Author: Joseph Oland

Critical Position: Photojournalist

Title: Lensebender
Publisher/publication: Wordpress
Place of Publication: Online at: https://lensebender.org/2015/04/01/fight_club/
Date: 1st April 2015
Chapter/ Article: Fight Club and Modern Masculinity
Subject/key points and potential for use: Masculinity conflict within the characters surrounding the Narrator in Fight Club.
Quotation: ‘In a film about modern man’s struggle with his own masculinity, it makes sense to surround the main character with
post-surgical victims of testicular cancer – men who have literally been castrated.’

Author: Tori. E. Godfree

Critical Position: Editor and Writer
Title: Film & Media
Publisher/publication: Inquiries Journal
Place of Publication: Online at: http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/227/a-generation-of-men-raised-by-women-gender-
constructs-in-fight-club
Date: 2010
Chapter/ Article: A Generation of Men Raised by Women: Gender Constructs in 'Fight Club'
Subject/key points and potential for use: Gender issues and feminine men
Quotation: ‘Both Marla and Jack go through tremendous changes in character throughout the movie. The violence they both
experience transforms Jack into a stronger person—making him more self-aware and assertive—and Marla into a more sensitive
person—making her softer and less callous. Whereas Jack displays the more feminine traits in the beginning of the film, and Marla
the more masculine, now each has given up some of those opposing gender qualities and absorbed more of that of their own
gender.’
‘The impression we are left with at the end of Fight Club is that the rearrangement of Marla and Jack’s masculine and feminine
traits leads them to become better people. Marla, as a more feminine woman, is more tender towards Jack, and thus more
appealing to him. Jack, as a more masculine man, is more confident towards Marla, and thus more appealing to her. This suggests
that only through the proper alignment of masculine and feminine traits can one truly achieve good character and proper ethos.
While feminists and supporters have worked vigorously in an attempt to blur the lines of gender constructs, this shows that despite
the progress made, they are still very apparent in modern culture, and modern society.’
Author: Things That Are Hard to Explain
Critical Position: N/A
Title: Things That Are Hard to Explain
Publisher/publication: Wordpress
Place of Publication: Online at: https://thingsthatarehardtoexplain.wordpress.com/2017/01/15/gender-in-fight-club/
Date: 15th January 2017
Chapter/ Article: Gender in Fight Club
Subject/key points and potential for use: Gender issues and feminine men
Quotation: ‘In the early 90’s the view that culture was becoming feminized was emerging, ‘real men’ had no place; the world has
become emotional, soft and feminine’
‘Activities like shopping are often assumed to be a female past times, and in Fight Club our narrator is a male who is obsessive with
the Ikea furniture in his flat, he also holds a second job as a waiter, a traditionally female service job’

Author: Maggie Kathwaroon

Critical Position: Men’s Studies Teacher
Title: Masculinity Bytes
Publisher/publication: Wordpress
Place of Publication: Online at: https://masculinitybytes.wordpress.com/2013/04/26/the-first-rule-of-teaching-fight-club/
Date: 26th April 2013
Chapter/ Article: The First Rule of Teaching Fight Club
Subject/key points and potential for use: The contrast between Tyler and the Narrator (Masculine vs Feminine)
Quotation: ‘Edward Norton stated, “We decided early on that I would start to starve myself as the film went on, while [Brad Pitt] would lift and go
to tanning beds; he would become more and more idealized as I wasted away.”
‘To emphasize that these are merely performances of (hyper)masculinity, I show them this scene from the film, in which Edward Norton’s character
and Tyler Durden gaze at a men’s underwear ad. The underwear model’s torso sports an enviable six-pack. Edward Norton’s character turns to Tyler
Durden and asks, “Is that what a man looks like?” Tyler replies, “Self-improvement is masturbation.” At this point, the irony of this scene is not lost
on my students: Brad Pitt looks exactly like the underwear ad model’
Author: BetaCandy
Critical Position: Journalist
Title: The Hathor Legacy
Publisher/publication: The Hathor Legacy
Place of Publication: Online at: https://thehathorlegacy.com/fight-club-a-generation-of-men-raised-by-women/
Date: 10th April 2005
Chapter/ Article: Fight Club: A generation of men raise by women
Subject/key points and potential for use: The contrast between Tyler and the Narrator (Masculine vs Feminine)
Quotation: ‘Our society hasn’t just broken its promises to women; it’s broken trust with all of us. And the people at the top are
neither men nor women; they are genderless piles of insecurity in the form of human flesh.’
‘it’s all about a man’s search for identity in the form of manhood in a world of men.’