When a slide came up telling us all we were unique, the person next to me quoted the line abov
e. I immediately knew I had heard it before. I asked where that line was from. He sheepishly replied "uh,
Fight Club" not really wanting to announce too loud at seminary his viewing of an R-rated movie. But then it made sense. Fight Club is the movie of my generation. Generationally, the baby-boomers have grown up with dreams and high hopes of sucess if you just work hard. I rarely meet a member of the baby-boom generation that liked or followed what Fight Club was about, but rarely meet someone of my generation that did not connect with the theme:
"an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy [crap] we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off. "
This is not a recommendation for the book or movie, (so don't blame me if you watch it and are offended by multiple scenes) though it does give a picture of what the great rebellion of my generation looks like. When this angst is seen, the music and general apathy to career makes sense. The idol of the previous generation has become accepted: money=good. My generation is still in the Iconoclast stage, smashing idols without settling on which idol will replace it. Another line gives hope that this generation may be realizing its problem: "First you have to give up, first you have to *know*... not fear... *know*... that someday you're gonna die. "
