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The late 1980s and early 1990s were interesting times for America’s economy. Under President Ronald Reagan, a much larger emphasis was put on American capitalism. Taxes were dramatically cut, industries were deregulated, and GDP rose to an all-time high. Along with this extreme economic growth came scandals, thievery, and a decline in morality with sex and drugs being intertwined with multi-billion dollar companies. A lot of this mentality came from “yuppie” investors, a term that was coined in the 1980s that referred to young and highly educated working professionals on Wall Street and in other financial markets. As W. Scott Poole puts it, “…the Reagan Revolution came to fruition in the rise of the yuppie mentality, a vision of youthful experience in which brutally ambitious MBAs fought their way to the top of corporate America… The yuppie worldview saw American life as a wild frontier and men in Brooks Brothers suits as the new Davy Crocketts… Increasingly, the monster wore the mask of success, American style.” (160). And with that, audience members were greeted with Patrick Batman and the 2000 cult classic American Psycho, a film obsessed with the ramifications that this period had on society as a whole.
The mid-1990s is a period littered with a new fascination for Americans: serial murder. Movies, T.V. shows, and novels featuring dark and gruesome stories filled with murder flooded the marketplace and found their way into the homes of Americans. This dark obsession for Americans grew rapidly into the bloodstream of contemporary culture, as fascinations with killers such as Ted Bundy, “whose crimes brought him enormous media attention while he waited for execution on Florida’s death row… gaining a romantic following [from Americans]” (161). The film explores a multitude of different areas, but the concept of image over induvial stands out most prominently. Similarly, American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman’s deeply American psychosis mirrored this fascination with similar serial killers that intertwined with the American culture of celebrity (noting the tongue-in-cheek scene later in the film in which Bateman asks his assistant Jean about Bundy’s dog).
The film explores a multitude of different areas regarding fear and paranoia of the corporate-ladder-climbing male in the 1990s, but the concept of image over induvial comes most prominently. From the very first scene, it becomes clear that Patrick Bateman is obsessed with how others view him. Going off of just this scene alone, it’s unclear who our protagonist is, or even if any of these characters are important to the plot. Bateman is just another yuppie conforming to everything that those around him do. The group is all wearing similar attire and even whip out the same credit cards to pay for their meals and drinks. However, as the audience discovers in the following nightclub scene, Bateman has a dark and violent side hidden below the surface as he yells at the female bartender “I wanna stab you to death and play around with your blood.” It’s now revealed that Bateman just pretends to be normal when in reality, his true self is a cold-blooded killer. Oh course, this isn’t what society expects from him, so he hides behind a mask as he attempts to conform to those around him.
Bateman is obsessed with what others do and tries to mold himself to be more like them. Once the exclusive restaurant “Dorsia” is mentioned, Bateman does everything in his power to get reservations. He mimics those around him, trying to be just like them and to fit in. For example, the famous and iconic business card scene features Bateman obsessively panicking over the little details of his co-worker’s business cards. There is no significant or discernible difference between the cards; yet to him, it means everything. Instead of working, he gets upset over the smallest things. The lack of work is a defining feature of the film as well. Bateman’s limited time at the office is spent listening to music and worrying about where he’ll have dinner that night. In essence, he’s not worried about advancing his career or company but instead stays worried only about how others view him. This paranoia embodies the darkest elements of the modern male’s psyche, both in the 1980s and 1990s, but also today in 2019.
In addition to worrying about this, Bateman is also interested in his self-perception. I noticed while watching this movie (for the 20th time) that director Mary Harron uses reflection symbolism brilliantly in this film. Throughout the entire movie, Bateman is constantly looking at his reflection and always has to try and improve until he is at the standard that everyone holds him to. The first reflection in the movie isn’t actually in a mirror, but instead in the poster of the Broadway musical Les Misérables. This musical is mentioned throughout American Psycho by Bateman and his friends, showing the disconnect the yuppie brokers have from reality. They see the play as a status symbol and a sign of wealth since they can afford the tickets. Meanwhile, the story is about the exact opposite, focusing on class tension and how excess and wealth found in the upper class cause angst and rebellion in the lower one (and how this causes a collapse in society). Similar to Victor Hugo’s work, American Psycho finds a way to make the behavior of the upper class glamorize the lower class without any of its members realizing it.
All the while as Bateman loses his sanity and falls farther and farther away from reality, nothing begins meaning anything to him except for how others view him anymore. Unfortunately for Bateman, others view him as a nobody. Nobody is scared of Patrick Bateman. Patrick Bateman is indistinguishable from anybody else. He has shaped himself into the mold that others expect him to fit into, and in doing so, has taken away all individuality from himself. Bateman has been stripped down to his most animalistic instincts. He wants more, no matter the cost. What the audience discovers when there is no more for Bateman to take and nothing else matters to him, is his true self. The axe to Paul Allen’s face. The chainsaw is being dropped into the spine of a prostitute. The late-night murder spree. Finally, after no longer being able to maintain this mask, Bateman reveals who he really is under the surface: a terrifying psycho.
While Poole (and other critics) suggest that these murders cannot be verified as reality, I believe that Bret Easton Ellis made his answer clear. The expectation of image over individual brings out Bateman’s true self. More so, Bateman’s true self is a manifestation and a reflection of society in this era. He has been raised to conform to others and to value nothing. His actions are a byproduct of the world around him. This is such a world in which real estate agents cover murders so property values stay high. A world in which no care is given to those suffering (i.e. the homeless-man scene). A world where status is worth more than human life. A world like that is a world where Patrick Bateman, a psycho, is at home. In this world, these murders absolutely existed, and worse, were excepted by society due to the rampant self-absorption that the Reagan era of the late 1980s and early 1990s ushered in.
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