Archive for December, 2012

David Fincher’s Fight Club fits the genre of psychological thriller as shown by it’s use of color, contrast and editing to express the main character’s mental state.
Through out the duration of the film, the main colors used seemed to have been added in editing. It is full of sickly greens and florescent blues that seem almost unnatural and unreal. The green hue seen in the main characters house and other scenes reflects the mental illness plaguing the mind of the main character. Blue is often used to over exaggerate the florescent lights in the dull work places and support groups the main character, who I will refer to as Jack, frequents. A main theme to the movie is how the material and bureaucratic world constricts the spirit of the human being. This is reflected in the lighting of places of that symbolize the materialistic world.
The scenes that take place during fight club are heavily contrasted between the center of the room where people are fighting and the darkness that surrounds the center. People cheering on the side lines blend into the darkness of the background keeping the focus on the center fighters. It makes it all the more jarring when Tyler Durden emerges from the darkness. This differs from the scenes when Jack is at work, which has plenty of affinity in the scene and is brightly lit by the florescent lights. The decision to make these settings very opposite of each other is to represent the two different life styles each represents.
Editing is a large part of what conveys the genre of this film. In the film, editing is discussed (although it isn’t exactly appropriate). They talk about editing a single frame into the flow of things to send messages and disturb the viewer. Often times, Tyler Durden appears for a single frame and disappears. This happens whenever Jack starts to toe the line of his sanity. The editing also helps conceal the plot twist without completely hiding it. It’s a totally different experience when you watch the film for the first and second time. Marla’s character completely changes as do the audiences sympathy for her.
Fight Club might be one of those films that is harder to place in a single genre, but it seems to aline most with psychological thriller because of it’s story and content. You can see this genre being expressed through the choices made in the use of color, contrast, and editing.