Although it is not an intuitive similarity, the motion picture Fight Club, in reality, shares a great deal of its philosophy with the Taoist mindset. A central tenet of Taoism is Wu Wei, which states that the best way to achieve good results, happiness and fulfillment in life is to step back and let things play themselves out instead of controlling every aspect of the world. This quality is exhibited throughout the film by many of the movie's main characters, including Tyler Durden and Jack, the narrator. In the beginning, where Jack admits his addiction to consumerism, in the middle, where he realizes he should let go, and in the end when the group seeks their place in life and rebels against consumerism, Taoist ideas are exhibited.
"Like so many others, I had become a slave to the Ikea-nesting instinct," says the narrator, referring to his cellphone. " If I saw something clever, like a little coffee table shaped like a Yin-Yang, I had to have it I"d flip through catalogues and wonder, "what kinds of dining set defines me as a person?" I had it all We used to read pornography. Now it was the Horchardt collection." In this narrative, Jack is referring to Western society's downfall into consumerism. He is criticizing people's incessant materialism. They have trivialized important questions and symbols by turning them into mass-market shopping items. It is no coincidence that the screenwriters chose a Yin-Yang (a Taoist symbol) and made it into a coffee table for sale to anyone who wanted it. He is also saying that advertising has perverted the important Taoist question, "Who am I?". Our belongings really have come to define us as people. If you ask if somebody is successful, people will automatically assume you mean monetarily. Although there are many other kinds of success, including moral success, success with family, and simple fulfillment. However, people have come to characterize their life by the amount of money they have accumulated.
