Well yeah, but they always focus on a particular character lol so if decades ago people were saying "Tyler Durden had a point" then what character are people similarly focused on now?

Yeah, it was hard for me too! I'm hoping that means as a society we've stopped elevating edge lords to be paragons of virtue! But, the cynical part of me has gotten larger over the years and it would say: no, society just moved from elevating fictional edge lords, to elevating real ones.

Or maybe it just means I no longer have my finger on the pulse of movie fans lol.

I like this answer a lot. And the downvotes you got may have struck a nerve lol

Oh! Oh no. You might be right but ... I like office space! Hmm are you meaning in the ways that Peter really isn't someone you should try to emulate? That he really just did have found another job instead of come up with schemes to avoid work?

I guess I mean the current college age generation, and those in their early to mid 20s. The people drinking pbr at crowded house parties. When the annoying guy who didn't take philosophy but says he's interested in philosophy walks over, which deplorable character is he most likely to talk about in the hopes it makes him sound him sound hip, nuanced, and edgy. (I say this with love for the 19 year old version of me who was exactly this!)

I think this one might be the most ubiquitous example nowadays of the phenomenon I'm talking about. He's literally everywhere and there's a lot of people who think his worldview/ philosophy is cool

Part of why I haven't been able to watch the show is the number of people just kind of blindly praising Walter. It's a little concerning based on what I know of the show lol

Yeah I hate talking to fans of that movie, and I'm a fan of that movie! As a person with a mental illness or three, I think the movie has a lot to say, but it feels like 7 out of 10 fans are going to tell me that what the movie has to say is that the Joker was right all along and somehow they'll have no strong takeaways with regards to treating others with respect and dignity regardless of their situation or "otherness". Or about the dangers of becoming what people fear you are.

They just kind of think that the mental health system failed Arthur (correct!) and he had no choice but to do what he did (incorrect).

Oh yeah. Especially college age men when I was in college. They thought the point of the movie was that Tyler durden really knew how to live. That we really have gotten away from what men should be like.

People made real actual fight clubs

When I was in college there was a lot of "you know, when you think about it, joker had a point. As long as things go according to plan no one cares even if something awful happens"

And yes, for sure there plenty of conversations with dudes thinking the message of fight club is that Tyler durden had a point about how to live.

Sure, if that helps you!