Why is everything that happens in Fight Club because of Marla Singer?

Why is everything that happens in Fight Club because of Marla Singer? - Fit man and woman practicing kickboxing in gym

I've seen this movie about a hundred times, read the book several times as well, but there's one thing I don't understand.

At the end of opening sequence, right before the flashback to Jack meeting Bob, Jack says in the voice over:

                         JACK (V.O.)
            Somehow, I realize all of this -- the
            gun, the bombs, the revolution -- is
            really about Marla Singer.

How exactly is it about Marla Singer? How is she the cause of all that? Did Jack create Tyler because of Marla? What did I miss?



Best Answer

The narrator had many characters he used in different group meetings. Marla meets him as Cornelius for example. When the narrator was in the presence of another faker, he couldn't let go, he couldn't cry, and so he couldn't sleep. Marla was a constant reminder, he was a fake as well.

He tried to explain how essential these support group meetings were to him, but she didn't care. Marla faces her problems in a very head on way. She goes to meetings to see people die, so she can feel alive. She cares very little for what everyone thinks of her, openly smoking in a cancer support meeting.

They split up the groups, and exchange phone numbers, but the narrator had long been without rest due to Marla, and he departs soon after in a business trip, where he meets Tyler for the first time who gives him his business card with his phone number. We had seen Tyler before, when the narrator was extremely tired and complaining of lost time. Tyler'd walk by the narrator, or just flash across the screen.

Looking back at one of the meetings, they are taught to go inside their cave, and find their power animal, which represent themselves. The narrator, initially has a penguin, but later his power animal becomes Marla. The narrator refuses this - or at least he thinks he does. But by obsessing with her, he gives rise to Tyler, and Tyler and Marla have plenty in common. He created Tyler in the image of Marla.

When you examine Tyler, you can see Marla in the way he thinks and preaches. He said stop caring what other people think. To do what you need to feel alive. And to stop trying to control your life. So, in short, Marla was the inspiration for Tyler. And Tyler is the bigger than life / taken to the extreme version of Marla's way of life (at least in the eyes of the narrator).




Pictures about "Why is everything that happens in Fight Club because of Marla Singer?"

Why is everything that happens in Fight Club because of Marla Singer? - Female practicing boxing skills with trainer
Why is everything that happens in Fight Club because of Marla Singer? - Female punching boxing ball during training in gym
Why is everything that happens in Fight Club because of Marla Singer? - Serious young male boxer training on ring



Why is Marla important in Fight Club?

Summing up, Marla is the main woman who joins the company of the narrator and keeps both Tyler and narrator related to the rest of the world. As well as other characters, she is self-centered and strange to the world where she lives. It is the reason why she finds her new friends appropriate for her.

What happens to Marla Singer in Fight Club?

The fights move to the bar's basement where the men form the eponymous Fight Club, which routinely meets. Marla overdoses on pills and telephones the Narrator for help; he ignores her, but Tyler goes to her apartment to save her.

Was Marla a hallucination?

The site maps out all of the reasons why Helena Bonham Carter's antagonistic love interest, Marla, is a figment of Jack's (Edward Norton) imagination\u2026 much like Tyler (Brad Pitt) exists only in Tyler's mind. They are all one person. They are all "Jack," our story's narrator.

Is Marla personality in Fight Club?

Personality\u2026 strong-willed, careless and suicidal. Marla is \u201cthe little scratch on the roof of your mouth that would heal if only you could stop tonguing it.\u201d Marla steals clothes from a laundromat just to turn around and sell them at a thrift shop. She runs out into oncoming traffic and doesn't think twice.



FIGHT CLUB: Why is Marla Singer important in Fight Club?




Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Annushka Ahuja, Andres Ayrton, Andres Ayrton, ANTONI SHKRABA