Fight Club

This past weekend I saw Fight Club (the movie), starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. I have to say that it rocked my world, and it is now my all-time favorite movie. I particularly liked Edward Norton's acting and the constant plot twists. After watching the movie, I had to read the book, which, thankfully, was at the library. I ended up finishing the book in one day, and, even though the book was excellent, I have to say I liked the movie much better. I hardly ever like a movie better, but this is definitely an exception.

Comparing the book and movie was one thing that I really enjoyed doing while I was reading the book. I think in a YA Literature class, I could potentially have students compare the book and movie in a similar way. Since the movie is directed and produced so well, I believe students could also do a shot by shot analysis to see how a scene delivers a message to its audience. I never thought I might teach a movie in a class, but I think that Fight Club would be an awesome opportunity to get students to look at how movies are made and how they can be compared to books.

In case I might teach Fight Club (the book), by Chuck Palahniuk, I went searching for a potential lesson plan that I might be able to use. I was shocked to find that there were many online lesson plans related to the book. One of the most interesting was a lesson plan titled "Existentialism: Fight Club and The Stranger," which explores how the main character develops his own meaning to life that goes against mainstream societal values. I can see myself teaching this lesson and developing interesting lessons that apply to the standards, but also get students involved with literature.