Fight Club and Film's manipulation of narrative

In Walter Benjamin’s essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Benjamin argues that the camera itself shows us events and details we would not, or perhaps even could not, otherwise see. In essence, he is saying that the camera, with its ability to change frame rates and shift focal points, alters our own sense of perception. The close-up on merchandise, the moment of impact of a bullet, and the momentary addition of images give film a power no other medium has. We the viewer can now view events in a different way than we could even in real life
David Fincher’s “Fight Club” illustrates film’s power to manipulate our senses in a multitude of ways. One notable example is his use of spliced images. He splices in images of Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) at 4 points in the film before his character is revealed. These initial images are used both to demonstrate the deteriorating effect that The Narrator’s (Edward Norton) insomnia has had on his mental state, and to force the viewer to realize that the reality of the film is different from our own reality. The events shown in “Fight Club” are divorced what actually happens, and these deliberately unrealistic depictions at the beginning of the film prepare the viewer for what will occur later. Tyler Durden appears as a hallucination to the view, and, in fact, Tyler is nothing more than an illusion. The first appearance of Tyler is shot from The Narrator’s point of view, one of the many hints the film give us that Tyler is not real.
The other example of spliced imagery is the spliced in image of a penis that occurs twice. There is a scene where Tyler and the Narrator directly describe to the audience the process of splicing hard-core pornography into a children’s film. This scene allows the reality of the film to merge with our own, as we know that the film we are watching is describing the process of how film itself can be altered. “Fight Club” is describing how “Fight Club” is toying with our senses. The end of the film references this scene by splicing in a single frame of a penis just before the end credits. The fourth wall is collapsed, with meta-commentary layered on top of meta-commentary.
The idea of the fourth wall is deliberately toyed with. The wall is certainly broken (the audience is directly addressed at multiple times, including Tyler’s explanation of film’s splicing), but it is not as simple as that. It is not just Woody Allen pulling out Marshall McLuhan. It is much more complex. The film references its own techniques, and does not show its own reality for much of the film. Our reality, the film’s fake-reality (its depiction of Tyler), and its true reality are all blended, and we the viewer are expected to understand which is which. The techniques that distort reality are there to confuse the viewer, and thus create a greater shock when the revelation of Tyler’s identity occurs. The collapse of the fourth wall forces us to constantly reevaluate what is real. Tyler becomes not just a figment of The Narrator’s imagination, but a figment of our own as well.
The narrative of “Fight Club” is a great counterpoint to Germaine Dulac’s claim that promoting narrative as the essence of film is a “criminal error.” While it is true that film is limited in the time it can spend exposing narrative, its methods of doing so can be far superior to other media. Twist endings can be done much more effectively in the context of film. This is due to the fact that film can deliberately show us just the misleading details, and reveal the surprise in more natural ways. Instead of a clunky expository sentence, a pan to the name of a sled or the changing of a man’s gait can change our understanding of the narrative completely. Narrative can be the essence of film, and Fight Club’s distortion of reality shows us how film can alter narrative in ways that other media cannot.
Walter Benjamin is correct in stating that the camera can change the way we perceive reality. The reality presented in “Fight Club” is deliberately adjusted by unnatural movement, spliced images and even when the camera becomes a direct line of communication from the film to the audience. This toying with reality is essential to the narrative itself, as it distracts the audience from the otherwise revealing details about the nature of who Tyler Durden is. The film’s narrative works solely because it is a film. Reality is shifting, and thus the revelation about Tyler becomes much more impactful. The working of this narrative shows how film can uniquely present a set of events in a way that would be much less effective in other media. Film can change reality in a way unlike any other art.