Media Diary – Week 2

Name of the text: Fight Club

Date/Time: November 12, 1999

Where did you find it: I was told about the film by my uncle as he touted it was the best film he had ever saw, so I decided to watch the movie based on that alone.

Genre: Psychological Drama

What is the purpose: The primary purpose of this media text is to entertain, this is apparent through its use of gallows humour as well as visceral and exciting fight scenes. However the media text has a secondary purpose of giving a message to its audience, that message being that men are becoming increasingly emasculated in a modern society and that too much importance is based on material and superficial things.

Institution producing the text: The film was produced by Regency Enterprises, which is own by 20^th Century Fox.

Target Audience: The target audience for this text is men in the reformer. This is because the film contains strong anti-materialistic messages, this would appeal to the reformer audience type as they are the least materialistic of the 4C’s. The film is also rather critical and mocking of society, this would appeal to the reformer as they consider themselves socially aware, the criticism of society would appeal to them due to this. The target audience would also be men, this is because the media text contains heavy themes of emasculation and masculinity in a world that is portrayed as becoming more feminine and comfortable. A male audience member would more easily be able to identify with the themes of the media text and would therefore be more likely to enjoy and consume the media text.

Your reaction to the text: My reaction to the text was one of surprise, I was surprised at the twists and turns that the plot showed, and the final plot twist in the story. However I was most surprised by the use of strong opinions and anti-establishment/anti-corporation messages in the film. This is firstly because these messages in the media are rare and their inclusion was a pleasant surprise to me. I enjoyed the text for its satirical and comedic view of a man’s life in the modern day and the non-linear and disjointed way in which it told the story of Jack/The Narrator.

Why would people consume the text: People may consume the text as part of a social environment, this could be either the typical way, wherein the audience would physically be with somebody while watching the movie. However, Fight Club is considered to be a “cult classic” and as such, a person may watch the movie as they may feel excluded if they don’t, or they may feel as though they’re missing out on something. They may watch the movie purely for social currency in discussions.

Could some people react in different ways to the text? : Someone could react with an oppositional view to this text. They may disagree with the fact that men should reinforce their masculinity, they may think the messages of the film are wrong. They may also disagree with the apparently glorification of violence within the movie, worried that it may cause copycat actions. They may believe that the deliberately disjointed and non-linear way of telling the story is bad storytelling rather than a choice designed to bring the audience into how the character experiences the world around him.