Fight Club Easter Egg - Keep a Sharp Eye

I was always under the impression that this was illegal. Or is that only subliminal advertising.

Actually, messages are only subliminal when they're shot once every 24 frames. Otherwise, they're just hidden images, which don't really affect anything. Also, since they were just showing Brad Pitt, and not trying to convince anyone of anything, they wouldn't be illegal anyways. I know the laws on subliminal messaging. I used them in a film for English class before. :)

Aren't we kind of throwing around the word "subliminal" here? Subliminal means that it's trying to send us a special message. Really these aren't sending any message whatsoever, they're just tricks of the camera. You really can't even tell that it's Brad Pitt unless you hit pause, so it doesn't matter!

Actually, i belive these flahes of Brad Pitt are when Tyler Durton is first coming in to Ed Norton's mind.

When Tyler's image is flashed every once in a while it signifies him trying to escape from Jack's mind. And its not for a few frames, its one frame which equals i/48 of a secind.

3 Things in this movie that aren't really hidden or subliminal but that most people might not notice are: 1) A "paper street" is actually a cartography term for a street that only exists on a map...not in real life (an imaginary street). 2) The taxi cab company is called SCAT which is a term for any disgusting act involving excrement. 3) There is a scene where Norton's character and Marla walk out onto a side walk and there is a sign in the background that reads "SPIT SHINE". The way the letters are on top of each other makes it look like something else at first glance. You will do a double take when you see it.

One frame of film is 1/24 of a second. Most modern projectors show each frame twice, to reduce flicker, so you get 48 per second, but each frame in the film still lasts 1/24 sec. (Some projectors actually show at 72 fps, i.e., showing each frame of film three times.)

Actually since it's not a subliminal message why would it be illegal? It's part of the movie. It's not the projectionist putting it in like in the movie.

Just check the Fight Club section "Subliminal Messages" on this page. And who cares if it's illegal!!!!!

A teacher of mine in school told me about this, and I think it is really cool. A telephone company in America used this subliminal messages thing in an ad because two many people were ringing up directory enquires. They had a girl standing on a telephone book and the camera went along her leg and on her leg they had written love, kiss, sex. So people began to use the phone book cause this had influenced them even though they didn't know they saw it. The company was sued in the end. Do they still do that porn thing in films? Like Brad Pitt did for that kids film?

Per the above comment, Wilson Bryan Key wrote a series of books in the 80s (such as "Subliminal Seduction") claiming that the word "sex" and sexual images were "implanted" in print and TV ads-- this has never been even remotely demonstrated, but it was a popular delusion for awhile. Likewise, subliminal advertising has not been proven to be effective in any way; experiments in the 50s urging theatre patrons to BUY COKE in a frame of film had no influence whatsoever on sales of Coke, but the concept of subliminal advertising became a bit of urban folklore that exists to this day. Much more info on this available at snopes.com and skepdic.com .

Can we PLEASE stop talking about those stupid flashes of Brad Pitt?!?! You ARE NOT the first person so notice them!! WE ALL NOTICED THEM!! So stop talking about them!! Can we try to put something relevent on this page, now??

OK then, why don't we discuss your spelling of "relevant?" or the reason why you even bothered to comment on this topic if you're sick and tired of the so-called flashes? Ha ha. Fight Club is one of the coolest movies I've ever seen... from the camera angles (ex. shot from inside the trash can) to the flashes. I think Tyler "flashed" 3 times before he finally materialized.

According to the commentary on the DVD there are 5 pictures of Tyler Durden before he is actually in the movie.

Actually my Girlfriend is doing a lot of research on acceptance of stimuli in the brain, she is a psycho-Physiologist, she studies the functioning of the brain and in most studies it is found that suboptimal stimuli (stimuli presented for an extreme short period of time) have very great impact in the brain. There doesn't need to be any repetition for this.

I just did a series of psych tests that included a "visual persistence" test. Essentially, they flash one of two images at you multiple times and you're expected to be able to correctly identify them even after they've dropped below the frame rate of the human eye... I got 88% correct... so subliminal images CAN have an effect on you, even when you truly can't "see" them. Although that doesn't necessarily indicate any lasting psychological impact. BTW, if you can actually see the images, then they're NOT subliminal! No matter how short a time they're on the screen.

Yeah, a lot of people have seen the 'flashes' of Brad Pitt. But I saw something that I don't think is a 'flash', or any kind of 'hidden', 'subliminal' message. When the car crashes, the first time you see a shot of Tyler, it's actually Ed Norton's face. He's wearing Tyler's clothes. Does that make sense? Next time you see Tyler's face, it's Brad Pitt again. Then there's the whole 'Wrong Side Of Car' thing...

Forget the slices of Tyler Durden! Did anyone see that HUGE p*nis splice in the very last frame! I LOVE BIG SCREEN T.V's!!!!!!!!! :)

Did anyone else notice that Edwards character doesn’t have a name?

I didn't find the topic of the egg to be very useful, however, I did find the information that you included about the director's other movie, "Seven", to be of interest, being that I had no clue he was responsible for having directed both movies. Both happen to be two of my favorite movies. By the way, it's FINCHER.

Morrinn writes: Did anyone else notice that Edwards character doesn’t have a name? He did have a name.."Adams" (only mentioned once)

Actually, subliminal messages are legal in film. Many people seemed to be confused about this, the subliminal messaging illegal in the United States is only limited to radio and television.

There was nothing "subliminal" about those screen shots. It was a film technique. It was to illustrate the introduction of tyler durden into the psyche of Edward Norton's character as more influences ate away at hi sanity and his need for an escape grew stronger. The c*ck in the end was more of a joke, because he had been splicing screen shots the whole movie, which tied into the theme of tyler's job at the theatre. You don't have to be looking hard, they were put there on purpose to enhance the experience of the film. It really shouldn't even be the topic of a discussion. Sorry fo the cincism.

Actually, SCAT is a taxi service here in delaware (where the movie takes place). It's called Senior Citizen Affordable Taxi. It's not subliminal or an Egg. Quick non important info. this movies takes place in Delaware. The scene where Tyler and the narrator are walking along the street, breaking headlights, he mentions towns in Delaware (Delaware City, New Castle) and Penns Grove, which is right over the stateline in Jersey. at one point, (not as of last year), delaware was home to almost all the Major credit card companies., namely MBNA. I read in a local paper that they wanted to shoot some, if not all, here in Delaware, but for some strange reason, it was not allowed. (something about people might blow up the buildings.

why is everyone so resistant to the idea that Fincher put in things with deeper significance? the "subliminal" c*ck at the end of a movie centering around masculinity. must be coincidence.