Rule #4 - Project Mayhem Is Not Real

One of the most common questions I have been receiving email about is, how did Project Mayhem carry Marla into the building at the end of the film if she is indeed not real, and why were the Project Mayhem members chanting Bob's name? The answer to this is pretty self explanatory - Project Mayhem does not exist.

The Subconscious

inception-project-mayhem-fight-club
project mayhem members

Project Mayhem members do not exist and are instead like under developed alternate personalities of Jack's.

Think about it: none of them have a full name (except Bob, who we knew of before) and even Tyler tries indoctrinating them, telling them they are not special or unique. What's the point of this? Consider that up until now we know that Tyler wants exclusive control over Jack and this is likely why he doesn't like Marla (Tyler even says she's a "sport fuck" - he doesn't actually care about her).

This follows a very similar film where ultimately nothing was "real" - Inception. We see the subconscious represented as a bunch of random, manufactured people who are not actually real or part of the story as a whole, yet still behave in a way to protect the mind from realizing what it is experiencing is not actually really happening.

This is why all Project Mayhem members must wear the same clothes and not ask questions. Project Mayhem members are nothing more than the subconscious producing more alternate personalities. This is explains why Tyler gives each member of Project Mayhem a test before getting into the Paper Street House by forcing them to stick around on the porch, he's basically vetting them as compliant alternate personalities.

He wants control, and once they're in they are told to do everything. No hair, no name, no unique identifying characteristics whatsoever.

"You are not a unique snowflake, you are the same decaying matter as everything else."
you are not a unique snowflake

As referenced in Rule #1 and Rule #2, Bob is "recycled" into the garden at the Paper Street house as would any other casualty that does not exist. Bob being "buried in the backyard" as Angel Face suggests is just as much symbolic as it is literal, he would be buried in the backyard of this nonexistent house, which serves as a metaphor for his psyche, "recycling" him.

Little Haikus

Jack mentions, "I wrote little Haikus, I faxed them around to everyone." The haiku poem that Jack is shown writing is a glaringly obvious nod to the focus of this rule. Jack is saying in his poem that worker bees can leave and even drones can fly away, but the queen is dependent on them.

Worker bees in this poem likely refer to Bob, Tyler and Marla - the most important alternate personalities of his. Drones are most logically interpreted as the Project Mayhem members, as drones in a bee colony are quite literally just anonymous, robotic like members with no identifiable traits.

This makes Jack the "queen", yet another reference to him being feminized and even embodying a popular culture slang word of a feminine homosexual man.

You're Tyler Durden...

The first time we ever find out that Jack is actually Tyler is when the bar tender in the halo brace tells Jack that he was the one who gave him the lye burned kiss. There are some very interesting things about this scene.

fight-club-bartender-scene
fight-club-bartender-scene-2

The most direct evidence that this man standing behind the bar does not exist is that he appears from absolutely nowhere. We can follow as Jack walks right past the bar and sees nothing behind it, then a single second later he magically appears when Jack turns back. There are no doors leading to behind the bar and he is wearing a halo brace which is screwed into his skull - so there is no way he was bending over, somehow behind the bar (as some people have speculated).

So where did he come from?

Additionally, the fact this Project Mayhem member is wearing a halo brace is obviously symbolic. It fits in perfectly with the religious/God oriented thread that is seen throughout the film and makes him the second member of Project Mayhem that has a very obvious and literal tie in with this religious motif. Angel Face (Jared Leto) being the other member.

Remember what happened to Angel? Looks like the same thing that happened to the bartender, what a coincidence 😉

fight-club-angel-face

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