Fight Club - Essay Draft 5

This scene in Fight Club is established with a wide shot of Jack and Tyler. They are both is the centre of their 'half' of the frame, Jack is adopting a pose of defence by having his arms crossed. The idea of him being 'defensive' could be argued as to why he dresses the way he does. An attempt to not stick out and to be normal. Jack is wearing block grey coloured shirt and this tells us his personality is very sombre and just ordinary. The lighting reflects the darkness of his clothes with it being low key and the surrounding being very oppressive. These surroundings are a visual signifier of how poor and poverty stricken Tyler is not motivated by material goods. Tyler sits across from Jack behind a basic wooden table. This table is covered in chemicals, bottles and glass which are vital action codes in this scene as they are used on Jack. These elements of mise-en-scene being so visible and arranged suggest that this is planned. Both their body language reinforce this with Tyler's positioning. He is very open giving him a look of being ready and prepared. Also as mentioned before Jacks body language being very defensive suggests even he knows something is about to happen. The way Tyler looks gives a very stark blatant contrast between the two which we see when he reaches for Jacks hand. Tyler is in a bright 'loud' orange hawaiian shirt with styled hair with a more confident demeanour. This shows how confident Tyler is compared to Jack and how he wants to 'stick out'. This is used throughout the film to differentiate between the two personalities.

When it cuts to the next shot and Tyler says 'pass me your hand please' its more of a command due to him gesturing to Jack much like a dog. How quickly Jack submits and reacts to Tyler shows how little power he has in this friendship, and how willing he is to please Tyler, we can see that he is not the dominant character. The next shot is then a side angle shot and a MCU of Tyler licking his lips and then kissing Jacks hand. As he dips down to do so we can see he is wearing black rubber gloves which makes the audience question the situation. It then cuts to a low angle shot looking over Jack' shoulder framing Jack in a medium shot and putting him in eye line with Tyler. This is Tyler taking Jack out of a domineering position and putting him in his place. This is reinforced when he asks 'what is this?' with his voice full of fear emphasised with the low angle again highlight Tyler as the dominant character. This now means that Tyler's intentsions are now revealed and the camera moves closer to how it was in the beginning as a wide shot, it makes the scene a lot more personal and positions the audience as closer to the characters and feel more involved with the feelings of Jack. The tighter frame also puts Jack in a small space so we can see he's getting trapped in pain, unable to escape and also highlights the suspicion of Tyler in this scene.

CU's of Jacks hand obviously emphasise the out of control shaking to show how much pain he is in, this is reinforced with MS's of Jack to show his whole body shaking uncontrollably. It then cuts to a wide establishing shot of trees in a forest as he says 'try not to think about' in diagetic dialogue he's trying to think of the complete opposite to how he is feeling. However there are then further cut ins which all form a montage that together convey a single, clear idea, after he tries to move and thrash in pain, the images of the words 'searing' and flesh' along with WS of flames and fire tells us that the pain is all consuming and inescapable. This tells us that he doesn't want to think of his hand of being seared and his flesh burning but he can not help it. Giving emphasise on the pain building it up and up. The shots of the words with definitions have an evil tone about them because of the gothic font type used as a visual signifier of it being from an ancient book used for dark things. This is reinforced when these shots are coupled with the shots of fire and burning, associated with hell. This is a complete juxtaposition of the shots of the woods, which emphasises the contrast with the pain and makes it seem more overwhelming, all consuming and powerful. The pain is overwhelming and all consuming and it is all he can feel, and with his body langauge of uncontrollable shaking shows that visually that we are being shown the severity of the burn and Jack's inability to control it.

There are then further cut ins as he attempts to go to his 'cave' a metaphor for his happy place. The surroundings in this cave are a complete juxtaposition again for the flame and pain he is feeling. In this cave is the intruding Marla Singer and within the movie we can tell he has a connection with her and how she is still worming her way into everywhere and into his happy place, so she is a destructive element associated with pain and suffering. We can see Jack's obsessive nature that we saw earlier with the ikea home obsession and how everything has to be perfectly ordinary and normal and through this scene we see it again as he is thinking about Marla again and we can see that he's becoming obsessed with her aswell. The pain and the intrusion of Marla in his happy place means that it cannot work for him so he gets snapped back to reality with Tyler. That shot is very quickly dissolved into a cut in of fire that is very brief. This represents the snap back to reality and back to the pain.

Tyler slaps Jack in an attempt to gain his attention and push on through the pain and listen to his lecture, this shows how although they're the same person Tyler, himself won't let him get back to his happy place. He's holding himself back. Jacks body language and positioning is that of a child when he puts his head down onto his arms, this enhances Tyler's dominance and authority. This is again reinforced when Tyler moves in closer to lean over Jack to make himself seem even more powerful and to make Jack listen. Even as Tyler is leaning over him Jack's head is still in shot. This goes on throughout the scene and represents how they are a whole in the majority of each shots they're in the frame together because they are the same person and distinctly linked.

As he continues to shake, and knock pans and buckets, shows how out of control he is of the pain. As the scene goes on and Tyler talks it goes to shot-reverse-shot in a series of MCUs and we can see how the light is surrounding them. Although the light is low key there are certain back lights so we can see the outlines and basics of the characters. However the light does shine on their faces so we can see half of their expression, this is the same on both of them so that we can see their face but expressions and facial features are hidden. In Tyler's case half of his face is in darkness and the other in light, this represents how he is only half of a personality, and the other half is Jack, who is also partly hidden with lighting. As Jack says 'You don't know how this feels!' Tyler lifts his hand to his face to show a scar. This shot is a CU and the framing is small, so that we can see his scar and to tell us that he was also stuck, trapped and forced into the same position that Jack is in, this is another device that links them together and hints at the twist ending. In the same shot in the bottom corner we can still see the effects of the chemical burn and Jacks hand shaking, this tells us that it is no comfort or pain reliever to know that Tyler also went through it.

As Tyler grabs the vinegar for Jacks hand the camera is at a very low angle for the first time that Tyler stands, which gives him the authority because he is literally the only thing stopping Jacks hand from burning, he has the neutraliser. The fact that Tylers makes Jack ask calmy for the vinegar means at this point Tyler has broken Jack and this is the point where Tyler has become the dominant personality inside Jacks head. The CU of the vinegar being poured on Jack's hand shows the effectiveness of the cure and basically makes Tyler seem intelligent. After he pouts it on the camera stays on Tyler at a tilted low angle but we see Jack drops to the floor but there isn't much of him in the frame which tells us that even though it was him in pain to Tyler it isn't really important and he is the subject of the scene. A high angle to show Jack on the floor puts him in vunerable position and makes the audience feel sympathetic as he lies there with the the messy surroundings very blatant. He looks weak and pathetic. As Tyler leans over the table to look at Jack his positioning is very patronising and completely unsympathetic, and the audience can see that he is still higher than him and he definitely still has the authority which is reinforced when it switches to a shot to show us he is at a higher angle. The scene ends with a shot of Jack lying on his side in basically complete darkness with only light shining on his hand to show the sweat and vinegar still on his hands. We can see his facial expression of pain but relief which we can tell as he is holding his hand. He closes his eyes to show that he is worn out and tilts his head away from the camera to signify the end of the scene.