Daily Dialogue — April 29, 2013

Tyler: You broke your promise.
Narrator: Jesus, Tyler!
Tyler: You fuckin’ talked to her about me.
Narrator: Tyler, what the fuck is going on here?
Tyler: I ask you for one thing, one simple thing.
Narrator: Why do people think that I’m you? Answer me!
Tyler: Sit.
Narrator: Now answer me. Why do people think that I’m you?
Tyler: I think you know.
Narrator: No, I don’t.
Tyler: Yes, you do. Why would anyone possibly confuse you with me?
Narrator: Uh…I… I don’t know.
…
Tyler: You got it.
Narrator: No.
(Narrator: Do not fuck with us!)
Tyler: Say it.
Narrator: Because…
Tyler: Say it.
Narrator: Because we’re the same person.
Tyler: That’s right.
(Narrator: We are the all-singing, all-dancing crap-)
Narrator: I don’t understand this.
Tyler: You were looking for a way to change your life. You could not do this on your own. All the ways you wish you could be, that’s me. I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not.
Narrator: Oh, no.
(Narrator: Tyler’s not here, Tyler went away, Tyler’s gone.
Marla: What?)
Narrator: This is impossible.
Tyler: No.
Narrator: This is crazy.
Tyler: People do it every day. They talk to themselves. They see themselves as they’d like to be. They don’t have the courage you have to just run with it. Naturally, you’re still wrestling with it, so sometimes you’re still you.
(Narrator: We should do this again sometime.)
Tyler: Other times, you imagine yourself watching me.
(Narrator: If this is your first night at fight club, you have to fight.)
Tyler: Little by little, you’re just letting yourself become… Tyler Durden.

— Fight Club (1999), screenplay by Jim Uhls, based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is: I’m not who you think I am, suggested by Mark Twain. Today’s suggestion by JasperLamarCrab.

Trivia: Director David Fincher shot over 1,500 reels of film, more than three times the usual amount for a 120 minute film.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Jasper: “ We know the Narrator is in big trouble when Tyler continues to dominate the conversation even after he’s revealed himself to be imaginary. To keep the Narrator from feeling totally crushed, Tyler throws him a bone by giving him a back-handed compliment on his courage and resourcefulness.”