Ryan Lynch - Fight Club and Cults

Fight Club is one of the most popular and discussed film of the twentieth century.  The unnamed main characters journey throughout the film is very interesting.  The development and parallel of Pitt's character Tyler Durden is central to the plot and creates religious symbolism.  In the end Fight Club shows the fine line between religion and a cult.  While Tyler initially seems to be a positive influence in the narrator's life, he quickly turns into something the narrator can't control.  Tyler forces the narrator to face his fears and his flaws, he forces him to reevaluate his materialistic driven lifestyle.  All of which are seemingly positive turns in his life.  However, fight club quickly degrades into a dangerous and violent cult that neither the narrator or Tyler can control anymore.  The reason for this is Tyler being the sole creator and leader of fight club.  His exciting and charismatic speeches grab people, and put them under his spell.  Instead of fight club being a shared community of equals it turns into the will of one man which is the basis of a cult.  He leads them down this dark path promising salvation and rebirth, but without any proof of this or much valid reasoning behind his decisions.  In this sense the members of Fight Club see Tyler as a God, as his stories spread and become exaggerated.  Many people have never seen him, but still believe in his power.  The actual Fight club can be representative of church as people go there for clarity and inner peace.  That is where the receive their "orders" or "rules" in order to be saved by Tyler's process, this is similar to what many people believe to be the basis of many modern day religions including Christianity.