Foil

Character Role Analysis

Angel Face

Angel Face is the blonde-haired beauty played by a man who can't not be beautiful: Jared Leto. He's a member of Project Mayhem, but he's also something Project Mayhem seeks to destroy. Our main character gets jealous when he sees Angel Face getting attention from Tyler. Of course, this means that our main character is both giving Angel Face attention and is jealous as a result of this attention. We can't even begin to comprehend how complicated this must feel.

It's almost like he hates that he likes something that is beautiful. Homoeroticism aside, he's supposed to hate beautiful things like Calvin Kline models, so Angel Face must be destroyed.

When our main character beats Angel Face to a pulp, he explains it by saying, "I felt like destroying something beautiful." But because Angel Face and Jack/the narrator are so similar (objects of Tyler's affections) yet so different (one is commercially beautiful, the other isn't) their relationship is exceptionally volatile. It's a way of our narrator hitting rock bottom, something Tyler wants him to do. By destroying something beautiful, he's also destroying his capacity to appreciate beauty within himself.