Let me answer your first question: why am I talking about "Fight Club" and "Into The Wild" on what is an inner thought blog wrapped in the guise of a travel blog? Well, there's your answer. Because I can talk about whatever the hell I feel like and it's so well written, you'll read it. I'm...* has realization*... I'm the Aaron Sorkin of blogs.*
No, but seriously, part of my trip has been an escape, an escape from American culture, from the school-work-family culture, of always moving, of always working, and not stopping to think enough about life until it's too late. It's about not necessarily a counterculture, because I think countercultures are for pussies who can't handle real culture. It's about doing things a different way. I was watching "Into The Wild" (ITW), the movie with Emile Hirsch and Vince Vaughn, among others, while in Buenos Aires. It got me thinking and somehow I ended up comparing to "Fight Club" (FC)***. But first...
*A DISCLAIMER*
I have read FC the book and seen the movie FC. I have not read ITW the book and seen only part of ITW the movie but know the main gist of the story. For the record, FC the book and movie are different as the movie needs a plot that moves forward occasionally to make it watchable. I actually like the movie better, and not just cuz of Brad Pitt's abs.
*DISCLAIMER OVER*
So, as I was watching ITW, I was reminded of my own journey. As I was saying before, doing something different than what the typical American culture expects. The protagonist in ITW rejects worldly things, all of his identification documents, standard means of communication at the time (telephone for example) and sets on a journey of exploration and self-discovery. I clearly have not done this (I'm writing on a blog right now) but I am doing something that is not typical in American culure. The protagonist in ITW rejects not only American culure, but culture itself. Civilization. Worldly things. Identification. He decides to live off the land, hunting with a .22 caliber rifle, living where he can, earning only the money he needs in only the ways he can. It's beautiful. But it's also desperate in that, it's full of despair. It's depressing, sad, lonely, and maddening. I'll leave it to you, dear reader, as I address you here, to learn what the protagonist learns by reading the book or watching the movie.**** The protagonist is not angry; he's desperate. Desperate for escape. Desperate to escape the surly bonds of civilization. He feels bound and seeks freedom. Freedom from culture, of a time before culture, a land before time.*****
In contrast to ITW, FC seeks not to escape culture, this time a culture of greed, debt, and a "generation of men raised by women." Project Mayhem seeks to fight, fight back against, this culture. The culture is destructive, even self-destructive. So they fight fire with fire. They fight each other to become men, and then become men who fight for freedom, albeit, and there's no way around it, in terrorist fashion.
Aside: Project Mayhem was NOT a group of freedom fighters; they were terrorists. Yes, sis, my "corporate is showing" but it is because capitalism is the best system. It works. We should not replace it. However, this is not to condone debt or say that American greed and unbridled capitalism are right; it is to say you can't go around kidnapping people and blowing up buildings and calling it "right". The ends don't justify the means, especially in this case, as the ends are to break the systematic cycle of debt. Debt won't stop, you fools. But hey, and I mean this seriously, nice try. Pretty inventive/genius to blow up a bunch of credit card/bank buildings trying to reset the clock to 0. Not bad. I agree we should improve capitalism because pure capitalism leads to the destruction of the 99%. It cannot stand. But capitalism with inherent controls (the most difficult type of control to create) can, and does, work.
The people in FC seek not to remove themselves from or reject culture; they want a different culture. One where the working class aren't enslaved by debt and taken advantage of. Just as Ed Norton is weak and Brad Pitt fights and become strong (which, ultimately, makes Ed Norton strong, both since they are the same person and Ed Norton's personality becomes his own man), so, too, are opposite the culture that exists in FC (rampant consumerism fueled by debt) and the culure that Project Mayhem seeks to create (one full of self-confidence, in what a man can be by himself removed of possessions and, thus, debt).
ITW seeks to escape culture and civilization. FC seeks to change culure. Neither want anything to do with the culture we have now. Which is right is up to you. But ITW, while filled with despair and loneliness, is also filled with hope.
*Receives cease and desist letter from AS.*
**I retract that last statement.
***Which, now, the acronym FC, which usually stands for futbol club in the real world, makes me think of fight club. So now, FCB = Fight Club Barcelona.
****Watch the movie anyway. It's very good. Directed by Sean Penn. It'll make you lose your breath, maybe even cry.
*****God, would Morgan Freeman PLEASE narrate this.
No, but seriously, part of my trip has been an escape, an escape from American culture, from the school-work-family culture, of always moving, of always working, and not stopping to think enough about life until it's too late. It's about not necessarily a counterculture, because I think countercultures are for pussies who can't handle real culture. It's about doing things a different way. I was watching "Into The Wild" (ITW), the movie with Emile Hirsch and Vince Vaughn, among others, while in Buenos Aires. It got me thinking and somehow I ended up comparing to "Fight Club" (FC)***. But first...
*A DISCLAIMER*
I have read FC the book and seen the movie FC. I have not read ITW the book and seen only part of ITW the movie but know the main gist of the story. For the record, FC the book and movie are different as the movie needs a plot that moves forward occasionally to make it watchable. I actually like the movie better, and not just cuz of Brad Pitt's abs.
*DISCLAIMER OVER*
So, as I was watching ITW, I was reminded of my own journey. As I was saying before, doing something different than what the typical American culture expects. The protagonist in ITW rejects worldly things, all of his identification documents, standard means of communication at the time (telephone for example) and sets on a journey of exploration and self-discovery. I clearly have not done this (I'm writing on a blog right now) but I am doing something that is not typical in American culure. The protagonist in ITW rejects not only American culure, but culture itself. Civilization. Worldly things. Identification. He decides to live off the land, hunting with a .22 caliber rifle, living where he can, earning only the money he needs in only the ways he can. It's beautiful. But it's also desperate in that, it's full of despair. It's depressing, sad, lonely, and maddening. I'll leave it to you, dear reader, as I address you here, to learn what the protagonist learns by reading the book or watching the movie.**** The protagonist is not angry; he's desperate. Desperate for escape. Desperate to escape the surly bonds of civilization. He feels bound and seeks freedom. Freedom from culture, of a time before culture, a land before time.*****
In contrast to ITW, FC seeks not to escape culture, this time a culture of greed, debt, and a "generation of men raised by women." Project Mayhem seeks to fight, fight back against, this culture. The culture is destructive, even self-destructive. So they fight fire with fire. They fight each other to become men, and then become men who fight for freedom, albeit, and there's no way around it, in terrorist fashion.
Aside: Project Mayhem was NOT a group of freedom fighters; they were terrorists. Yes, sis, my "corporate is showing" but it is because capitalism is the best system. It works. We should not replace it. However, this is not to condone debt or say that American greed and unbridled capitalism are right; it is to say you can't go around kidnapping people and blowing up buildings and calling it "right". The ends don't justify the means, especially in this case, as the ends are to break the systematic cycle of debt. Debt won't stop, you fools. But hey, and I mean this seriously, nice try. Pretty inventive/genius to blow up a bunch of credit card/bank buildings trying to reset the clock to 0. Not bad. I agree we should improve capitalism because pure capitalism leads to the destruction of the 99%. It cannot stand. But capitalism with inherent controls (the most difficult type of control to create) can, and does, work.
The people in FC seek not to remove themselves from or reject culture; they want a different culture. One where the working class aren't enslaved by debt and taken advantage of. Just as Ed Norton is weak and Brad Pitt fights and become strong (which, ultimately, makes Ed Norton strong, both since they are the same person and Ed Norton's personality becomes his own man), so, too, are opposite the culture that exists in FC (rampant consumerism fueled by debt) and the culure that Project Mayhem seeks to create (one full of self-confidence, in what a man can be by himself removed of possessions and, thus, debt).
ITW seeks to escape culture and civilization. FC seeks to change culure. Neither want anything to do with the culture we have now. Which is right is up to you. But ITW, while filled with despair and loneliness, is also filled with hope.
*Receives cease and desist letter from AS.*
**I retract that last statement.
***Which, now, the acronym FC, which usually stands for futbol club in the real world, makes me think of fight club. So now, FCB = Fight Club Barcelona.
****Watch the movie anyway. It's very good. Directed by Sean Penn. It'll make you lose your breath, maybe even cry.
*****God, would Morgan Freeman PLEASE narrate this.
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