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DZ-111: Unreliable Narrators and FIGHT CLUB

How does the unreliability of a narrator impact the way a story is told?

⏱ 55h 26m
Character · Structure · Words | 2 JUL 2024

Show Notes

In this episode, Stu and Mel (sans Chas!) take a deep dive into FIGHT CLUB and its use of the unreliable narrator. This is a bridging episode between our previous episode on VOICEOVER and our forthcoming episode on TALKING TO CAMERA as Fight Club does both.

We dissect the film’s disconnected sequence-driven structure and how the voiceover ’stitches’ the film together. And then we look at what makes ‘Jack’ an unreliable narrator and how his control over the storytelling impacts us.

Thanks to Chris Walker for his excellent editing this episode.

"Everything he says to Marla, everything he says to Bob, everything he says to Tyler is him speaking to the audience because he’s showing us those things."

— Mel Killingsworth  |  DZ-111: Unreliable Narrators and FIGHT CLUB

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Thanks to our Patrons, especially Lily, Alexandre, Malay, Jennifer, Thomas, Paulo, Randy, Jesse, Sandra, Theis and Khrob.

As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.

Transcript

Read the transcript for this episode.

Chapters

  • 00:00:01 – Cold Open
  • 00:00:20 – Fight Club
  • 00:24:57 – Unreliable Narrators
  • 00:49:09 – Key Learnings & Wrap Up
  • 00:54:07 – Many thanks to our Patrons!

Films

Scripts

Episodes in the Talking Directly to the Audience series

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