Fight Club

What is gender? What is sex? Sex is defined by the biological behavior of a human. It is composed of the genitals or chromosomes, which signifies if a person is a male or female. Gender on the other hand is an ongoing activity of behavior that classifies masculinity or femininity. It is shaped by our interactions. Because gender and sex are connected, society sees them everyday and they are underlying factors to most social situations. In the novel and film, Fight Club there is a connection with gender and sex roles through the characters and motive of the film. When I first read and saw the film there was not a very clear connection to gender. I saw the masculinity of Tyler’s character and how it was related to Fight Club, but the main theme I saw was how our consumerism was controlling our society. During our class discussions on Tuesday and Thursday we talked about how gender was played into this movie. I realized that gender did in fact play a role in the movie, not just through the characters, but also through the representation of how these characters are portrayed through their roles. Marla, one of the only female characters is not necessarily what society would consider feminine, but because she is one of the only females in the movie she projects an aspect of the female sex. Marla is seen as a vulnerable, disturbed woman who thrives off of the attention of males, creating a stereotypical image of woman needed men and men needed woman simply for sex. The book and film both use gender and sex to highlight the theme of consumerism and to suggest that the roles we play are formed through gender.