First founded by Sigmund Freud in the late 19th century, psychoanalysis introduced an entirely new perception of the human mind, forming innovative and controversial theories. In his thesis "Beyond the Pleasure Principle", Freud illustrates psychoanalysis as "the first and principal art of interpretation". Which hides in the "unconscious" of the human mind. Freud states that human behavior is the creation of an internal conflict that takes place in the "unconscious", which is "the belief of "repressed desires, feelings, memories and drives". To understand the theory of the Id, the Ego and the Superego, this essay analyzes the main protagonists of David Fincher's film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club (1998) I will examine the character and explore the society that observes him and his origins I will also make use of the concepts of Carl Gustav Jung and Jacques Lacan in this investigation. Say no to plagiarism Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? The narrator's disappointment with life stems from a sense of emptiness and uselessness. His mundane job, his living situation, and his life as a "single servant" aggravate the prevailing feeling of meaninglessness. Ultimately, this drives him to hope for liberation; the freedom he believes can be achieved through death in a plane crash. It seems that the narrator's cynicism can be related to the failed American dream. The forever unattainable ideal that every young white male American his age had been led to imagine was his due; the high-class job, the apartment, the money, the girls, the clothes - the movie star lifestyle, had all been disowned. As Tyler states, "We all grew up on television with the belief that we would all be millionaires one day." His feelings of estrangement and loneliness add to the inadequate and unbridled consumer society that has failed him. He ponders 'which dining table defines me as a person?' as he browses the "pornography" of his Ikea collection. He directs his anger at the multinational and corporate giants, who "packaged" and sold him the dream. The “Ikea nesting instinct” is indicative of the cultural shift that has stripped the younger American male of his “manhood.” In an interview with Gavin Smith, Fincher states: "We are designed to be hunters and we live in a shopping society." The same opinion is expressed in Tyler's words: “We are consumers. We are the byproducts of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty, these things do not concern me.' This issue of gender role is further examined by recognizing that the structure of the perfect nuclear family has transformed; Tyler says it's "a generation of men raised by women." Now, applying psychoanalytic theory to these characters and themes, I will consider their function and overall impact on the text. To begin, I would like to return to the narrator's battle for the self, focusing on Freud's view of unconscious drives. In "The Ego and the Id", Freud states that the human psyche is divided into three distinct parts: the Id, the Ego and the Superego. These three components work together and, when in the right balance, create a complete and well-rounded individual. The id is the power of the mind, made up of impulses and instincts that constantly require gratification. Freud separates the main drives of the id into two groups, life drives and death drives. Life instincts focus mainly on the pleasure of survival, such as thirst, hunger andthe erotic impulses, while the death instincts seek to replicate the first pre-life experience of dormancy. It is our seemingly unconscious desire for self-destruction and death. It could be argued that Tyler is a representation of the id as his life is not motivated by society; he "lets the chips fall where they may." It is through his desire and will to crush society, Project Mayhem is founded. Deprived of Tyler, the narrator would have endured being a slave to the Ikea nesting instinct: he may still be searching for meaning in Scandinavian furniture. Subsequently, coming to terms with his single life and material existence, the unconscious reservoir is flooded with repressed anger, and it is through his aggression that Tyler is born. Indeed, before Tyler even officially appears on the plane, the narrator is vaguely aware of the "death drive" as he toys with the idea of ​​ending his depressing existence by dying in a plane crash. conscious and is created starting from a reality principle. Freud assumed that the ego represents "what may be called reason and common sense, in contrast to the id, which contains passion" because it stifles the desires and impulses of the id, maintaining control. In Fight Club, the ego takes the form of the narrator. As mentioned, the narrator is an unrelated individual, who suffers from insomnia. When he starts making remarks like; “this is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time,” indicates the presence of the death drive, which could be interpreted as the initial stages of the narrator taking control of the id. Interestingly, throughout his work and self-sufficiency, the narrator was previously a well-functioning individual. However, evidently, a change has occurred that has disturbed the balance between the id and the ego. In some of his early works, namely "The Interpretation of Dreams", Freud argued that dreams were products of "wish fulfillment". He uses the term "day residue" to explain the idea that the basis of the dream is rooted in the events of the previous day. Children clearly demonstrate this concept, but the dream substance of adults is less clear and distorted by dream notions buried in the unconscious. Therefore, the meaning is sometimes partially hidden. This affects the narrator's condition as his insomnia makes him unable to vent his repressed desire in the dream state. According to Freud, the third element of the personality to be developed is the superego and this begins to emerge at the age of five. It is fundamentally our sense of right and wrong and is the code by which civilized society operates. It also covers our perception of conscience and feelings of guilt and repentance. The superego acts to suppress the impulses of the id. In fact, the ego is stuck in the middle of a battle between the angel (superego) and the devil (id). In Fight Club, the superego is represented as the real world of the narrative. The narrator (ego) is unhappy and alienated from this world and consequently has little resistance when Tyler (id) asserts himself and seeks to destroy the world that has stifled any sense of self and emasculated him. This starts a battle between id and superego and can be seen in the jobs Tyler does. It incorporates hidden sexual images into family films and taints restaurant food with bodily fluids. In Fight Club he builds a patriarchal underground club that would seem to encourage gratuitous violence. He then embarks on a montage of capitalist rebellion, originally taking the form of vandalism of civilian buildings, which escalates into the creation of Project Mayhem. Drawing on Freud's theories on the classification of human personality, it is possible to understand how the idthe ego are powerful oppositional forces. The libido (id) struggles with the ego's need to repress desire. Freud defines five stages of psychosexual development in the human child; oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. Balanced individuals have negotiated these with the ego by suppressing the more deplorable desires of the id. In this context, it is worth noting the Oedipus complex in male infants, as its impact can be seen echoing throughout the film. The development of the male child's sexuality includes desire for the mother, but this is held back by fear of the mother and the father's power, especially the power to castrate him. In an ideal world, he stifles his desire and replaces it with surrender to his father's power, while maintaining his mother's affection. In theory, the boy's masculinity would be strengthened by his deep relationship with his father. Freud insists that where the father is not present (as in the case of the narrator) or is a weak role model, the Oedipus complex is not resolved and obsessions arise. The narrator is so smitten and when the id (Tyler) erupts, rampant libido occurs; (the sex with Marla), the brutality (the sadomasochistic interaction in Fight Club), and finally, an effort to destroy the culture that has robbed him of his masculinity. The anxiety of castration as final punishment is persistent throughout the film and confronts us forcefully in the opening scene of the "Remaining Men Together" support group. These men are fundamentally and mentally emasculated and demonstrate a desperate need to assert, “We are still men,” even as they cry. In numerous situations, castration is offered as an extreme punishment; In fact, the members of Project Mayhem confront the narrator himself near the end of the film, as his ego grows strong enough to deny them. The importance given to this apparatus is extremely evident in an unforgettable speech by Tyler in the bar after the narrator loses everything in the condominium explosion: 'you know, it could be worse; a woman could cut off your penis and throw it out of a car.' If we look at the theories of other psychoanalytic theorists, such as Jung and Lacan, we are able to gain a different understanding of the narrator's neurotic behavior. Carl Gustav Jung's views were originally linked to those of Freud; However, Jung came to consider that Freud paid too little interest to spirit and religion in his analysis of human psychology. Jung studied the theory that every personality has two contrasting elements, which he called "Ego" and "Shadow". Comparable to Freud, Jung believed that the ego remains in control until something shifts, in the case of the narrator, the trigger is his insomnia and the shadow takes power. We can also apply Jung's concept of 'physical inheritance' (collective unconscious) and its content of archetypes' to other characters in the film. For example, Marla could be interpreted as "soul", i.e. "the image of a man's female soul", since she replaces the initial infantile form of the narrator's "power animal" and her relationship with him is mainly controlled from Tyler. There is also a possible mana personality archetype in Bob's character. As discussed previously, it is through Bob's emasculated life and turmoil that the narrator is able to feel and relate. Jung believed that "the Mana personality is a dominant of the collective unconscious, the well-known archetype of the powerful man in the form of hero, leader, magician, sorcerer, saint, ruler of men and spirits, friend of God." The narrator describes Bob's "bitch tits" as "as huge as you'd think God is big" and where it fits, perhaps showing awareness of his psychodrama. All this offers a possible explanation for the narrator's tendency to refer to himself in’