How Tyler Durden Became One Of The Most Iconic Villains Of The '90s

From David Fincher's Fight club, Tyler Durden is one of the most idolized villains in movie history. Though for all the wrong reasons, Tyler Durden has been a pop culture icon ever since Fight Club's big screen adaptation. Though, much like Fight Club's big reveal, there is a lot more to Tyler Durden than meets the eye.

#fightclub #tylerdurden #nerdstalgic

Written by Adam Smith
Edited by Dan Smiley

[archive]

Fun Fact: Brad Pitt and Edward Norton both really learned how to make soap for the movie

[ajtaylor]

Tyler Durden is the quintessential character of the 90s as he represented the truly repressed masculinity within a society full of soulless men, but also the extreme dangers that come along when that masculinity isn't healthily channeled in the right direction. Such an iconic character with an iconic performance from Brad Pitt, the quintessential 90s stud.

[BrendanPappas]

This really is an incredible movie because as much as it may seem on the surface to be gratuitously violent and nihilistic, it actually has some very deep themes and messages and an absolutely excellent twist with Tyler being a part of the narrator. Definitely one of the top movies of the 90s and hugely misunderstood by way too many people.

[deathsyth]

Is Tyler Durden technically a manic pixie dream guy?

[rwitco]

Still mad at a college friend for telling me Tyler and the narrator were the same person early in the movie.

[stickythrottle]

"The things you own, end up owning you" -Tyler Durden. There are so many quotable lines in the film but I always come back to this one whenever I feel like I'm buying crap for no reason.

[SaurianStudios]

“We’re the middle children of history man, no purpose or place. We have no Great War, no Great Depression. Our Great War is a spiritual war, our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won’t. We’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.” -Tyler Durden

[roel.vinckens]

Tyler Durden, T.D., The Devil as the lovable stunner, sexy manipulator and tempting influencer we all carry within. The most seducing villain ever. You actually want him to win. Epic.

[DaimyoD]

I've seen this movie more times than any other and read the book more than I've read any book. I think your analysis and criticism of Tyler is great. Anti-capitalism is good, but not at the cost of yourself becoming an authoritarian. The perversion of Buddhist ideals is also really good, a bit better explained in the book. The Narrator really does want to reach a state of peace. Tyler wants to exploit emptiness to make soldiers.

[omcorc]

Fight Club (both the book and the movie) was aimed at Gen X, who had started to realize that most of what they'd been told by their parent's generation was BS. We started to see that the "go to college, work hard, get married, have a kid, repeast, succeed" paradigm was also mostly BS. Sadly, a lot of that momentum was lost, as mindless consumerism, mindless entertainment, and (of course) social media, completely took over.

[raullooez]

More than 20 years later and still I find videos and essays with different takes (like this one) that give me new perspective on a movie I thought I knew like the back of my hand

[vollied]

One of the greatest movies of all time I watch it at least once a year to remind me of both sides of the coin.

[manwiththeredface]

1. The lesson of the story is not only applicable to men or to masculinity. There were, are and will be groups in the population who eventually get so disenfranchised with everything that they'd rather burn down the village if that's the only way for them to feel its warmth.
2. You say Tyler is a villain, a terrorist but I disagree. Tyler actually is nothing but the negative symptom of the life of a man (the narrator) gone directionless (just like so many cases of mental problems nowadays). There is no villain here, just like Narrator is not a hero (he's just an average schmuck like most of us with repressed desires).

[YazzyDream]

Villains that have lingered as long as Tyler Durdan?

Regina George.

[shap]

great video for one of the best films i've ever seen, truly a masterpiece.

subbed 👍🏼

[jackroyaltea]

Men are disenchanted.
When completely normal parts of masculinity and vilified and shamed while the normal aspects of femininity are celebrated it is creating that generation of men tylor spoke about.
Which scares me because I worry men will start to get the wrong idea like many have about this movie.
Like you said. Tyler lost.
Men are scolded for crying and shunned for having emotions, especially by women. Boys on playgrounds are told that if a girl hits them they can’t hit them back but that girls can hit boys.
Meanwhile adult men have normal healthy traits labeled as toxic. Men are more aggressive. For hundreds of thousands of years we were hunters and protectors. This modern life is brand new in the whole scope of human history. We aren’t wired for this. Office life is killing is while we literally eat plastic and inhale poison.
Men aren’t allowed to be men anymore.
And no. I’m not suggesting that sexual harassment or misogyny are normal male behavior. But those aren’t the only things men are attacked for being.

Sooner or later something is gonna give. We are living in the era of the over-correction. I’d hate to be on the other side when the rubber band snaps back.
Hell. You could argue that it’s already happening in short Bursts.

[yossarian]

Tyler Durden is not a villain. He's an anti-hero.

[garytuttle]

my favorite part of watching people who were young when they watched Fight Club is watching them realize Tyler is full of shit

[jackcarlos]

This comment section is baffling.
-People idoloizing a movie character, even though the point of the movie and this video is to not do that.
-People weirdly complaining about spelling errors?
-People trying to be smarter than they are by spewing a bunch of philosophical trash and/or just quoting the movie acting like they originally wrote it?

[gabrieljordan]

"Watch him tear down a society of mindless consumer slaves - by building a society of mindless actual slaves"
Quote from Honest Trailers.