Mr. Robot and Fight Club: semi-spoiler alert.
People lose their minds. It happens every day.
But when TV or movie characters go off the deep end, Hollywood often embellishes this common occurrence of life. Hollywood enhances mental illness by curating a soundtrack that represents instability. One song that has appeared multiple times on these “insanity soundtracks” is “Where is My Mind” by the band Pixies. After the unnamed protagonist of Fight Club kills his dissociated personality by shooting himself through the cheek, “Where is My Mind” plays as the protagonist and Marla watch the buildings containing credit card companies’ records explode. Here’s that ending scene from Fight Club:
USA Network’s Mr. Robot has striking similarities to Fight Club. Elliot, the hacker protagonist of Mr. Robot, is also delusional, and at the end of episode 9, Parisian pianist and composer Maxence Cyrin‘s cover of “Where is My Mind” is playing in the background. Here’s that scene from Mr. Robot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0X_MigVZQw&feature=youtu.be
Both Maxence Cyrin’s cover and the original Pixies song are not only timeless tracks, but they are also appropriate in both Mr. Robot and Fight Club. Well done, Hollywood – your track selection is impeccable. Listen to Cyrin’s lovely Pixies cover without the Mr. Robot dialogue:
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