[This is the first article by John Perich as a newly minted staff writer on Overthinking It (a fact we mentioned on the podcast a couple weeks ago, but didn't put in writing until now. Welcome, John—great to have you! —Ed.]
Two popular films released in the fall of 1999 contained minor subplots in which the protagonist blackmails his boss as a key to wealth and independence. These two films, Fight Club and American Beauty, live on opposite ends of White Male Angst Road. The former’s about nihilistic thirty-somethings, coming to grips with the fear that none of it really matters. The latter’s about depressed forty-somethings, liberating themselves with the joyful realization that none of it really matters.
But enough about their themes. Today we focus on two scenes in particular.
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