What We Talk About When We Talk About Fight Club | Binge Thinking
About this Event
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Topic: What We Talk About When We Talk About Fight Club
Speaker: Dr. Kellie Bean (Boston Architectural College)
Modern masculinity is one of the most talked-about and least carefully examined topics in film criticism today.
Most conversations about a movie like Fight Club settle into one of two camps: it's either dismissed as a glorification of toxic masculinity, or embraced uncritically as a manifesto. Both readings miss what's actually happening on screen.
But what if the key to understanding Tyler Durden isn't his philosophy at all, but the things his story can't say directly?
This lecture begins with Raymond Carver's short story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" to introduce the tropes and themes at stake, then spends the rest of the hour in close readings of clips from the film itself.
Carver's spare, evasive dialogue about love becomes a lens for the film's own evasions — its obsession with male bodies, its violence, its jokes — all standing in for things its characters can't or won't articulate. The "fun" of watching attractive men beat each other senseless isn't incidental; it's the mechanism that distracts viewers from the cynicism underneath.
Topics include:
- How Fincher translates the anxieties of Carver's story onto the screen
- The male body as battleground — one character shrinking, the other bulking up over the runtime
- The film's interrogation of the "ingénue" figure
- Why violence between attractive men functions as spectacle and distraction
- How that spectacle conceals the deep cynicism of Tyler's worldview
- The film's final twist, and what it reveals about its own narrator
This talk combines literary analysis, film studies, and gender theory to ask what Fight Club's tricks - on its characters and on its audience - reveal about modern masculinity's relationship to intimacy, violence, and self-deception.
About the Speaker
Dr. Kellie Bean is the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at The Boston Architectural College (BAC), bringing over 25 years of experience in higher education leadership. Dedicated to student access, retention, and faculty development, she previously served as Provost at Rio Grande University and held key administrative roles at Hartwick College and Northern Vermont University, where she consistently championed institutional honors and awards.
Before transitioning to senior administration, Dr. Bean was an English professor with a subspecialty in film, frequently teaching a course on Fight Club. She holds a Ph.D. in English Literature and Cultural/Feminist Theory from the University of Delaware, alongside a Master’s in English and a Bachelor’s in Drama from The Ohio State University, a creative foundation that fuels her passion for playwriting.
Agenda
7:00 PM — Doors Open & Drinks
7:30 PM — Lecture Begins
8:10 PM — Audience Q&A
8:30 PM — Drinks & Conversation
9:00 PM — Event Ends
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 32.95
