Just a few nights ago I re-watched the movie Fight Club, after learning that one of my friends had never seen it before. After finishing the movie and once again thinking about how great of a movie it is, it still holds a place in pop culture.

The biggest reason was how the topic of mental illness is handled in the movie.

Today, mental illness is one of the most discussed issues in the media. The movie shows the main character (Edward Norton) struggling with depression and insomnia, which are some of the most common mental illnesses in the United States.

Fight Club doesn’t romanticize mental illness, it shows how strongly it can affect people and their behavior. It gives a blunt delivery showing that people who look like they have it all, can be the most miserable.

Many people can relate to Norton’s character in the movie through his apathetic worldview and how he feels lost and aimless.

This is even more evident given that we live in a world that ends every single movie with a big finale that gives its main character purpose.

Fight Club doesn’t try to complete its characters, it does just the opposite.

Fight Club breaks down its characters to a dysfunctional and unfortunately̨, relatable level.

The second half of the movie takes a darker and more philosophical turn as Project Mayhem begins to take effect on the minds and cities of people graced with Tyler Durden’s (Brad Pitt) presence.

The movie mirrors our current political climate, as we are so divided that little to no compromise is ever made.

Republicans demonize Democrats claiming that they want to ruin America and its freedom, while Democrats demonize Republicans saying that they are all racists and misogynists.

The only people who don’t hate the opposite side, are the ones so fed up with the system that they don’t even want to get involved with politics at all.

So many people want to just throw away the old system and start over, and for me, this mood reminds me even more of Fight Club.

Just like how when two guys would fight each other in the movie, once the fight was over, nothing was solved; honestly, that sounds quite a lot like how Washington is currently operating.

There are so many ways that Fight Club remains relevant in modern American society, even twenty years after the movie was released.

But the biggest reasons are the movie’s take on mental illness, political, and philosophical ideology.

Those topics are ones that are most in your face in the movie and society today.

Fight Club is a great movie that everyone should watch at least once in their life, if for nothing else than understanding more movie references and how disturbingly similar our country’s division is to the anarchy caused by Project Mayhem.