As soon as you saw the title for this article, many of you may have immediately guessed at the inclusion of Tyler Durden. Perhaps there is no film from contemporary cinema that is as frequently discussed in college philosophy classes today (especially classes dealing with existentialism) than Fight Club. And that's all thanks to the great existentialist himself, Tyler Durden. Durden's sole purpose is to challenge the preconceived notions people have come to accept about themselves and to get people to recognise and embrace their own radical freedom. Fight Club is not meant solely as a cathartic release for the pent up repression of man in the Age of Consumerism, but is meant to illustrate to its members the amount of extreme freedom they possess over their lives. Durden's true purpose is not to create an army of rageaholic clones, but rather a group of free men, true existential warriors. Instead of explaining the goals of Mr. Durden though, maybe it's best to take him at his own words: "You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet." "Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you're alive. If you don't claim your humanity you will become a statistic." "People do it everyday, they talk to themselves... they see themselves as they liked to be..." "You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you. He never wanted you. In all probability, he hates you. This is not the worst thing that can happen." Need we say more?
A film fanatic at a very young age, starting with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies and gradually moving up to more sophisticated fare, at around the age of ten he became inexplicably obsessed with all things Oscar. With the incredibly trivial power of being able to chronologically name every Best Picture winner from memory, his lifelong goal is to see every Oscar nominated film, in every major category, in the history of the Academy Awards.
