Fight Club, Walter Benjamin, and Film Narrative

I have to disagree with Dulac’s claim that it is a “criminal error” to believe that narrative is the essence of film. She is of course right that much of the appeal of film lies in its ability to capture in close-up or slow motion events or objects in our everyday lives that we would not be able to see with normal human eyes. This is a unique and essential quality to making a lasting film. However, I believe that the central value of a film must begin with the narrative structure. Without a compelling narrative, the film cannot hold its audience’s interest and thus loses much of its value. Avant-garde films that rely simply on images that are zoomed in or slowed down struggle for meaning much more than do films that couple those super-sensory shots with a meaningful storyline. “Fight Club” is a perfect example of this. The spliced images that continually pop into the film and into the viewer’s subconscious produce an effect that is only possible through film technologies. As Walter Benjamin says, “for the entire spectrum of optical, and now acoustical, perception the film has brought about a … deepening of apperception.” When Tyler Durden pops into the film for a single frame (as he does several times), this creates an effect outside of narration that otherwise would be impossible. Assuming that the viewer is able to notice Tyler’s appearance, this creates the perception that Tyler is essentially ever present. It is a subtle foreshadowing or clue that Tyler is actually only a creation of the narrator’s mind and not a real character. A trick like this is unique to film and would not be possible in almost any other media. However, our appreciation of the multilayered effects such as this, made possible by film technology, would not be nearly as great without the carefully plotted narrative that “Fight Club” provides. Much of the enjoyment of seeing the film for the first time relies on the narrative twists and turns, especially at the film’s conclusion. When the audience and the narrator discover that Tyler is not actually real, therein lies much of the film’s greatness. This is a kind of “Aha” moment as we can then think back (or re-watch) and realize all the subtle clues we missed that foreshadowed the twist. The progression of the narrative to the point where we appreciate the plot twist magnifies the effects of film technology and gives them meaning. Only with the narrative structure can we fully appreciate the single shots of Tyler early in the movie or the fact that Tyler, Marla, and the narrator never appear together in the same shot. These tricks and others like them prove that Benjamin is absolutely right that film technology opens up new psychology terrain and helps us to break out of our normal, blinkered perceptions. However, Dulac’s argument neglects the value of narrative as the core of the film. The unique frontiers that film can make available to us are incomplete without a storyline to give them meaning. Narrative is first layer of film and only on that foundation can the rest of any film’s various meanings be fully realized.