Stage Two: Ego Collapse
It's on a flight that Jack first encounters his
Shadow, face-to-face...
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According to Jung, one must get in touch with the Shadow and Anima/Animus before one can truly get in touch with the Self. The order is sequential, and as tempting as it may be to try and skip the Shadow or deal only superficially with it, it is here that we begin.
Source: The Individuation Process
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Something of great significance happens after this meeting. Jack returns to his apartment complex to discover that his home has been completely destroyed as the result of an explosion that we later discover, Tyler played a role in creating. This explosive scene demonstrates the enormity of force involved in a fragmentation crisis. In a later scene with one of the investigative officers Jack relays to us just how devastating this moment was to him:
That wasn't just a bunch of stuff that got destroyed. That was ME!
Jack may have been "going crazy" previous to this point but he is now fully psychotic because his sense of self-identity (symbolized by his home) has been completely destroyed. It's here that Tyler steps in to take control and it's also here that we begin to see the elements of larger culture reflected in Jack's personal experience of ego fragmentation...
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Ego controls the psyche, but when ego is disrupted (through Tyler's cutting frames into the film) or weakened through sleep loss or an emotional void (in Jack's case), the shadow creeps in to take control. The ego is constructed around societal norms and the desire for behavior which "fits into society." However, Post-Modernity challenges these social norms as simply one narrative or structure which is no better than any other structured narrative. The destruction of Jack's ego also parallels the destruction of American hegemony.
The film which exists apart from conventional reality can provide an extasy - an ex stasis allowing the viewer to be taken outside of the domain of normal consciousness and into a reality that is probably most similar to the passive experience of the unconscious dream mixed with conscious memory. The film exists within the inner life of Jack: Listen to this. It's an article written in first person. "I am Jack's medulla oblongata, without me Jack could not regulate his heart rate, blood pressure or breathing!" There's a whole series of these! "I am Jill's nipples". "I am Jack's Colon."
From such statements about the inner body of Jack stem further meditations by Jack about his own inner life: "I am Jack's smirking revenge." "I am Jack's cold sweat." "I am Jack's broken heart." What may be unique about Fight Club is its self-consciousness about its own medium. The breakdown of Jack's ego is manifest through the breakdown of cinematic form itself. ...
Read more: Fight Club: A Jungian Interpretation
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At this point, Jack has no where to go so he accepts Tyler's invitation to live with him...
See also: The Inner Apocalypse
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