Why Men Love American Psycho.txt

title-Why Men Love American Psycho
---end-title---

american psycho is a warning more than
20 years after its release and american
psycho continues to maintain its
cultural grip when i look at youtube
profiles twitter handles and instagram
profiles i'm often met with the site of
patrick bateman when i go online i see
american psycho memes continuing to spread
like wildfire
[Music]
this is because american psycho is one
of the only films that expertly taps
into the psyche of men it's a film that
leaves you questioning your sense of
reality it's a film that shows us the
consequences of masking our personality
our opinions and true self it shows us
the hollowness of our atomized cities
and soul-crushing workspaces and most
importantly it shows us the absurdity of
the post-modern era where everyone
dresses the same talks the same has the
same opinions as the same plastic masks
covering their shriveled core
the movie begins in a high-end
restaurant where the waiters sound
exactly the same rabbit with herb french
fries our pasta tonight is a split rare
roasted partridge rest in raspberry
cooling with a sorrel the movie then
cuts to a table with patrick bateman and
his wall street associates where they
engage in a superficial conversation
the chicks restaurant why aren't we
doors yet each of these yuppies are
trapped inside of their bubble now this
might not seem important but this sets
the scene for the whole film the key
theme in this film is that no one
actually knows each other they don't see
each other they all put up their masks
and see each other's facades but i'll
talk more on that later in the next
scene they all go off to a nightclub
where patrick bateman goes to the bar to
order a drink there patrick bateman has
met with an aggressive bar lady and this
is where we see bateman's inner thoughts
come to the surface
and play around with your blood
but her non-responsive attitude makes it
seem as though this is all within side
patrick's head this scene gives us an
excellent look about what this movie is
all about it's a movie about personas
and the shadow self a trope that has
been played on throughout history
through the biblical stories of angels
and demons to the yin and the yang these
are all metaphors that are key to
understanding our own psychological and
societal development the pathway
to
completion as a human being is through the
is through the um
embodiment of the monster
embodiment of the monster that's the
discovery of the shadow it's the theme
of personas which this whole film is
about the persona is the mask you wear
in public that you think you are but
you're not the persona contains all the
things that modern culture says is good
and the shadow itself contains
everything that's not part of that a
path to a greater character to a more
effectual approach to life lies in
integrating those elements of our psyche
that for too long have been repressed
and denied and as we see throughout the
film the bifurcation between patrick's
shadow self and his public persona
becomes increasingly problematic
the film then cuts the infamous scene of
bateman's morning beautification routine
with all his layers of conditioners gels
exfoliators and ice packs the film makes
a key point in showing the plasticness
and the absurdity of the efforts we go
to for crafting our polish public
persona because we go to all of this
effort to hide our authentic self
there is an idea of a patrick bateman
some kind of abstraction
but there is no real me
only an entity something illusory and
this is seen everywhere within the film
where we see the bland staleness of
modern metropolises with skyscrapers
buildings all being carbon copies of one
another with each office within each
building being the same artificial box
with the same artificial lighting with
all the people in these offices looking
talking and acting identically to one
another
the cinematography and atmosphere is
perfectly designed to resemble the
monotonous drone of post-modern america
where you live in a box and work for an
uncaring machine that demands
productivity where no natural behavior
is allowed neither in the office or with
the people around you where everyone's
wearing the exact same clothes they
don't want to wear everyone showing up
to a job they don't want to do and have
no connection for where every week
you're trying to fill that hole in the
sad shadow of a life that you're left
with and this is what the film warns of
because when you're consumed in the
sterile culture that rewards lukewarm
morality above all else you're
programmed to never incorporate your
shadow self which denicia was a key part
of self-development he described this
process as going beyond good and evil
but this can only be done when you
loosen your mask and escape the confines
of conventional expectations to do this
as a man you need aggression and
expression for your own self-development
but in a culture that erodes authentic
self-expression and rewards material
conformity we start to see the
consequences of this begin to manifest
and this is exactly what american psycho
taps into
we see this in the next scene where
patrick is with his fiance on another
night out in this scene it quickly
becomes obvious that their relationship
is only a social mask to keep up their
public appearances to fit in with the
rest
because i want to fit
in
with the whole night out being another
means of blending in and conforming as
they walk in everything is comedically
shallow patrick's supposed friend is
kissing his wife patrick is indifferent
about it as he's having his own affair
and the person he's with is drugged out
of their mind because for these people
to release their shadow self they have
to gratify their immediate impulses to
feel some sort of connection and the
holiness of this whole situation is
perfectly summed up with patrick
bateman's social justice corporate
political speech
and oppose racial discrimination and
promote civil rights while also
promoting equal rights for women
most importantly we have to promote
general social concern
we have to encourage a return
to traditional moral values he's just
forced into being another walking
talking clone of this corporate culture
births where the most bland and trite
opinions are the only way to keep up the
public persona but meanwhile deep inside
everyone is living a completely opposite
life to their supposed values for
example bateman talks about returning to
traditional moral values and everyone
agrees with them while simultaneously
taking drugs having affairs and hating
each other with their connections to one
another being as fake as their masks and
this hypocrisy continues to unravel as
the film goes on the first sign of this
hypocrisy comes in the next scene the
laundrette where after just talking
about moral values and cohesion and
concern for others beyond sheets are
covered in blood or while bateman is
screaming at the workers
listen i cannot understand you
crazy you're a fool i can't cope with
the stupid fishy because we're seeing
bateman's real shadow side the bateman
that isn't covered up by a mask where
all his repressed tension is released
yet as soon as he's faced with someone
in the same social hierarchy as him his
whole demeanor changes reverting back to
the polished and plastic person he was
when talking about social justice this
theme of patrick without the mask is a
hilarious sideswipe of the post-modern
corporate culture where the most
outrageous behavior comes from those
preaching social justice the most it's
exactly the life these sociopathic
hollywood executives and politicians
live preaching to the public these
flimsy platitudes all whilst being the
most morally bankrupt people of all
because you're a hillary supporter yeah
i am a hillary supporter and they know
that if sexual assault allegations
exposed a dark reputation
the movie mogul had long tried to hide
harassment
sexual abuse of women is a widespread
pervasive issue the independent
investigation has concluded
that governor andrew cuomo
sexually harassed multiple women
and in doing so violated federal
and state law however in american psycho
this is representative of bateman
watching porn murdering people having
affairs with drug-added women
again you're dating the biggest dickweed
in new york
which leads on to one of my favorite
scenes of the film the hilarious card
scene where no one can recognize each
other where everyone's card is exactly
the same where everyone has exactly the
same job titles because everyone is the
same everything is trying to fit into
the sterile environment devoid of
authenticity and personality they only
see each other's facades that has
manifested out of conformity and
cowardice
ellen has mistaken me for this [ __ ]
marcus halberstram it seems logical
because marcus also works at pnp and in
fact does the same exact thing i do
marcus and i even go to the same barber
although i have a slightly better
haircut the slightest difference has
become so important in this world where
natural behavior is dissolved that
patrick almost has a nervous breakdown
over paul allen's business card peaceful
thickness op-ed
oh my god
it even has a watermark
[Music]
to release this pent-up anger and
borrowed up frustration patrick goes out
to find a homeless man in order for
patrick to reaffirm his ego and assert
his place in the social hierarchy bateman
love simple rates the homeless man
before bruce lee stabbing him to death
you know bad you smell eureka [ __ ] do
you know that
[Music]
bateman's public mask is becoming too
heavy to handle as the culture and
lifestyle of postmodern new york is
becoming unbearable for bateman and i'd
argue this is what the film is trying to
tell us it's a warning of how toxic
corporate culture saturates our psyche
and most importantly stunts our
emotional development the absurdity of
this post-modern lifestyle is then
perfectly summed up at the christmas
party where everyone looks the same and
is only caring about business
hey hamilton have a holly jolly
christmas is alan still handling the
fisher account where patrick bateman is
disgusted by how disconnected and
neurotic the party is and at this point
he can't help but let his mask slip
patrick you're such a grinch what does
mr grinch want for christmas
and don't say breast implants again
patrick goes over to paul allen and
invites him for dinner paul agrees but
only on the condition that he wants to
meet patrick's fiance while bateman only
wants to meet paul allen for his own
personal agenda however throughout the
dinner as they become more and more
inebriated the mask slips off for both
of the characters with their inner
thoughts bubbling up to the surface
great ass goes out with that loser
patrick vapin what a dork
another martini paul with bateman feeling
inferior after being caught a door can
seem the success of paul allen brings a
wave of pressure that his mask can no
longer handle
[Music]
the shallowness and ridiculousness of
this whole situation is then perfectly
summed up at the scene of bateman
dragging paul's dead body into his car
as he's dragging away this body bag his
colleague notices him but only to
question the brand of bag rather than to
question the morbid intentions the bag
is being used for
where did you get that overnight bag
[Music]
sean paul gautier however in the
following scene it pans back to bateman
in his office just where he started
before listening to music in his own
little world almost to him that all of
this was just a fantasy inside of his
head it's this pattern of daytime
monotony a nightly release that repeats
throughout the film and that's why i
believe the killings throughout this
film are a metaphor for bateman releasing
his shadow self it's all to escape the
drab meaningless culture that is eroding
his inner self and i think this is why
so many men flock to american psycho
because so many men find themselves
repeating a similar pattern a pattern of
wearing your mask through the day and
stifling your inner self to releasing
the shadow at night through excessive
hedonistic behavior but to fully
understand why this happens we first
need to understand the looking glass
self sociologist charles cooley
theorized that people develop their
sense of identity through their
perception of others views using social
interaction as a type of mirror people
use the judgments they receive from
others and the culture around them to
measure their own character values and
behavior so when you have a looking
glass that erodes character humor and
authentic self-expression your identity
erodes and you become invisible to those
around you and if you can't express your
abilities human character you may start
to feel a profound sense of emptiness a
sense of worthlessness and
soul-destroying nihilism and patrick
bateman represents this everyday
repression of expression in a
corporatized mega metropolis world where
the cleanliness and sterile nature of
everyday life becomes so unbearable that
the um self becomes extreme where your
shadow self metastasizes in response to
your eroding identity you may want more
power you may want control you may want
to tell everyone what you really think
is that all you ever have to contribute
what about dinner
or in the case of patrick bateman this
may emerge in the form of murderous
fantasies because patrick bateman's inner
shadow is swallowing him up earth just
opens up and swallows them this is why
throughout the film we see patrick
releasing his inner shadow at home
watching either extreme porn and horror
films in a casual manner just to fill
something or using prostitutes and drugs
which is why bateman later admits that
he's not very good at controlling his
willpower i don't want to ruin your
willpower
that's all right
i'm not very good at controlling it
anyway because the willpower to maintain
the mask is unbearable the lashing out
at his colleagues what's the matter no
shiatsu this morning touching me
hold on there little buddy the erratic
behavior using hookers degrading those
low in the social hierarchy and
eventually breaking up with his fiance
is all a coping mechanism they're not
terribly important to me
[Music]
the cherry on top of all of this is that
patrick realizes everyone around him is
going through exactly the same thing
everyone is so wrapped up in their own
mask their extreme behavior can't help
but unravel
thanks patrick
this struggle to escape the perfectly
crafted public persona has ended up with
a painting right here this painting is
part of a collection called men of the
cities as you can see all these
paintings faces are hidden away with
their colours being a bland black and
white capturing the feeling of
atomization and the need to escape the
confines of their surroundings which is
why these paintings serve as the perfect
metaphor for what the film is trying to
warn us of

now all of this stuff is building up to
the climax of the film where bateman is
thrown into a full-on breakdown where
his psyche becomes fully psychotic
feeding a cat into an atm machine
shooting police and anyone in his way
[Music]
but with all the overtop explosions the
people he shoots never actually dying
and the surroundings staying exactly the
same the film points to the fact that
this is just bateman's pent-up reverie of
aggression and defiance of convention or
in other words it's an extreme fantasy
to imagine a world where he can release
his extreme shadow self in the real
world this repression reaches its climax
with bateman's final phone call where his
breakdown finally becomes visible to all
of those around him
patrick i can't hear you what am i doing
she's sounding so big
and yet the sad truth is no one cares
patrick's lawyer doesn't recognize him
don't you know who i am
i'm not davis i'm patrick bateman
the people around him continue the same
superficial conversations now where do
we have reservations
i mean i'm not really hungry but i'd
like to have reservations someplace the
people around him are indifferent the
culture uncaring and the cycle of
repression repeats itself this blunt
ending is in a way more disturbing than
any of the murderous fantasies because
it's real all the repression masks all
the lives of quiet desperation is just
part and parcel of life in the modern
world where we've been taught that
people who think differently are a
danger to society and then they must be
censored into silence where we are numb
to a drab deluge of hollow meaningless
plastic culture that shows us nothing
but vicious hostility to anyone trying
to express authenticity the whole point
of this film is to show the fundamental
importance of self-expression and human
connection something that nihilistic
materialism just can't replace we need
friendship love and community all the
things that the radical atomization and
isolation of modern life destroys which
is why american psycho serves as an
essential message a message telling us
to rethink the destruction of the
institutions and traditions that
supported the very things that foster
prosperity and happiness but sadly this
is a message that has become all too
forgotten