Tuesday, May 21, 2013

interesting
#4. Fight Club: A Brief Close-Up on a Telephone Gives Away the Ending

[http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/3/5/5/181355.jpg?v=1]Regency Entertainment/20th Century Fox

Fight Club is, of course, full of hints about the big twist (that Edward Norton and Brad Pitt were the split personalities of one guy who just beats the shit out of himself for no reason), and most of them are obvious after the fact. Like when Norton beats the hell out of himself in his boss' office and says that it reminds him of his first fight with Tyler Durden (Pitt) -- it seems like an offhand comment on your first viewing, but is obvious in retrospect.

[http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/3/3/1/181331_v1.jpg]Regency Entertainment/20th Century Fox
We can only imagine what masturbating reminded him of.

However, there's one bit of Brad-Pitt-is-really-a-mind-ghost foreshadowing that we're pretty sure even the most devout Fight Club viewers mining the DVD for senior yearbook quotes didn't pick up on, and that is the freaking pay phone.

The Foreshadowing:

Right after Norton's apartment explodes, he calls Tyler on a pay phone to ask if he can crash on the couch at Tyler's rancid hobo tomb. Tyler doesn't answer, so Norton hangs up. Immediately the phone starts ringing -- Tyler is on the other end, having hit *69 to redial the last number that had called him, because for some reason a man in designer clothing living in a giant decaying shack feels the need to screen his calls.

As soon as the phone starts ringing, however, we are treated to a revealing close-up:

[http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/3/3/2/181332.jpg?v=2]Regency Entertainment/20th Century Fox
"Schizophrenic hallucinations and local calls only."

It's tough to see, but read that line directly underneath the word "TELNEX" -- it says "No Incoming Calls Allowed." Meaning it is not physically possible for this telephone to receive incoming calls. Meaning Tyler cannot possibly have called Edward Norton back. Meaning Edward Norton is standing in a phone booth with the receiver pressed to his ear, having a detailed conversation with nobody. And of course we find out later that's exactly what he was doing.

Granted, none of this explains why a man beating the shit out of himself in a parking lot would attract a group of disenfranchised males asking if they can join him, but that would be the subject of another article.

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