A Connection to the Real World! (1)

In this post, we'll examine one of my favorite films of all time.


SPOILER ALERTS:
We'll be looking at the film "Fight Club", a film which is known for being jam-packed with many different philosophies.


Philosophy #1: As the film reaches its climax, our narrator (Jack) is forced to separate what is real, and what is a figment of his imagination. Up until this point in the film, Jack has no idea of Tyler's true self. He is blissfully unaware that Tyler is merely a dissociation of himself. Once he finds out, however, he starts doubting his ability to perceive the world around him. What is real? What is, like Tyler, just a figment of his imagination? Other questions much like this plague the film from beginning to end.


Philosophy #2: More so in the book/script than in the film itself, Jack is portrayed as an ambiguous, mundane individual. In the story, he has not yet answered (or even thought about) THE BIG QUESTIONS. He would fall under the category of those who are too comfortable to wonder (see the previous post for more on this topic). Soon, however, he meets Tyler Durden, who flips Jack's world upside down when he blows up Jack's apartment. Jack then moves in with Tyler, setting in motion Jack's philosophically violent quest to find his true self, even when things get ugly (and believe me, they do).

An Exceptionally Deep Reflection (1)

Both in class and in the novel "Sophie's World", we discussed a metaphor that effectively split up the entire race into three groups. Our unknown teacher in the novel compares the entire world to fleas in the fur of an animal.


These three aforementioned groups are:
1. Those nestled deep in the fur of the animal, too comfortable to ask THE BIG QUESTIONS (a fair percentage of the population).
2. Those on the outskirts of the fur, still excited about the world that they are learning (children).
3. Those who have escaped, wanting answers to THE BIG QUESTIONS (philosophers).


I like this metaphor a lot. I like how we're able to visualize a detailed (albeit strange) scenario that adequately splits up the entire human race. In some ways, it almost reminds me of the class division that is, and has been, a major theme in film and literature (think H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine"). Obviously, Wells' novel is a much more extreme division of class then what is illustrated by our metaphor, but hopefully you get the idea.

GOOD MORNING EVERYBODY!

Welcome to my blog. My name is Ryan. Here I'll be posting things on Honors Philosophy (a class I take at school), which include long, rambling posts about things of the philosophical variety, responses to the reading we're assigned, as well as some connections to the real world.


Hope you enjoy!