Final Project For Lit Circles By:
Jonathan, Hudson, Shanez, Cleon, Wyatt, Daniel
The Physical Exhibit Space
When you first walk into the museum, you are surrounded by explosions, yellow/orange colored walls with a gun on display. This room represents the star of our novel when we are introduced to Tyler and the nameless narrator who are both on top of a burning building with Tyler holding a gun in the narrator’s mouth. The second room right in front represents the narrator’s kitchen with Swedish furniture that he is very fond of, the checkered wall represents the “game of checkers” going on with his split personality. The green room on your left with chairs is the support group that the narrator goes to for his personal healing with the quote “Faker. Faker. Faker” to represent Marla also faking her sickness to attend. The next half of the room with white bricks represents Fight Club itself, the rules that go along with Fight Club and the plot diagram, the second part has Tyler’s car where the narrator and Tyler stay when Marla is at Tyler’s house. The next room to the left of the kitchen is the room with visuals of the main characters. The next room is the gift shop where you can buy specialized Fight Club merch, soaps and copies of the book. The second last room represents Tyler’s house on Paper Street where he starts Project Mayhem and where he has “space monkeys” making soap and preparing for the project. The last room of the museum represents the end of the story when the narrator (who we discover is Tyler Durden) shoots himself (the gun) then ends up in “Heaven” but in reality he’s in a hospital and the meds add on to that fact, there’s also a picture of half of the narrator’s face merged with Tyler’s to emphasize that Tyler and the narrator were the same person from the start.
The Museum:
The Fight Club Merchandise
Merchandise #1 (Front and back of shirt)
This shirt represents the story because it has a fight club soap on the front which is the name of the book and has soap which was a big part of the story because it was their main source of income. The back of the shirt represents the story because it has the first two rules of fight club on it. These are probably the most important rules because it shows how secret the fight club was and now how big it has become.
Merchandise #2 (Front and Back)
This t-shirt has the chemical formula to create dynamite in the story. This is important because dynamite is used widely throughout the plot in different scenarios. Such as when the narrator’s condo was blown up using this particular dynamite, or when Tyler says he can blow up bridges and buildings using this homemade dynamite. Tyler even mentions that with enough of these ingredients, you can basically blow up the entire world. This same chemical formula for dynamite was used at the end of the book when the Narrator and Tyler were on top of the building and Tyler threatened to explode the building. However, the bomb did not detonate and malfunctioned because Tyler mixed paraffin in it and this final plan from Project Mayhem had failed. At the end, the space monkeys from Project Mayhem tells him the plan continues and expects Tyler to come back, meaning that the narrator has not gotten rid of Tyler.
Merchandise #3 (Soap)
This bar of soap represents the novel Fight Club because in the novel, the main characters owned a soap company. The soap company was named Paper Street Soap Company which is integrated in this bar of soap. This bar of soap gives the buyer the feeling of owning the homemade soap that the narrator and Tyler Durden created. They created the Paper Street Soap Company to be the main source of income which allows them to invest more in fight club and project mayhem which are the two main groups in the novel. Tyler mentions in the novel that to make the soap, he uses Marla Singer’s mother’s collagen as the fat source for the bars of soap. When Marla’s mother would have a liposuction Marla would save the extra fat in case her mother needed more collagen injections. Tyler would store this fat in several bags in the freezer and the Paper Street Soap Company makes a fortune off this soap.
The Artifacts
1. The Bed
The bed is a very significant item as it is an important symbol in the novel. The bed is a symbol for the narrator’s insomnia as he does not get any sleep. When the narrator falls asleep, Tyler Durden is off doing something crazy that someone has to be out of their mind to do. The bed also symbolizes the fact that the narrator suffers from insomnia. It is important to know that the narrator has insomnia as it is something that affects him drastically throughout the story. The narrator’s insomnia essentially causes the narrator to never feel as if he is awake or if he is asleep. This insomnia develops into the narrator discovering his split personality of Tyler Durden which completely changes the narrator’s mind and thoughts. This all leads into the narrator attempting to find Tyler which is his split personality and he plans to take the role of the leader and shut down the fight clubs.
2. The Explosives
The explosives are significant as they are used a lot in the story. Explosives are used mostly by Project Mayhem to take down buildings and destroy modern civilization. Another reason explosives are important to the story is because it is a bonding item over Tyler and the narrator Tyler teaches him how to make explosives and it sticks to the narrator as he is always mentioning explosives and him knowing it because of Tyler. Explosives are kind of a symbol for Tyler as he is extreme, bold, and mischievous just like explosives would be.
3. The Space Monkeys
The space monkey in the book represents how society is easily manipulated into sheep. In the book, the space monkeys are workers in Tyler’s Project Mayhem. They are recruited from Fight Club and they are trained to do simple tasks over and over again. The tasks they do are pushing buttons, boiling fat, cooking food, gardening, etc. They must shave their heads and wear all black which makes them look all alike. This symbolizes how people in society blindly follow leaders even though they do not know what they are working towards. They suffer mentally and physically all for a paycheck just like how modern society is in the real world. They are sheep controlled by people higher to make them feel important but in reality are just doing simple tasks. And their fingerprints get burned off with lye to make them even less special. They also must be obedient and blindly follow their leader and if they disobey, violent consequences will occur.
4. 68 Chevy Impala
The 68’ Chevy Impala is significant to the story because it is where the narrator and Tyler would go when they want to just talk and have a couple of beers. The Impala is also a place where the narrator and Tyler go when they need to lay low from Marla or to lay low from their home. The Impala was chosen by the narrator and Tyler because it has very large front seats so if they ever needed to sleep in on a Saturday night, they are able to. Another reason why the Impala is significant to the story is because it is where Tyler tells the narrator about how to make soap along with what fats to use and what fats not to use. Overall, the 1968 Chevrolet Impala is significant to the story because it was the place that the narrator and Tyler went to hang out and it was the place where Tyler told the narrator about how to make soap properly.
5. Testicular Cancer Poster
The testicular cancer poster is significant to the story because it represents where the narrator meets some important characters. The narrator meets bob at the testicular cancer support group after he had gone to many different support groups with many different names. The narrator also meets Marla at the different support groups because she was doing the same as the narrator and going to many different support groups. This is also where Marla calls the narrator a “faker” and accuses him of not having anything wrong and lying to all the members. Another reason why the poster is significant is because the support groups are where the narrator felt he belonged because he felt his life could not get any worse just like the support group members. Overall the testicular cancer poster is significant because it represents where the narrator met characters like Marla and Bob, also because it is where the narrator learned that his life could get worse even though he felt like he fit in.
Character Profiles
Tyler Durden Tyler Durden met the Narrator during a business trip on a nude beach. After the Narrator’s apartment exploded Tyler invited the narrator to stay with him in his house and Soap factory. Tyler is the polar opposite of the narrator, where the Narrator works a steady job, Tyler makes soap when he wants to, where the Narrator lives in a nice apartment, Tyler lives in a run-down house, where the Narrator dislikes Marla, Tyler is in a relationship with her. Tyler and the Narrator’s friendship lead to the creation of the Fight club, and eventually Tyler branches the fight club off into his “Project Mayhem”.
Marla Singer This is Marla Singer, Marla Singer is an acquaintance of the Narrator and in a relationship with Tyler. Marla met the Narrator when they both went to a disease support group and the narrator realized that she must be faking it. This led to the different support groups throughout the city being split up among them. Marla met Tyler when she called the soap factory wanting to talk to the Narrator about how she was planning on killing herself, this led to Tyler picking up the phone and going to see her. This led to Tyler starting an intimate relationship with her. Nearing the end of the story Marla reveals information to the Narrator that changes his outlook on reality.
The Setting Of Fight Club
There isn’t a specific setting for this novel as no city is mentioned in the book. We can predict that the story takes place in a city in the United States of America because of the other nearby cities mentioned in the book. The book first starts off with the two main characters on top of a building that is blowing up but, later we get a glimpse into the narrator’s life (his house, the support group, his workplace.) We also see that there isn’t much use of technology in the book besides computers which gives us an idea about the year that the story takes place, (the first laptop/portable computer was made in 1975) around the 70’s and 80’s. The two main characters also spend time together in bars and underground bars where Fight Club is invented which were also main hangout spots in those times. Also we know that the story is fairly closer to our time because of the expensive cost of soap ($20) which is still relevant nowadays. Tyler’s apartment on Paper Street is also the setting for project Mayhem and is also a relevant place where main events happen. They also make soap by boiling fat the old fashion way and by making individual pieces of soap, this is represented in the Paper Street Soap Company room in our museum where there are no machines or factories to make soap.
Our Ad Campaign
The admission cost of our museum will be set at $20 with an optional fee of $280, the admission is set at this price because $20 was the cost of one of Tyler’s bars of soap and $300 was the cost of becoming a space monkey. Basic admission the the museum comes with a free bar of soap, and advanced admission comes with the opportunity to join project mayhem and become a space monkey. This museum is for people who are mature and not affected by any disturbing content. These advertisements will be played across various different movie channels to entice a mature audience for Fight Club.
What I Accomplished In This Project
In this final project, I completed areas of the projects regarding the artifacts, merchandise, the commercial, and other minor parts. For the artifacts, I completed the plot diagram about the novel that was needed for one of the artifacts and the Space Monkey artifact paragraph. For the merchandise, I designed the Fight Club t-shirt, and co-designed with Hudson the Fight Club rules sweater and dynamite t-shirt. As well as writing the merchandise paragraph about the chemical formula for dynamite t-shirt. I also found two pictures for the character profile part, which I thought one of them really helped depict the circumstances and idea about where they stand between the three main characters in the novel (like how Marla is physically and mentally between Tyler and the narrator). For the actual museum, I think everybody contributed ideas for it but mainly Shanez and Daniel worked on it. For the commercial, I didn’t play a major role but the part I played was the introduction/explanation of the plot of the novel, as well as some behind the scenes work and ideas, such as the soap fade and soap chuck at Hudson.
Fight Club commercial: