Abstract
Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri published a worldwide bestseller with their book Empire, which was soon called the bible of the anti-globalization movement. Empire not only refreshes the neo-Marxist tradition in international relations theory but also includes additional theoretical approaches. These theoretical prerequisites and the style of writing make it a challenging book. Therefore this chapter aims to open a door to this book by taking a look at the movie Fight Club. Against a background of dialogues and scenes from the movie, insights into some ideas from Empire and multitude theory are given in this chapter. The course of the movie Fight Club—unfreedom, release through violence, and how violence creates unfreedom of the individual again—reflects the problems and dangers of modern subjectivity Hardt and Negri aim to make us aware of.
I see all this potential. And I see it squandered.
Goddamn it, an entire generation pumping gas.
Waiting tables. […] Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes.
Working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need.
[…] Our great depression is our lives. […]”.
Tyler Durden’s speech at the Fight Club (FC 01:07:23)
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Empire written in italic is referring to the book Empire by Hardt and Negri. Empire theory or Empire as the theoretical concept is not in italic.
- 2.
For a list of Cynthia Weber’s articles on “openDemocracy,” see URL https://www.opendemocracy.net/author/cynthia-weber, last access 06.11.2017.
References
Agamben G (1998) Homo sacer: sovereign power and bare life. Stanford University Press, Stanford
Barkawi T, Laffey M (2002) Retrieving the imperial: empire and international relations. Millennium J Int Stud 31(1):109–127
Bates D (2012) Situating Hardt and Negri. In: Prichard A, Kinna R, Pinta S, Berry D (eds) Libertarian socialism: politics in black and red. Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp 275–293
Brown W, Fleming DH (2011) Deterritorialisation and schizoanalysis in David Fincher’s fight club. Deleuze Stud 5(2):275–299
Castells M (2008) The new public sphere: global civil society, communication networks, and global governance. Ann Am Acad Pol Soc Sci 616(1):78–93
Deacy C (2002) Integration and rebirth through confrontation. Fight club and American beauty as contemporary religious parables. J Contemp Relig 17(4):61–74
Drexler P (2010) Erzählen in verschiedenen Medien. MISERY (King 1987/Reiner 1990). In: Helmut K (ed) Einführung in die systematische Filmanalyse. Ein Arbeitsbuch. Erich Schmidt, Berlin, pp 127–165
Deleuze G, Guattari F (1972/2004) Anti-oedipus. Capitalism and schizophrenia I. Continuum, London
Deleuze G, Guattari F (1980/1993) A thousand plateaus. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
Engelkamp S (2018) The politics of exception as fiction: reading Agamben through the Batman. In: Hamenstädt U (ed) The interplay between political theory and movies. Springer, Heidelberg
Foltin R (2002) Immaterielle Arbeit, Empire, Multitude. Neue Begrifflichkeiten in der linken Diskussion. Zu Hardt/Negris “Empire”. Grundrisse 2:6–20
Foucault M (1977) Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison. Penguin Books, London
Foucault M (2009) Security, territory, population: lectures at the college de France 1977–1978. Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Foucault M (2010) Birth of biopolitics: lectures at the college de France, 1978–1979. Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Graeber D (2012) Die anarchistischen Wurzeln von “Occupy Wall Street”. In: Bankrott I (ed) Occupy Anarchy! Libertäre Interventionen in eine neue Bewegung, Systemfehler, vol 3. Edition Asamblage, Münster
Hardt M, Negri A (2000) Empire. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Hardt M, Negri A (2005) Multitude: war and democracy in the age of empire. Penguin Books, London
Lemke T (2000) Foucault, governmentality, and critique. Rethinking Marxism conference, University of Amherst (MA), September 21–24, 2000
Lizardo O (2007) Fight club, or the cultural contradictions of late capitalism. J Cult Res 11(3):221–243
Palladino P, Young T (2003) Fight club and the world trade center. On metaphor, scale, and the spatio-temporal (dis)location of violence. Cult Values 7(2):195–218(24)
Ta LM (2006) Hurt so good. Fight club, masculine violence, and the crisis of capitalism. J Am Cult 29(3):265–277
Weber C (2005) International relations theory. In: A critical introduction. Routledge, London
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Meditz, M., Hamenstädt, U. (2019). Empire, Multitude, and the Fight Club. In: Hamenstädt, U. (eds) The Interplay Between Political Theory and Movies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90731-4_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90731-4_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90730-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90731-4
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)