Fight Club re-interprets a popular Charles Dickens’ character
Est vs Actual domestic box office revenue: $28 – 34MM vs $37MM
92% of the events are borrowed from 2 mythological tales
Fight Club is a 1999 film directed by David Fincher, based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk. The movie explores the basic human desires of Accumulation and Power. The story has achieved cult status because deep down it reflects our collective unconscious. Mythosis, harnesses mythological tales to extract the unique plot structure of Fight Club. The plot structure uncovers what makes the story engaging and also exposes the gaps.
1. Mythological tales reveal the invisible plot structure of any story
1A. 92% of the events are borrowed from 2 mythological tales
Narrator’ quest is driven by the desire to collect & own and mirrors the tale of Valmiki from Hindu mythology. Valmiki’s journey has a robust expression in Dicken’s character of Scrooge. Both Scrooge & Narrator sacrifice everything, even their loved ones before realizing their mistake.
Tyler's quest is driven by the desire to dominate others and mirrors the tale of Ravan from Hindu mythology. Both Ravan and Tyler take whatever they want without any concern for the consequences.
Marla has an underdeveloped quest driven by the desire for companionship.
Detailed mirroring of each character’s primary quest to their respective mythological tales is in section “3A. Quests of characters and their mythological counterparts”
1B. Create infinite blockbuster stories with 32 mythological tales
Human beings are driven by 16 fundamental desires. Every desire, whether encountering fulfilment or unfulfillment, gives rise to two distinct quests. Thus, a spectrum of 32 unique quests mirrors every human desire.
We have discovered mythological tales from across civilizations that uniquely portray each one of these 32 human quests. While each mythological tale stands as a distinct quest, the true magic unfolds when these tales are combined. This synergy is evident in the epics of Odyssey and Ramayan, where various universal quests seamlessly intertwine.
Combining any five tales from the 32, generates a staggering 24 million unique story plots. Take it a step further, by combining six tales the possibilities explode to an astounding 600 million!
The plot of Fight Club is a subset of plot structure #144 that interweaves the tales of Valmiki & Ravan.
2. Plot structure potential of Fight Club: $28-34MM
2A. Plot structure evaluation
An analysis of Blockbuster, Hit & Flop plots has led to the discovery of Mythosis Code. The Code reveals the story principles shared by all Blockbusters. We use the Code to estimate a story’s potential.
All Blockbusters have at least 3 universal quests.Fight Club uses 2 universal quests of Accumulation and Power.
In Blockbusters, each universal quest is mirrored by ONLY ONE character. Tyler mirrors the universal quests of Power whereas Narrator mirrors the universal quest of Accumulation.
Every Blockbuster character borrows at least 35% of the universal quest. Tyler borrows 64% of events from the quest of Power. Narrator borrows 56% from the quest of Accumulation.
Blockbusters interweave different quests to create a tight plot structure. Interweaving occurs when events of 2 quests occur simultaneously in the story. Blockbusters have a quest interweaving threshold of 0.5. Fight Club fails to interweave the two quests.
2B. Estimating revenue potential from the plot structure
Fight Club's plot structure reveals 2 highly engaging character journeys. It also shows that the characters (narrator & his alter-ego) are interwoven but not their quests. As a result, the plot structure is disjointed.
We have created an algorithm by assigning weights to the principles of The Mythosis Code. The algorithm calculates the potency of a story’s plot structure and estimates its corresponding audience appeal. Blockbuster plot structures have a score of at least 0.64 and appeal to 20% of the audiences.
Fight Club has a script potential score is 0.07 and the movie will appeal to 1.99 – 2.43% of the population. Our estimate of the movie’s revenues from its audience appeal is $28 – 34MM in the domestic market. The movie’s actual revenue was $37MM.
3. The ideal plot structure of Fight Club
We have identified 32 universal quests that represent every human desire. These quests are the superset of thousands of stories across cultures that reflect our collective subconscious. Each quest has a structured sequence of events divided into 5 major arcs.
We map a character’s quest to the relevant mythological tale (universal quest) which reveals the gaps in their quest, if any. The ideal Plot Structure is constructed by plugging these gaps with the missing events from the tale. These events strengthen both the journey of characters as well as the weaving of quests without altering the story.
3A. Quest of characters and their mythological counterparts
Quest 1: Narrator mirrors the universal quest for Accumulation
Narrator’s desire for Accumulation stems from the need to collect & own. The tale of Valmiki from Hindu mythology has a robust expression in Dicken’s character of Scrooge which is the universal quest for Accumulation.
Quest 2: Tyler mirrors the universal quest for Power
Tyler’s desire for Power stems from the need to dominate others. The tale of Ravan from Hindu mythology is the universal quest for Power.
Tags:1999, 20th Century Fox, Accumulation, Chuck Palahniuk, David Fincher, Jim Uhls, Long range prediction, Mythology, Plot Structure, Power, Ravan, storytelling, Valmiki
