Henry Giroux and Imre Szeman's essay "Ikea boy fights back" criticizes the movie by saying that it offers no real solution to the problem of consumer culture. Their argument is valid in the sense that what they say is true. Blowing up the headquarters of credit card companies and destroying places that are the "shrines of consumer culture" is not a practical way to deal with the problem. Perhaps the aim of Chuck Palahniuk was not to show a solution, but to emphasize the fact that there really exists a problem. Either way, the movie and the book are to be lauded because of the boldness with which they have brought up the topic.
The publication of the essay in two different places and the exposure of different kinds of audience to it has varied results. As stated earlier, some people may view it as "freedom of speech" issue and say that Chuck Palahniuk wrote what he felt like and his solution was a satire on consumer culture aimed at getting attention to the real issue. Other audiences may view it as "just another film" which just talks about problems without offering any real solution to it.
In the case of students, who are mostly the young generation in their early twenties or so, the thought that first comes to mind would be total agreement with the movie. This would be the case because the young generation believes that it is the main target of manufacturing firms and brand names and there is some sense of joy that at last the problem has been acknowledged.
Among the general public, there would be a sense of dissatisfaction. An average person would not be satisfied with the mere acknowledgement of the problem. This person would identify himself/herself with Jack and would be really eager to follow Jack's solution of the problem even though that is not possible. Which is why the person would feel that the movie perhaps creates more problems by actually acknowledging the issue and giving a non practical solution to it.
Fight club by Chick Palahniuk is a novel that essentially deals with the problems faced by men. In his novel, the main character is Jack who is the narrator in the novel. Jack is an ordinary, average working person with a boring job and has no self confidence. He is someone who feels no joy, has a monotonous life, and has no identity of himself. He lives in a condominium with IKEA furniture and he feels that the furniture and the condominium are his identity. This is a very good example of consumer culture and its effect on the average person. When Jack purchases these peices of furniture, he thinks to himself "this is the last sofa I'll ever need" and so on. Thus his picture of himself is based on the purchases he makes and he has no self esteem or confidence and has no picture of himself without those things he purchases and the condominium he lives in. Meeting Tyler Durdon and starting Fight Club changes all this. To Jack, Tyter Durdon is like this "God-like" apparition of masculinity; his sculpture, his personality, his confidence just exuberate masculinity. Joining Fight Club gives Jack something to look forward to, something which gives him a sense of "I am something" and confidence that he is not just an ordinary guy on the road. This confidence is what change Jack's life.
