[Please note: spoilers ahead] People are always asking me if I know Marla Singer. And although I have to say I don’t think she’s Jack’s Vagina, I have to say yeah, I know Marla Singer, she’s Jack’s anima in Fight Club. Recently I laid low during some friends’ discussion of the movie Inception, because although I like the idea that the whole story has taken place in the decades-long dream that Leonardo DiCaprio’s character has not completed, I also like the idea that the film leaves plenty of room for alternate interpretations. None of my friends mentioned that as a possible explanation, so instead of putting in my two cents, I injected a favorite old debate of mine about the 1999 film Fight Club.

To me, the best popular media – whether it’s music, film, or literature – possesses a gratifying story or message, but manages to layer metaphors, symbols, or otherwise express ambiguity that makes the creation rewarding on repeated consumption. And Fight Club does a fantastic job of this, with its more obvious exploration of consumer culture and nihilism, and its deeper exploration of the struggle for romance and personal identity in modern life, where most of us are “voyeurs of material wealth”. This film has been analyzed to death, so I’m only going to touch on one thing here, something that gets discussed occasionally, but is usually either dismissed out of hand, or rabidly defended by those who believe it’s “true”: The idea that Helena Bonham Carter’s character Marla Singer is just another projection of Ed Norton’s “Jack” character. I like this idea, and think it brings an interesting and different meaning to the film. Although it’s easy to find references to David Fincher’s explanation of the early subliminal cuts of Tyler Durden (they’re just meant to foreshadow Tyler’s later appearance), as far as I know, he’s never been asked why, for instance, Marla can get away with smoking heavily both at meetings for a Tuberculosis support group and a meeting for men with testicular cancer. I’ve also always found it worthy of note that Tyler, Marla, and “Jack” are never in the same scene, except one extremely brief moment in Tyler’s bedroom.

Although the film diverges from the book in ways, author Chuck Palahniuk approved of the film adaptation’s “romantic” ending, saying in this interview that it was okay because “…the whole story is about a man reaching the point where he can commit to a woman.” And that’s why I’m fond of this idea; if Tyler is Jack’s acceptance of his aggressive, expressive side, why can’t Marla be an expression of his stifled and death-obsessed femininity? Screen grabs below with more commentary.

Tyler’s first subliminal appearance, when Jack’s doctor says he needs to see “real pain”…

Tyler then appears at the testicular cancer meeting the doctor suggested…

And again when Jack says life is just “a copy of a copy of a copy”…

I’ve always found it interesting that his last appearance coincides with Marla’s first, as she walks away….

And that Marla is so careless about the traffic, and then disappears behind a passing bus…

And that she chain smokes at a Tuberculosis meeting and no one stops her…

This is the only scene (except the end) where Jack, Marla, and Tyler appear together:

And Jack’s haiku is kind of interesting in this context…

On a side note,  perhaps you never noticed the similarities between Fight Club and Ferris Bueller: