The Changeover Scene In David Fincher's Film Fight Club

Analysis of Fight Club
The changeover scene of Director David Fincher’s film Fight Club emphasizes the inner battle of self-versus-self that takes place within the main character. The changeover scene begins when the main character Jack enters into the unfamiliar setting of the bar, and a bartender, whom Jack does not recognize, identifies him. Fincher employs techniques of mis-en-scene, such as lighting, to help convey the doppelgänger motif. The utilization of two distinctly diverse characters aids in the portrayal of the paradigmatic changeover scene because they depict the psychological allegory between the characters Jack and Tyler Durden in order to convey themes of consumerism and psychological repression/release.
Until the changeover

Throughout the course of the movie, Tyler dresses in funky collared shirts and has long hair. Now, he has gotten a haircut identical to Jack, and the two characters, who up until this point dressed very differently, both dress in t-shirts underneath a jacket. Therefore, Jack and Tyler’s appearance depicts the characters becoming one in the same. Granted, the styles of the jackets are different, but this differentiation serves to express Jack’s hidden desires which are expressed through Tyler: “I look like you want to look. I fuck like you want to fuck. I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not” (1:53:27). Jack’s repressed desires go deeper than his surface level appearance by the subliminal messaging of the theme consumerism. In the first few scenes of the movie, Jack is shown as the model consumer. However, as Tyler eases his way into a more prominent role, he starts taking stabs at his consumeristic lifestyle. Tyler is free from consumerism in ways that Jack is not. Therefore, he provides a psychological release for Jack’s pent-up

For example, when Jack stands, Tyler follows suit and stands, too. The mirror effect illustrates that Tyler is a part of Jack, a doppelgänger. In fact, Tyler arose from Jack’s inability to express his inner emotions and desires, so depicting the similarities during this scene of the two characters as they become one aids the audience in visualizing the plot movement. Furthermore, when Jack has flashbacks of previous scenes where Tyler played a key role, the voices are echoing and distant, very unlike the original conversations he remembered (1:52:54). The indistinct, echoing of the dialogue implies that Tyler’s voice was a figment of his imagination the entire time. Also, during one of Jack’s final conversations with Tyler in the hotel room, there is a scene where Jack is talking to empty space which further enhances the notion that Tyler only served to provide a psychological release for Jack