David Fincher adapted Fight Club from the novel by Chuck Palahniuk over two decades ago, but people are going to keep asking him about it, despite that whole rule of not talking about it.
Over the years, the movie’s, uh, aggressiveness, has caused various responses, specifically amongst the far right. Fincher touched on the topic in a recent interview with The Guardian. “I’m not responsible for how people interpret things…Language evolves. Symbols evolve,” he explained, even though he probably wanted to just talk about Michael Fassbender playing an actual assassin in his latest film The Killer.
He continued after the Guardian said Fight Club has been seemingly claimed by “dissatisfied white men.” Fincher responded, “Okay, fine. It’s one of many touchstones in their lexicography. We didn’t make it for them, but people will see what they’re going to see in a Norman Rockwell painting, or [Picasso’s] Guernicam” he added, seemingly comparing Brad Pitt’s over-the-top six pack to viewing art.
Fincher also says he “can’t help” people who don’t understand the film. “It’s impossible for me to imagine that people don’t understand that Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) is a negative influence. People who can’t understand that, I don’t know how to respond and I don’t know how to help them,” he added. Many people would agree that punching is, indeed, negative.