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 20th 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.
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