most importantly) possess the right shit in order to be a man.
Having nothing and living in squalid filth is not an achievement. Avoiding self-improvement at all costs is how you end up like Ralph.
TL;DR: Avoiding consumerist fantasies = good, avoiding self-improvement = bad
There's always been one line I really did not like. At some point Jack points to a Kelvin Klein underwear advertisement and asks if the model in the photo is what a man looks like. Tyler Durden laughs and says "Self-improvement is masturbation. Now self-destruction is the answer."
I always disliked this line because it's from the mouth of Brad Pitt. It would make more sense if Tyler Durden was acted by some random greasy looking Slavic dude with a fucked up face, but no, it's by one of the most conventionally attractive men on the planet.
However, after Nick Fuentes said something to the same effect recently and now I really think I hate that line.
The original purpose of that line - I THINK - was not that bettering yourself is a bad thing. It's that trying to make yourself out to be a consumerist icon is chasing a dragon. You need to look a certain way, act a certain way, and (most importantly) possess the right shit in order to be a man.
Having nothing and living in squalid filth is not an achievement. Avoiding self-improvement at all costs is how you end up like Ralph.
TL;DR: Avoiding consumerist fantasies = good, avoiding self-improvement = bad
