Does the film deal with spiritual deadness as one of the protagonist’s main issues?
The Wall: Yes, Pink is “comfortably numb” and must peel his face off in order to become real
The Matrix: Yes, Thomas Anderson is in a self-induced coma
American Beauty: Yes, Lester Burnham has never felt “this sedated” and says, “In a way, I’m dead already”
Fight Club: Yes, Tyler awakens Jack to the reality of his auto-pilot zombie consumer lifestyle
To counteract their deadness, do the film’s protagonists have to be “born again”?
The Wall: Yes, Pink must shave his entire body, babylike, in order to be saved
The Matrix: Yes, Thomas Anderson must be born out of his Matrix pod, and arrive pink and hairless into Morpheus’ ship, the Nebuchadnezzar
American Beauty: Yes, Lester Burnham says, “I feel like I’ve been in a coma for twenty years. And I’m just now beginning to wake up”
Fight Club: Yes, Jack experiences support group therapy and fight club as religious salvation: “Each night I died, and each night I was resurrected, ‘born again’
[via metaphilm’s A Copy of a Copy of a Copy; The Matrix, American Beauty, and Fight Club as Retellings of Pink Floyd’s The Wall]
