Fight Club Film Theory: Tyler Durden Isn't The Only Character Who Doesn't Exist

4. The Curious Case Of The Dildo

Arguably the strongest piece of evidence for Marla being imaginary occurs in an otherwise seemingly innocuous scene that's basically played for laughs.

Jack's luggage gets confiscated by airport security because it was vibrating, which alerts the bomb squad despite the fact that, as an airport agent explains, 90% of the time it's a customer's dildo being set off.

Jack's bemusement at the scenario is hilarious and understandable, but the scene takes on a whole other meaning if you consider that Jack and Marla reside within the same body, and Marla may well have been the "person" who packed Jack's suitcase.

After all, why wouldn't Marla pack a dildo?

It's never resolved one way or another if the suitcase did actually have a dildo in it or not, but watching the scene with this theory in mind, the security guard's reluctance to assign the potential dildo as Jack's "definite article" only adds more fuel to the fire that, in fact, it's not really Jack's dildo at all - it's Marla's.

In fact, there's another dildo-related gag later on that also seems to support the theory - when Tyler prevents Marla's suicide, he notices a large dildo at her bedside, and she immediately quips, "Don't worry. It's not a threat to you."

Though it can be easily dismissed as nothing more than a comical one-liner, Marla might also be hinting at their shared personage because, well, when they "have sex", it's really just Jack masturbating anyway.

And now that we've looked at the connection between Jack and Marla in depth, it's time to consider the duality of Marla and Tyler...