American Consumerism, Mental Illness, and Violence in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club

Abstract

This research work deals with the reflection of the film adaptation Fight Club on the socioeconomic problems of American society in the late 20th century. It aims to demonstrate the movie's critique of consumerism and materialism by highlighting its characters' struggles with their materialistic society and indicating the relationship these phenomena share with mental illness and violence. The methodology adopted in this research is a multifaceted approach consisting of a cultural study approach to investigate the reality that Fight Club mirrors and a psychological approach to analyze the film's characters and examine their mental issues. This study found that materialism progressed gradually due to several historical reasons affecting individuals because of the psychological link they share with their societies. Accordingly, it is proven that mental illness is tightly related to consumerism and materialism as it is considered an outcome as well as a tool to achieve shock value in cinema.