Film Twitter Is Fighting Over If Fight Club Is a “Red Flag” Movie

Over the last few days, #FilmTwitter has been doing what it does best: arguing about absurd topics by shouting over one another. In this case, the argument is over whether David Fincher’s 1999 film Fight Club should be considered a “red flag film.” Originally referenced by filmmaker Cuchillo Lope, the premise was introduced on Sunday that when certain movies, including Fight Club, are listed as someone’s favorite, it’s a “red flag” that the person is potentially not somebody you want to interact with. The thread was originally dedicated to asking about people’s “green flag” films — the ones that immediately make you trust someone — but quickly devolved into an argument over whether Fight Club is a red flag movie, and whether the concept itself has any weight.

Fight Club was a box office disappointment in 1999, but became an instant cult classic, resonating especially with college-aged men. The movie centers on a middle-aged protagonist who is living an upper-middle-class lifestyle when he begins to have an identity crisis, and finds meaning in his life by participating in a series of underground fight clubs.

The unnamed protagonist (Edward Norton) and the organizer of the fight clubs, Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), eventually find that underground fights aren’t enough, and found a group called Project Mayhem, which quickly escalates from anti-corporate vandalism to domestic terrorism. The film is based on a book of the same name by Chuch Palahniuk, which spawned a pair of sequels in the form of comics by Palahniuk and artist David Mack.

The movie has remained a favorite in dorm rooms for the last twenty years, and has frequently been the subject of controversy. The central question seems to be how many of the young men hanging Fight Club posters in their dorm rooms and sharing Tyler Durden memes actually understand that the movie is a satire, and Tyler is not depicted as the hero? Many seem to embrace Tyler’s messaging unironically, taking away from it a straightforward message of white male alienation and a love of violence.

The idea of the “red flag movie” in this context seemed to mean that someone who lists Fight Club as one of their favorite movies is likely to be someone who misinterpreted it. Fans of the movie on Twitter fired back that assuming as much wasn’t fair.

Ironically, while Fight Club‘s inclusion has been a lightning rod for controversy, the other movie cited was 2019’s Joker, and very few users seemed to leap to that film’s defense. Of course, as noted above, a fair number disputed the validity of the very idea of red flag movies, which implicitly suggests Joker isn’t one.

You can see the original tweet below, followed by some of the firestorm it kicked off.

Never say “Hey Film Twitter” if you want to sleep again this week.

A…rumination on flags, apparently?

A pretty early version of the most common response to the tweet

A slow evolution of thoughts on the subject

A bit more nuanced take

Yellow flags? OK, why not.

Unsurprisingly, a number of people took it very personally.

Verhoeven’s mesh “Hustler” shirt

Let’s eat some babies, baby!

Well…maybe not “most” people, but definitely a lot.

Distinctions.

The most important point raised in the whole conversation, on any side of the debate.

Apparently, Fincher doesn’t entirely disagree.