For this blog, I chose the cult classic, Fight Club. I think this movie is a perfect intersection of Classicism and Formalism. Director, David Fincher uses traditional psychological thriller methods such as quick cuts from scene to scene, loud diagetic sound, but he also employs techniques that are very different from the classic structure. Fight Club, from very beginning is a psychological thriller in a way I’ve never seen one done before. There are subliminal messages throughout, even spliced images within scenes to make the viewer feel as though the are going crazy while watching. There are even moments of stark realism, especially during the fight scenes. Each fight is filmed as though you are watching a documentary of an underground fight club.

The director does a good job of spanning these three fields (realism, classicism, and formalism), and this causes the movie to excellently perform in the genre, though it is so nontraditionally filmed. Each choice takes the view on a psychological journey along with the main characters of the film. The lighting choices, the splicing of scenes, the realism during fights, and the absurdity of some scenes allow this movie to capture an audience in a way that would typically be distracting.