... then how come, for instance, in that parking lot scene, Norton's character practically physically picks himself up or drags himself, as is revealed on that camera, as if it is a ghost carrying him?
And why did so many agree to join in the Fight Club with a guy who was essentially fighting himself?
Yeah. The twist makes some things not make sense. Like why did nobody on the airplane at the beginning notice him talking to himself? Why does Marla go along with his insanity and make him think he and Tyler are 2 different people? Still a good movie.
shareYou can easily nitpick this movie apart by pointing out things that make no sense with the twist.
When you watch this movie again, you're forced to think along the lines of: "Why didn't anyone -ever- question him talking to himself, how can he be brushing his teeth if he's having sex (and zillion similar points where he's interacting with two things/people simultaneously in different places), how can Tyler return to the house from his travels and why does he let narrator just travel back without interfereing, who is driving the car in the scene where they crash, WHY would Tyler demand the cops get narrator's balls, when they're ALSO Tyler's own balls? WHY WOULD HE WANT HIS OWN BALLS CUT??!"
This movie makes close to zero sense from that viewpoint, but I like that it points out that the society is oppressing men and men are miserable - but women don't see it, and they will never understand this movie until they live the quiet desperation men are forced to live. Women are allowed to live in pedestals in ivory towers way above the ground, so they don't see the peasants roaming in the mud, then wonder why they don't eat cake ("why would they want to change this society?!", seems to be the female youtubers' reaction to this movie)..
There are also the weird scenes where 'Tyler speaks for the narrator' - WHY would the narrator think it's normal and natural, that the other people can't hear Tyler, and so on? This is so bizarre and surreal and anyone would be wondering why the doctor doesn't hear me repeating Tyler's exact words that he JUST said, and why they would even let Tyler in the room..
Also, they both hit the car simultaneously with bats - so which one is on which side, which one is just imagining the hit? The car can't get two simultaneous hits if there's only one actual individual on the physical side.
Tyler Durden being imaginary isn't actually important.
shareHave you considered that Tyler is an unreliable narrator? Also, the narrator is an unreliable narrator.
shareThe way to explain this is to assume that a majority of the characters in the film are merely figments of Jack's imagination. All of the "space monkeys" are personalities. One of the arguments made against Marla or other members being real is that they interact with other people, yet Tyler is also seen interacting with other people such as Raymond, so this doesn't really discredit the notion.
The most apparent clue to Marla being another figment of Jack's imagination is their attire. Throughout the film, Tyler and Marla are both seen wearing faux fur coats, they both wear sunglasses, somewhat similar rings, have messy hair, and are seen smoking in nearly every scene.
What is really intriguing, yet difficult to spot unless you read some other interesting interpretations, is that Marla and Tyler both have no reflection. When Tyler saves Marla, we see them pass a convex mirror in the hallway, yet no reflection is seen. The film illustrates that Jack's split personality has no reflection, because towards the film's end, when we see security footage of Jack fighting Tyler, we only see Jack fighting himself. The only time we see Marla or Jack's reflection in the mirror is when Jack is himself (i.e., Tyler in the bathroom or Marla's breast cancer check-up).
An interesting and subtle scene occurs when Jack and Marla are in the laundromat. Here, we see her take out a blue pair of jeans and subsequently sell them at the thrift store, indicating that she is now taking over as a personality. One of the more clever indications regarding this transition in personalities occurs on the plane, where we see Tyler first appear. Immediately after Tyler appears, Jack looks at the emergency exit illustrations, which show three pictures. In the first diagram, we see a woman opening the exit, then in the third diagram a man is standing in her place. This indicates that Tyler has replaced Marla.