Talk:The Narrator (Fight Club)

Dissociative identity disorder

That's not entirely accurate. The narrator shows elements of dissociative identity disorder (DID) - namely, that his identity is fractured and he has created an alter (Tyler Durden); however, he also has conversations with Tyler and watches "him" doing various things. This sort of hallucination is not in line with DID, and more characteristic of what may be seen in someone with a psychotic disorder (like schizophrenia... although it wouldn't be a very common presentation of the illness). The "illness" he suffers from appears to benefit from artistic license, as it's not something one would find in the ICD or DSM. Jagter80 (talk) 10:42, 2 February 2020 (UTC)

Jagter80, you first commented here then here. Is the above comment what you are looking for? Erik (talk | contrib) ^{(ping me)} 18:36, 2 February 2020 (UTC)

No. Sorry... I'm new to Wikipedia comments. Apparently, because I posted a link to another site (on which a detailed analysis of Fight Club was published) my comments didn't go through. Jagter80 (talk) 18:41, 2 February 2020 (UTC)

@Jagter80: I rewrote some of the article's lead to reflect what you've brought up here. Dissociative identity disorder is still listed in the article's See also section, but in the lead, the character is now described as having a split personality. Though "split personality" redirects to Dissociative identity disorder, I think this amended choice of words will help prevent readers from concluding that the film depicts the disorder in an accurate light. —Matthew - (talk) 04:51, 3 February 2020 (UTC)

@Matthew Since split personality is a relatively non-specific term used by the public (as opposed to mental health professionals) this seems to be a prudent amendment. Thanks. Jagter80 (talk) 05:00, 3 February 2020 (UTC)

Doubly agree, because the book itself is a criticism of both contemporary clinical psychology and "pop psychology". The "12-Step" movement had become very popular outside, as well as inside of substance abuse treatment, in the 90s, as the book depicts. To use an official diagnosis to describe the character misses that point. ie the "narrator" would/could have gone to a 12-step group for "Dissociative Identity Disorder", as such groups were being promoted as a treatment for everything. Cuvtixo (talk) 20:22, 30 January 2021 (UTC)

"When the list was redone in 2015, he placed at number 8" Empire Magazine.

I'm uncomfortable with this. I can see where being placed at #1 in that publication is notable. But listing the demotion without an explanation? There is no explanation offered here or in the 2015 Empire article... I'm not sure if Empire is reaching out to a different demographic, or the writers are just aging and maturing themselves, or.... The new #1-7 are mostly from films before Fight Club. Ripley is now #5, although the Alien films all pre-date Fight Club. The Joker has made some outstanding appearances since Fight Club, but... well, with no explanation or justification, what is really the point of noting the 2015 list at all? While it possibly could indicate that the characters have become less popular, there's too much room for speculation that Empire changed, not the culture. Even if we agree that the character has dropped in popularity, that needs to be said explicitly. The other argument is that the #1 rating in 2008 Empire was misleading and erroneous- an argument to get rid of both references. As I write this I think i'm going to remove references to 2015 Empire listing. If anyone wants to write about it as an indication that the character(s) are less "politically correct" now, or incongruent with modern standards, then that would be reason to bring it back. Actually, just about anything might do. After seeing how "Ripley" from Alien was promoted over The Narrator/Tyler Durden, it got me thinking about it from a feminist perspective. I was wondering if the "split personality" excuses mistreatment of Marla too much? Palahniuk has said that he based the character of Marla on a gay man, which is interesting in light of a discussion on Marla. But I think I'd need additional citations to justify including any of that. But for this article just to note a change to 8 from #1 at Empire? It just doesn't add anything. There's the possibility that it could, but not as is. I'd also note the main article on fight Club lists the #8 placement, but not the original #1 Something should be done about that, tooCuvtixo (talk) 20:56, 30 January 2021 (UTC)