Fight Club Easter Egg - References to Past Films

The article headline about the shaven monkeys is actually "Stolen Monkeys Returned Shaved." This is a bit of a stretch for "Seven Monkeys," don't you think? Speaking of the articles, if you pause to read the actual articles, the stories have nothing to do with the headlines. They appear to be statements similar to the Unabomber's manifesto, whose views are similar to those of "Tyler."

seven monkeys? What? I think you might mean either 'Seven' or 'Twleve Monkeys', not a freaky hybrid of both

It's neither of those actually it's the part of the movie left out about a part of project mayhem when they stole some monkey's from the zoo and returned them shaved completely.

Actually there's another reference to The People vs. Larry Flynt in the same scene where the movie marquee shows Seven Years in Tibet. You can get this info on the audio track with Fincher, Pitt, Norton and Carter on the DVD.

Actually, the "space monkey" title is given to the members of project mayhem because they are willing human sacrifices, whose sacrifices benefit our society as a whole... kind of like the first monkeys blasted off into space. They were sacrificed and now everyone will benefit. Monkeys blasted off into space. Space monkeys. Get it? You can catch a lot of references to this in the film. One particular scene that does a relatively good job of this is the chemical burn scene. ~Eoin!

OK, there are references to monkeys throughout the movie, not just once or twice. My theory: RUNNING GAGS ARE FUNNY, YOU FREAKS. These aren't subliminal messages or inside jokes that just a few can get. It just so happens that "shaved monkeys", and monkeys in general, are funny. Don'tcha think?

The "space monkey" thing is directly from the book. I highly doubt that Chuck Palahniuk was referencing 12 Monkeys.

If my memory is correct, doesn't Brad Pitt use the same line, "The things you own end up owning you " in 12 monkeys? I might be wrong, been a while since I`ve watched it.

THis is just to point out something, but American History X was not about skinheads, it was about boneheads. True skinheads are not racist, nor do they perform any racist actions. The actual idealism of skinheads began in the early 30's, in Europe, as Jamaican raggae music began to influence European music. This was the root of ska music. However, to show their interest in the music, men began dressing with shaven heads, to represent their chosen subculture. It was a non-tacky way to be rebellious at the time. But the main point of this history lesson is to establish this fact, why would skinheads listen to predominantly Jamaican forms of music if they're racist? They wouldn't. That also explains why in the late 40's-early 50's, Raggae music was called "Skinhead Raggae" to increase sales. This also explains the existence of the group SHARP (Skinheads Against Racist Potential). Sorry for getting on a soap box about this, but it is a common belief in America that skinheads are racist, which is not true, The subculture with shaven heads that enjoys attacking people and being anuses are properly called boneheads.

There's a reference to Seven Years in Tibet. When Edward Norton tells Helena Carter to get on the bus and he wont see where she goes. After they exit the diner, if you look in the background, you can see on the movie theatre advertisement "Seven Years in Tibet".

this is so very sad. People claim to be fanatics about this movie and they cant even spell Tyler Durden's name correctly. Tyler Banks!? what the hell? Someone said that Tyler only appears 3 times before Ed meets him, thats wrong. And the credits do not say Ed Norton is Tyler Durden. They refer to him as "Narrator". And who the hell said that for snippets were a woman in a red dress........ my god, this pisses me off just thinkin about it. And what really bothers me is that the song Between Angels and Insects was pretty much quoting Fight Club, so i think it may be based on the movie. can someone straighten this out with me??

In the scene in the cancer help group, when Chloe is giving a speech, we see a shot of a young skin head male. His face isn't very clear, but it seems to be a reference to Ed Norton's previous film, "American History X", because the guy looks very much like "Danny" (Edward Furlong). I don't think it is him, but like i say - his face wasn't clear.

Just a little note to let you know I was only referring to the characters of American History X as "skin heads" because that is how they refer to themselves in the film. I am not a racist, and understand that skinheads do not hold the racist beliefs portrayed in the film. Sorry if I offended anyone with my comment, that wasn't my intention - I was only pointing out an E-EGG I'd noticed.

Actually, the skinheads of England and Australia in the 80's were actually racist. They were kind of like the hybrid of a nazi and a punk. If anyone has seen the film "Romper Stomper"(russle crow), they will know what I mean.

i don't know if this is an egg or not, but in the beginning scene where Edward nortons character has the gun in his mouth and tyler takes it out and says something like 'you got anything to say?' and ed's character says 'nothing,' then near the end when it goes back to where ed's character left off and he has the gun in his mouth again tyler ask's ed's character if he has anything to say and ed's character says 'still nothing.' and tyler says 'flashback humor.' i just thought that was sort of funny.

actually the shaving your head thing is in the book which came before the movie.

As far as a parallel between space monkeys and 12 Monkeys, I think someone pointed out earlier that the space monkeys originally appeared in the novel- written long before anyone decided to make a movie of it (let alone to cast Brad Pitt). Their meaning? Tyler is using the original test monkeys in the space program as a metaphor for Project Mayhem- beings willing to sacrifice themselves for a greater cause WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT THE GREATER CAUSE IS. He gives the Narrator (and, I believe, Jared Leto's character as well) a short monologue on this. For the remainder of the movie, the concept perfectly represents the most disturbing/interesting aspect of Project Mayhem- these men are so desperate for a greater cause that they will labor for Tyler under the assumption that he is working towards something, anything- but they have no idea what it is. The 'space monkey' idea is a lot more than just a movie reference- it's one of the most important psychological themes in both the novel and the movie. Any monkey references are most likely references to that continuing theme, not some older Brad Pitt movie. Again, as far as the shaving of heads, it was in the novel long before the cast was chosen or the script was written, so it obviously wasn't intended to refer to a film just because Norton appeared in it. It was part of the whole loss of identity that was so important in Project Mayhem ("In Project Mayhem, we have no names"). If you recall, the first person to be shaved after Tyler was Jared Leto's character, the "pretty boy" whose distinguishing feature was his fantastic head of bleach blond hair. After he's shaved, it's difficult to pick him out from the crowd of Project Mayhem workers. Where he was a prominent and noticeable character pre-Mayhem, he becomes just another space monkey after.

I just wanted to add that although the credits name Ed Norton's character as Narrator the actually script refers to him as Jack. Just a little tidbit.