-Fight+Club

1. Unnamed narrator wants to live with more excitement and fulfilling pleasure. 2. The unnamed narrator needs to discover who he is as a person and comes to term with his life.

3. Mis en Scene The scene uses mis en scene to suggest how bland the unnamed narrators life is before his life changing moment. In addition to the narration, the scene is color corrected to be as bland as possibly be. All on screen colors are not distinct or bright, rather they are de-saturated. In what is mostly an expository scene about the condo the unnamed narrator lives in, the generic furniture and room are distinctly, boring. Their arrangement is almost too perfect because they have literally come out of an IKEA catalogue. The on screen text describing each piece of IKEA furniture only serves to reinforce its monotonous perfection. The unnamed narrator’s clothes are no better, as he is only wearing a plain white shirt. The boring state of the mis en scene in this film exemplify how much of an average joe the narrator is. He lacks all individuality; His home, a reflection of his individuality, is completely manufactured by a single company that mass produces the same furniture for millions. His fridge, the only place left to show any unique characteristics, is almost barren.

Editing In conjunction with showing the boredom his life is, the editing is also remarkably simple, the only exception being the dissolve transition from the IKEA catalogue to the living room. Although, this transition is particularly effective in communicating how the unnamed narrator lacks individuality. By linking his living room to the IKEA catalogue page, the editing suggests that the uninspiring catalogue room in the picture is almost completely like the real one in the condo. The rest of the cuts of the scene complement the bland simplicity of the initial transition. The viewer can then get an reinforced idea of how bland the unnamed narrator is.

Sound The most evident sound within this scene is the generic music being played. As the generic furniture is shown, the viewer hears the cheerful and light music they would find at a Home Depot. It is almost as if the viewer has stepped into a boring shopping center display, the music becoming the final piece of the image. The monotonous narration only serves to put the cheerful music in a negative light, as he talks about generic manufactured things. Everything remotely interesting becomes uninteresting after his droning voice continues throughout the scene. In keeping with the coming of age theme, this generic sound reinforces how uninspired and boring the unnamed narrator’s home is and ultimately, his life.

Cinematography Like the other cinematic elements to this scene, the cinematography is left to be uninspiring as well. For the most part, the shots are simple. At a uniform speed, the key expository shot of the scene is just a slow pan across the room. Towards the end, it almost feels like an advert for IKEA after the furniture descriptions pop up on screen with their respective prices. The next shots following are also bland, having used the near cliché p.o.v shots from inside the cabinet/refrigerator.

Lighting Unlike the rest of the movie, this scene has been purposely lit to bland as well. Instead of the low-key lighting that form the most of the moody movie scenes, these scenes are lit with high key lighting. The unnamed narrator looks incredibly flat due to this kind of lighting. Much like the rest of the scene highlighting the boring and generic home, the lighting highlights how boring and generic the unnamed narrator is at this point in his life. This serves to clarify just exactly how much he has changed when the movie has reached its climax