Liminality is the transitional period or phase of a rite of passage, during which the participant finds himself between two stages of life; adulthood and adolescence. Liminal space can be the struggle between a physical and physiological stage of life. In the movie Fight Club, the main character Tyler and Robert Paulsen both occupy a kind of liminal space. In Guyland, Kimmel explains that liminal space is the area of ​​life that men and boys can occupy to escape the responsibilities that come with the territory of growing up; bills, career, families, jobs, girlfriends, etc. basically, all the things that they will eventually have to face at some point in their life, they prolong their stay in this liminal space to get away from. In the film, Bob Paulsen is a man who has been diagnosed with testicular cancer and has elevated estrogen levels, causing him to form breasts, thus placing him in a physical liminal space. Tyler is a man who, throughout the story, will go through a mental shift from passive and unstable to assertive and balanced, thus placing him in a physiological liminal space. I argue that Tyler represents liminality better than Robert, but Robert represents castration anxiety better than Tyler. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay. Tyler represents liminal space better than Robert. Liminality can be described as a conflict that a person experiences while they are in a transitional stage of their life, whether it is a physical or mental transition. Michael Kimmel defines Liminal as “an indefinite period between adolescence and adulthood” (Kimmel 4). In Flight Club we can see Tyler going through his mental transition, allowing his life to be determined by what others say about him or what people tell him to do without a second thought, this is evident in the film when: (Fight Club 1999). This event is important because it shows the weakness or passive characteristics that Tyler portrays throughout the first half of the film; shy, sweet and a push-over. Thus, Tyler represents liminal space better than Robert. Robert doesn't represent liminality as well as Tyler does. Robert's physical liminal space is due to the fact that he is caught in the middle of a gender situation, i.e. he has testicular cancer and has no more testicles is how men identify themselves as men. He no longer has anything to support his masculinity, in addition to his lack of testicles, he also experiences high levels of estrogen which causes him to grow "whore tits". In Westerfelhaus’s article “At the Unlikely Confluence of Conservative Religion and Popular Culture: Fight Club as Heteronormative Ritual,” he explains: “At the beginning of the film. Jack regularly visits a support group for men battling testicular cancer. These men reassure themselves by saying that they remain men despite the chemical and surgical castration used to treat their cancer” (Westerfelhaus 312). This is significant because it shows the reason why Bob is in his liminal space, that is, he can no longer reassure himself that he remains a man despite his surgical castration. Another example to explain Bob's dilemma or why he is caught in this liminality was explained by Clark, J. Michael in his article "Faludi, Fight Club, and Phallic Masculinity: Exploring the Emascating Economics of Patriarchy", he states: Faludi (1999). ) maintains that the dynamics that destabilize American masculinity are above all economic: consumer culturehas emasculated men, pushing them more and more into ornamental and passive roles traditionally associated with the feminine sphere… Far from a stable state of happiness, the so-called good life has accelerated into a “rush towards consumerism mass”, in which, according to Faludi (1999), masculine value is increasingly “measured solely by participation in…consumer culture” (Clark65). This is significant because Robert Paulsen is a victim of “consumer culture” and the way it “emasculated men.” Robert Paulson, former bodybuilder and wrestler. Due to his excessive use of steroids, he contracted testicular cancer. It should be obvious that from this information Robert was a victim of consumer culture and social construct, wanting to supplant others in his job, he used steroids to get ahead because in doing so he also established his dominance as a man. Thus, Robert does not represent liminal space any better than Tyler. Robert Paulsen embodies castration anxiety better than Tyler. Castration anxiety can be defined as the fear of emasculation in both a literal and metaphorical sense. In the literal sense castration anxiety is the conscious or unconscious fear of losing all or part of one's organs, in the metaphorical sense castration anxiety refers to the feeling of being insignificant also refers to the fear of being degraded or dominated, there is a need to guard against being dominated; whether socially or relationally. In the article written by Robert Westerfelhaus, Westerfelhaus suggests that "the fear of castration, the obsession with power...The worry about emasculation – symbolic and literal – is expressed early and often in Fight Club." (Westerfelhaus311). This is significant because in the first 15 minutes of this film, Robert's castration anxiety is clearly expressed in the support group scene, when Robert was crying hysterically and holding Tyler in a big hug, recounting his tragic story of castration (Fight Club 1999). This liminal space in Roberts' life led him to become part of the fight club because, although he had already been castrated physically, he did not want to imply to others that he had been castrated yet again metaphorically, to establish dominance or reassurance. his masculinity he turned to violence which is a display of brute force and strength, which due to social construct are the defining factors of a man. Thus, Robert represents castration anxiety better than Tyler. Tyler no more embodies castration anxiety than Robert Paulsen. In his article, J. Michael Clark states: “The Betrayal of the American Man and the film Fight Club insist that men have been emasculated by consumerism; that the postwar legacy of the so-called good life shifted men from an active, heroic, and confrontational role to a passive, ornamental role usually assigned to women. (Clark 65) This quote is significant because it explains why Tyler not only took on the "passive ornamental roles usually assigned to women", but also why Tyler does not describe the severity of castration anxiety that Bob does, yes, throughout In the film, Tyler showed little concern regarding castration anxiety, but who would want their balls cut off? Tyler's metaphorical castration is highlighted in the film, for example in the way he limits his self-esteem to the things he orders from the IKEA catalog (Fight Club 1999), which is an attribute more linked to a female role only due to social construction. It wasn't until Tyler's apartment exploded that he was forced to focus on his masculinity...