Nietzsche's Ideas On Bad Conscience In The Film Fight Club

1080 Words5 Pages
In this essay I will discuss Nietzsche’s ideas on bad conscience and the internalization of man. I will include the idea that Jack represents slave morality, while Tyler Durden represents master morality, and how their actions not only compliment Nietzsche’s ideology, but overall increase the message of the film Fight Club. One should establish Nietzsche’s teachings and consider them important when watching the film. In the Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche summarizes that a person develops guilt, as morality developed throughout the ages. We as humans, contributed to forming our own conscience. He believes that God did not play a role in our development. This allows us to feel bad for the decisions, one would make. When…show more content…
When a human being suppresses any feelings and keeps them inside, it makes a person less genuine, in other words the internalization of man. They are hiding the truth of their nature, in order to please others, which leads to a bad conscience. Guilt was usually seen as an early form of debt and often required some form of payment. Lacking guilt is a sign of master morality, though when one experiences remorse, or thinks before one acts, that person is connected with having slave morality. Jack is pictured as your everyday typical business man, the prime example of slave morality. He struggles with insomnia; to find a simple solution for this he consults with a doctor who tells him if he wants to see real pain, he should attend support groups. He is seen as weak for suffering from a disorder. Jack often finds comfort in other people’s suffering. He begins to feel more alive than he ever was. As he begins to convince…show more content…
He is in incredibly great shape, he wears expensive clothing, but most importantly, he is a leader. He invented Fight Club. Project Mayhem then stemmed from it, and he gained all these slaves in the process to do his dirty work. Nobody besides Jack, ever once questioned if the acts they committed were ever morally justified. When Tyler dragged that store clerk to the back of his own store and forced him at gun-point to continue pursuing his old goals, he did not necessarily think of the consequences of his actions. He is a man that cares about nothing, but results. Tyler demonstrates the amount of control he has over Jack by subtly entering his point of vision throughout the beginning of the film. Tyler manually inserts himself into the minds of his followers, just as he inserts pornographic images when ever he runs the projector at his part time job. Towards the end of the film, Tyler begins to taunt Jack. He starts to talk down to him and begins to list the ways that he is superior. He is not afraid to state the truth, and his involvement with Project Mayhem as the ring leader, is to basically destroy weak minded individuals. To kill the slave, to take down the shepherd of the sheep, which is basically the economy. To destroy what Jack is most infatuated with, the notion of having a want. Tyler is not afraid to flaunt his dominance, he is comfortable with his own skin. Only an individual who

    More about Nietzsche's Ideas On Bad Conscience In The Film Fight Club

      Open Document