by Yazmin Ghonaim

The title American Psycho, which uses "American" as a descriptive label for its subject "Psycho", poses the following question: What constitutes the "Americanness" of its subject? The title of Mary Harron's film and Bret Easton Ellis' novel suggests a subtle --yet important-- duality that promises to explore either 1) the Americanness of the psycho or 2) the psychosis of an American. Although the first focus seems to correspond more naturally to the film's placement of its protagonist in 1980s New York, the second focus most accurately represents the film's portrayal of a protagonist that belongs to 1980s New York. In order to fully appreciate the difference between these two foci, it is necessary to understand how the filmic elements of American Psycho portray 1980s New York as the capital of excess and Patrick Bateman as its best adapted and most exploitative citizen. Furthermore, as American Psycho is narrated from the main character's point of view while satirizing the character's own sense of belonging to his environment, it is essential to understand how the film integrates its visual, aural and narrative elements in order to elevate the character's lack of identity to a level of psychosis, and to create a disturbing portrait of the modern-day monster. Environment and Point of View The images that construct the representations of New York City consist mainly of long shots of the recognizable night skyline and views of skyscrapers from Patrick Bateman's Wall Street office or from rival Paul Allen's apartment living room. The identification of the era is emphasized by the music score, which includes music from Dope, The Cure, New Order, Information Society, Phil Collins, Whitney Houston and Huey Lewis & the News. The portrayal of the 1980s is also dependent on costume design (large shoulder pads and other 80s designs, such as those of Nino Cerrutti, Gaultier and Versace); props (large sunglasses, Patrick's walkman and bulky cellular phones); and set design (the all-white and minimalist interior design of Patrick's apartment). Toward the end of the film, one scene confirms the era by showing President Ronald Reagan delivering a live speech on television. Other images help portray the story's setting as well as the narrator's point of view, which helps situate the main character within the depicted environment. These include dance club scenes, where the music, lighting, colors, and costumed characters that cover the dance floor offer an identifiable flamboyance. In one scene there is a medium-long shot of three sexy women on a slightly raised platform. Each scans the room with a toy gun and moves slowly to pop music. The carefully choreographed trio strongly resembles the three female detectives from the classic American television show "Charlie's Angels" (1976-1981). Aside from creating an atmosphere of playful artificiality, this image reenacts the glamorization of violence popularized by the television show. More significantly, the image subtly establishes a precedent for subsequent images of stylized violence. In addition, this brief shot provides the only image of "women in power" for the entire film. Due to the fact that all other female characters are never seen holding a weapon nor any type of pain-inflicting or self-defense device, and because they are never seen in full control of a given situation, the stylized image of the "armed angels" emphasizes the point of view of Patrick Bateman and suggests that the male character's perception of strong women in power is strictly fictional. Other dance club scenes show Patrick Bateman sharing drugs with a male friend in a restroom, or ordering a drink from a female bartender, whom he openly insults and threatens to murder. However, the bartender is distracted preparing the drink and seems not to have heard Patrick's morbid statement. This scene is important because it establishes a troubling ambiguity: Did Patrick Bateman really state his fantasy, or did he simply imagine himself doing so? This ambiguity results from the careful integration of sound into plot, where the music seems to have simply drowned the character's stirring words, therefore justifying the resultant stasis represented by the woman's lack of reaction. Furthermore, the scene integrates sound to develop character by having the loudness of the music question the possibility of Patrick as an unreliable character, whose actions might be overlapped by hallucinations. On a narrative level, American Psycho portrays an atmosphere of superficiality, materialism and snobbery. For example, many scenes are dedicated to showing how Patrick and his male counterparts try to make last-minute reservations at the most exclusive restaurants, or how they flaunt having succeeded in making one. A particular scene reveals the conventional arrogance and the underlying insecurity of one character, who anxiously states that he is not even hungry (and therefore has no need for a reservation), but that he simply wants to have a reservation. In another scene, Patrick lies to his absentminded lover, Courtney, who is under the influence of a drug. He tells her they are at Dorsia although they are actually seated inside another restaurant. In a subsequent scene, Patrick's lie proves rewarding when the news spreads and impresses Courtney's fiancé, among others who were not fortunate enough to dine at the prestigious Dorsia. American Psycho portrays most of its characters as vain and frivolous. Furthermore, the associates, friends and lovers of Patrick Bateman are wealthy and they project an expensive lifestyle. The scenes which include Patrick's two main female companions --Evelyn (his fiancée) and Courtney (his lover)-- mostly show each character either socializing at a party or at a restaurant, inside a limousine, wrapped in a fur coat or planning a grand wedding. Also, Evelyn and Courtney are each depicted either having sex, lying down, crying, complaining, stoned or distracted. Yet whatever their state, every shot that includes either character (within the frame or as an off-screen voice-over) also includes the character of Patrick Bateman (either visually or through his voice-over narration). This careful choice emphasizes Patrick's point-of-view, specifically with regards to his perception of the role of women. The scenes which include Patrick's male companions also reveal a high level of affluence and in addition, a sense of competition. This notion is most clearly communicated in one scene where Patrick and his associates compare business cards. Close-up shots of each partner's card complement statements about the type of paper or lettering used for their design. While Patrick's Vice Presidency status and other information is printed on bone-colored paper, the others' cards challenge his with raised lettering and subtle patterns: clear indications of superior taste, or so it is established by the reaction shots of each proud or defeated competitor. Ironically, every card reveals that all characters are Vice President of Pierce & Pierce. This reaffirms the fact that the characters' similarities outweigh the quite imperceptible differences. Their "cookie-cutter" mentality and lifestyle satirize the concept of competition by suggesting the pointlessness in each character's attempt to compare himself to other replicas of himself. Unlike its male counterparts, the female characters lack the characteristics of being competitive toward each other. One may argue, for instance, that there is no indication that Evelyn is aware of Patrick's affair with her best friend Courtney. However, when Patrick entertains his hopeful secretary Jean in his home and Evelyn calls, the answering machine voices a message in which she coolly teases her fiancé and playfully expresses her suspicion that he is with another woman. This use of voice-over (via the answering machine) exemplifies the successful integration of sound into plot and into character development. Evelyn's presence, which is represented aurally, shows that the character acknowledges Patrick's untrustworthy nature, and more importantly, it emphasizes the relationship between women as being non conflictive. As the scene progresses, the female guest realizes Patrick is not an available bachelor and she accordingly withdraws. Other scenes echo this same notion of no competition/no conflict and even suggest an idea of harmony between female characters. These include the sex scenes where Patrick hires two prostitutes for a ménage-à-trois, or when he asks his friend Elizabeth and prostitute Christie to have sex with each other. Yet since in the first scene Patrick pays the prostitutes to perform, and in the other, he secretly pours a drug into both women's drinks, one may argue that female compliance, as well as a sense of "harmony" between the female characters, is not genuine. Still, the latter scene seems to offer a momentary lapse of endearment: In the background, Patrick plays and critiques Whitney Houston's "The Greatest Love of All" while Elizabeth and Christie transmit a sense of relaxation with their caresses (the only caresses of the entire film) and their laughter. Due to the staginess of the situation and to the viewer's knowledge of Patrick Bateman's tendencies, however, the scene satirizes this moment of false pleasantry and effectively maintains a high degree of suspense. Patrick Bateman's Psychosis American Psycho places Patrick Bateman among a group of similar young urban professionals and frivolous friends. However, Patrick clearly separates himself from the rest. The scene in which the Harvard graduate and his associates compare business cards also serves to exemplify the distinction between Patrick's and his partners' level of competitiveness. Realizing that rival Yale graduate Paul Allen has secured the profitable and sought-after "Fisher account", and that Paul's business card proves to be the one most admired by the crowd, Patrick internalizes his contempt. In a scene that follows, Patrick Bateman claims the first victim --a homeless man in a dark alley-- as the result of a displaced reaction to his sense of inferiority. Many scenes represent Patrick Bateman's belief in taking care of his physique. This is achieved by depicting the character in the nude, wearing little clothing or only a towel, as he performs simple routine activities of showering, exercising and applying facial treatments. Simultaneously, a robotic voice-over recites the benefits of certain products and habits. These scenes successfully establish the duality of the exterior versus the interior qualities of the character. Patrick Bateman's psychosis is clearly established by the voice-over narration in which he attempts to define himself. He begins: "There is no real me… there is an idea of my self; some kind of abstraction." In one scene, Patrick states, "I think my mask of sanity is about to slip." Visually, this is represented by a medium close-up shot of Patrick's mirrored reflection as he peels off a dry facial beauty mask, slightly pulling his skin and distorting his features. Other scenes include visualizations of Patrick Bateman's mental distortion. For example, in one scene Patrick rides in a taxi cab with Courtney. Although both characters are seen in a medium shot from inside the front seat of the cab, a plastic window (which separates the front from the back of the car), is open on Courtney's side and closed on Patrick's. The result is the blurry distortion of Patrick's face by the thick plastic panel. In an earlier scene, Patrick is given the restaurant's steel menu. In an over-the-shoulder shot, Patrick draws the metal sheet closer, revealing a blurry and distorted reflection of his face. Other scenes transmit the character's mental state by contrasting representations of outer beautification with voice-over descriptions of inner emptiness. For example, a young girl from a massage parlor informs her client: "What beautiful skin you have; so fine, so smooth." This statement is followed by Patrick's crude evaluation: "I have all the characteristics of a human: flesh, bones and blood, but not a single idea or emotion..." While these depictions suggest the sense of a lack of identity, the descriptions that Patrick Bateman makes of himself, via the voice-over narration, establish the character's awareness of himself as an inhuman phenomenon. Director Mary Harron likens Patrick Bateman to a vampire, who must also lead a double life. More accurately, she compares the character of Patrick Bateman to Frankenstein. "But in [Bateman's] case," she states, "the disfigurement is inside." To this valuable observation one may add, however, that although both characters are monsters, any sense of tragedy and horror derives not from the fact that they are monsters, but from the fact that both are extremely conscious of their monstrosity. Patrick Bateman's psychosis, however, is best explored through the murders he commits. In the first murder (already briefly mentioned), Patrick attacks Al, a homeless man who is slouched on trash bags in a dark alley. Patrick at first plays with the victim by mocking the man's pitiful condition. He concludes: "I have nothing in common with you." He opens his briefcase and reaches into it. A close-up shot of Al's horrified face offers the reaction to the repeated stabbing. The bird's eye view shot that follows provides a distanced --and therefore, objectified-- depiction of the scene, where Patrick proceeds by kicking and killing the only witness of the murder, an approaching stray dog. By having the actual stabbing motion occur off-screen, this first murder depiction focuses on the violence of Patrick's contempt and cynicism toward the poor, more so than on the violence of his physical blows. Having established Patrick Bateman's means of resolving contempt, and having declared his intolerance of Paul Allen, the next victim is predetermined. In a subsequent scene, Patrick invites Paul to an unknown (and empty) restaurant in order to prevent being seen by their friends. Once Paul is notably drunk, Patrick takes him to his apartment, thus ensuring total control over his next victim. In a medium-long shot, a stupefied Paul sits on a covered white sofa, wondering why the floor below and around him is neatly covered with newspaper and the furniture protected by plastic covers. Laughing, he teases Patrick, who is off-screen: "Do you have a dog?" Patrick enters the frame from the right, behind Paul and out of his sight. He sets aside a shiny new ax, puts on a long transparent, plastic raincoat and goes toward his stereo. Upon seeing him, Paul chuckles and asks, "Is that a raincoat?" Patrick then puts on "Hip To Be Square" loudly and ignores Paul's confusion by enthusiastically describing the music of Huey Lewis & the News. Having ensured an easy post-slaughter cleanup, Patrick, who now stands behind Paul and holds the ax, calls out his name. In a medium shot, Paul slowly turns around and with a brief expression of shock, the shot cuts to a medium close-up of Patrick's face being splattered with the blood of his victim. The camera immediately (and subtly) moves to follow the ax's movements (from the upper left side of the frame to the bottom right side) as Patrick continues with gratuitous blows. Paul Allen's murder scene is the most accurate, most stylized and most extreme example of the film's successful integration of its visual, aural and narrative elements, all of which explore the protagonist's psychosis and create a disturbing --yet highly satirized-- portrait of Patrick Bateman as the modern-day monster. The scene carefully uses set design (a quasi-bare living room with covered furniture); costume design (a plastic raincoat over Patrick's fine suit); color (predominantly white contrasted with red); music/voice-over (which states that it's hip to be square and recalls the 1980s, American setting); lighting (very bright and crisp interiors); and camera movement (which hypnotically follows the diagonal movements of the ax). Aside from offering a powerful example of cinematic violence, the stylistic choices deepen our understanding of the character's psychosis. The most evident of these choices is the music. The song "Hip to Be Square" voices Patrick's identification with the "squareness" that is, with the rigid conventionality of his fashionable, materialistic environment. In this specific scene, the immediate environment is comprised of his designer home, his designer clothes and even his brand-new ax. His extreme care for material objects is visually represented by the measures he takes to ensure that his furniture and his clothes not be dirtied by his victim's blood. While these measures obviously delineate the character's obsession with outer perfection, their precisionistic nature emphasizes the degree of premeditation of the murder, thus accentuating the criminal's extreme psychosis. The scene reaches a level of satire as it juxtaposes the character's extreme destructiveness toward living organisms with his almost endearing protectiveness toward inanimate objects. (This latter notion may be better supported by Ellis' novel, which stresses Patrick Bateman's weakness for collecting and playing with the body parts or the corpses of his victims; a weakness that may ensue from the character's obsession with inanimate objects.) Although this murder scene is notably violent, the actual graphic depiction of the killing occurs off-screen --or rather-- it does not occur visually. (The death of Paul Allen occurs only on a narrative level. The character's existence is last represented by the medium shot where Paul slowly turns around and briefly expresses shock. Subsequent shots point to Paul's absence and determine the plot.) The most graphic depiction is limited to a close-up shot of Patrick's face being splattered with the blood of his victim. This stylistic choice furthers the plot and helps create a portrait of Patrick Bateman. His face tainted with red color and his hair loosened by the violent jerking of his blows, this image surfaces the savage nature of the murderer. This new portrait of Patrick Bateman stands in contrast to the well-groomed mask he so consciously wears, and offers a powerful visualization of the character's inner deformity breaking through his designer shell. Furthermore, this highly stylized portraiture of Patrick Bateman is echoed by a black and white print that hangs visibly on the wall in the background. The framed print is a life-size photograph of a woman in a black dress and high heels, whose medium-long, dark hair is violently tossed forward, completely covering her face and hiding her identity. This image testifies to the camera's power to capture and glamorize the subject's unrestrained movements. Thus, the juxta positioning of the two subjects seems to suggest that the portrait of Patrick Bateman (which visualizes his inner deformity) duplicates the glamorization of the unrestrain and the lack of identity that is captured by the black and white photograph. Other murder scenes that successfully explore and develop Patrick Bateman's psychosis include the chase scene of Christie the prostitute, and the murder scene of an old lady near an ATM machine. Christie's murder scene is important because it exposes the "secret compartments" of Patrick's insanity. The scene takes place in Paul Allen's apartment, which Patrick has adopted as his slaughter house. The notion of the "secret compartments" is concretely represented by a chase scene, initiated as Christie sees Patrick torturing their sex partner Elizabeth, and as she tries to escape. Desperately searching for a way out of the apartment, a curious camera follows Christie as she slams open doors and closets and finds stored corpses and body parts. In this manner, it is suggested that the protagonist's psychosis is magnified off-screen, therefore implying that the harm that can result from Patrick's insanity is indefinite. The brief murder scene of an old woman near an ATM machine mainly serves to catapult a sense that Patrick is losing control. In this scene Patrick withdraws cash, spots a stray cat and considers shooting it with his gun. Yet a woman witnesses this and surprises Patrick, who in turn shoots the woman. Soon he hears sirens and he runs away. This murder is the first truly compulsive one and sets the precedent for the subsequent murders, where a scared Patrick shoots anyone who gets in his way. Interestingly, these murder scenes show that as Patrick seems to lose control, his murders also suffer and become increasingly compulsive and sloppy. Did Patrick Bateman really commit the murders? Clearly, American Psycho dedicates many scenes to establish the superficiality of its characters, mostly by placing them in frivolous situations. Nevertheless, the film does not render the characters decadent or perverse enough to allow the criminal behaviors of Patrick Bateman. Still, the society's illogical indifference toward Patrick's questionable activities seems to point to the possibility that perhaps Patrick Bateman did not commit the murders but simply fantasized about them. This troubling notion of ambiguity is complemented by the fact that the protagonist offers a subjective --and perhaps unreliable-- narration. However, one must first understand the symbiotic relationship between Patrick Bateman and his society, in order to know if Patrick Bateman really committed the murders, and if so, why he didn't get caught. There are thirteen instances in which Patrick Bateman reveals some truth about his psychosis, and in which he also benefits (or suffers) from not being understood or not being heard. In all cases there is a type of "justifier" which explains the other's indifference or lack of reaction to Patrick's psychosis. The first instance recalls the scene in a dance club, where Patrick is not heard by the female bartender as he threatens to murder her. In this case, the "justifier" is the loud music. The second instance involves a Chinese couple at a cleaners, who Patrick violently insults for not accepting to clean his bloodstained sheets. The justifier here is the fact that all three characters cannot communicate effectively in the same language. Patrick expresses his rage but is not understood; the non English-speaking Chinese woman reacts to the blood stains, but is not understood by Patrick. (In this same scene, Patrick unexpectedly encounters an old girlfriend, who seems shocked as she notices the bloodstained sheets, but who is nevertheless distracted by her own eagerness to set up a date with Patrick.) The third instance pertains to a scene where Patrick socializes with a group of women. One, a model, asks him "what he does", and although Patrick answers honestly "...mostly murders and executions," she understands a more logical "mergers and acquisitions." Here, the justifier is her logical expectations plus the similar sounds of the phrase. In the fourth instance, Paul Allen is about to be murdered. Offering what seems like a warning, Patrick tells him: "I like to dissect girls," yet in this case the justifier is that Paul Allen is too drunk and he naturally has the justification to doubt what he heard. In the fifth instance, Patrick drags Paul's corpse, which he put inside a large bag, across the lobby of his apartment building, and passes the building's security guard. Incredibly, the guard does not notice a trail of blood across the lobby's floor. This may be regarded as proof that there was no trail of blood, and therefore no murder. However, although this instance does confront the viewer with what is occurring versus what is unlikely to occur (i.e., the guard not seeing the blood), the scene acts in support of the notion that most characters lack the instinct or the will to see (and much less to question) the symptoms of Patrick's psychosis. The justifier for this instance recalls the medium-long shot of a weary guard sitting in a low chair behind a high counter, who with a glance recognizes Patrick and instantly lowers his eyes to the original position, resuming whatever he was doing. In the sixth (and most effective) instance, Patrick is recognized by an acquaintance as he loads the bag/corpse inside the trunk of a car. The friend looks at the unnaturally bulky bag with an expression of awe and states: "Ooh!... Where did you get that overnight bag?" Clearly, the justifier is the character's instinctive attention to the material, superficial aspects of his surroundings. The seventh instance is the most extreme. In this scene, Patrick feels persecuted and desperately needs to unmask himself. He calls his lawyer and confesses to his answering machine that he has killed many people, including Paul Allen. When he encounters the lawyer soon afterwards, the lawyer not only congratulates him for the joke but has mistaken Patrick for another client of his. The justifier stresses the lawyer's incapacity to distinguish between a real and a false declaration of guilt, and emphasizes the lawyer's resistance toward the notion of truth. Furthermore, having confused Patrick with someone else establishes the lawyer's unreliability and tendency to confuse people. This weakens the lawyer's statement that he had seen the supposedly dead Paul Allen in London. The eighth and ninth instances involve Patrick's fiancée Evelyn, and his secretary Jean. In the first instance, Patrick and Evelyn are in a restaurant and he decides to terminate the engagement, adding vaguely that he has problems and that he needs help. During this explanation, Patrick draws on the table's paper cover a woman being split open with a chain saw. Although signs are provided to point out Patrick's psychotic tendencies (which he seems to want to communicate), the justifier shows that Evelyn is too distracted by the thrill of spotting an acquaintance at a distance. In the ninth instance, Patrick suffers a crisis and calls Jean from a pay phone. However revealing his words, the noise from the street drowns his voice and provides the justifier which exempts Jean from hearing Patrick's confession. (Jean, however, is the only character who gains some understanding of Patrick's psychosis. She is also the only character who addresses Patrick with a meaningful idea. [She asks: "Have you ever wanted to make someone happy?"]. Jean is the only character who Patrick shows some sympathy for and who he spontaneously decides not to kill. Lastly, Jean is the only character who discovers the sadistic drawings that evidence Patrick Bateman's psychosis.) The tenth and most important instance where Patrick Bateman is misjudged involves detective Donald Kimball, who seems to have the information necessary to reveal Patrick's culpability of Paul Allen's disappearance. Kimball promises to be a pivotal character who will determine the fate of Patrick Bateman. However, during a lunch meeting, Kimball clears Patrick's fear of being caught by explaining that someone claimed that Patrick had dinner with the usual group of friends on the night and the time of the murder. Although the viewer might seem confused with this information and may begin to doubt the reality of Paul's death, an important justifier returns all culpability to Patrick Bateman: due to the fact that the usual group of friends is previously seen making reservation after reservation, day after day, night after night, and that the same group of friends is also seen drinking or using drugs, it is therefore acceptable and expected that the friend might have automatically assumed that Patrick had joined the group that evening, as he so commonly did. One may argue that, in the eleventh instance, it was no coincidence that detective Kimball showed Patrick the "Hip to Be Square" compact disc to test his reaction, as he claims simply to have recently purchased it. Perhaps it seems likely that Kimball knew about Patrick's murder scene in which he played this song. However, it is important not to deny the fact that the music pertains to the 1980s and explains the fact that millions of Americans purchased the same music. Thus, the setting (1980s New York) acts as the justifier for this instance. The twelfth instance offers an ambiguous resolution to the mechanics of eliminating the evidence sorrounding the murder case of Paul Allen. After Patrick has met with detective Kimball, who "figures out" that Patrick "could not have been" the murderer, Patrick goes back to the slaughter house, that is, Paul Allen's apartment. Before entering, Patrick places a painter's mask to cover his mouth and nose from the expected stench of the victims' decomposing corpses. This detail implies an ellipses of time between the revelation of the "hidden compartments" full of victims (during Christie's forced tour of the house) and the present moment. As he enters the apartment, Patrick (and the viewer) is completely astounded by the turn of events: the blood stained walls are perfectly white, the apartment is empty, and there are people touring the apartment. Discovering empty buckets of white paint where the corpses had originally been, Patrick's painter's mask nicely proves to be a justifier to the woman who now approaches him. She is a real estate agent who questions Patrick's presence. Realizing he is "looking for Paul Allen's place," she lowers her voice and warns: "Listen, I don't want any trouble here," and asks Patrick to leave. How may this instance be justified? In spite of the effective ambiguity that seems to support the idea that no slaughters ever occurred, there is a quite simple and logical explanation which consistently integrates the society's concern for "outer perfection" and for projecting a perfect image of oneself. The justifier for the thirteenth instance, therefore, proves that as everything points to Paul Allen being the one responsible for all the murders, his family then needs to avoid the scandal. This refers back to an interrogation scene, where Kimball explains that there is no information regarding Paul's disappearance on the newspaper in order to keep the case private. Lastly, a final justifier may also point to society's concern for material objects, and wealth, as it suggests that selling the apartment is a priority (perhaps it would have been more difficult to sell a slaughter house), thus pointing to the inflated value of New York's real estate market. All 13 instances (in which Patrick reveals some truth about his psychosis but is nevertheless misunderstood, not seen or not heard) establish an ambiguity in order to portray a society which --for whatever the reason or the justifier-- does not listen and does not question the truth nor explore the veracity behind recognizable facades. The importance of the "justifiers" lies in that they offer the justifications necessary for understanding why the protagonist is not fully known nor understood by the other characters. The fact that the justifiers describe how Patrick Bateman could in fact commit the murders and not get caught, proves that it is possible for him to commit the murders within this type of society and not get caught. Due to the fact that American Psycho is narrated by Patrick Bateman, the events are narrated through his subjective --and therefore, "doubt-filled"-- point of view. However, the fact that the serial killer doubts his own crimes, and that the way the film is narrated transmits this doubt, does not signify that the crimes did not exist. Simply put, Patrick Bateman --the serial killer-- does not cease to exist simply because the others do not react to his existence nor to his actions. Patrick Bateman did commit the murders. Patrick Bateman is defined as a serial killer whose psychosis will remain unchanged, untouched and undefined by the society that is deaf, blind and detached enough to perpetuate his lack of identity. Toward the end of American Psycho, Patrick Bateman refers to the others' lack of reaction as he narrates his conclusive realization that "there is no catharsis... no punishment." He continues, "I gain no deeper knowledge of myself." These powerful statements accurately reflect the Sartrean notion that one's perception of one's identity, one's actions, and even one's existence is defined by the Others' perception of oneself. Therefore, the ambiguities of what is real and what is fantasy, which are established by the Others' lack of reaction, do not conclude that Patrick Bateman did not commit the murders; instead, they prove that due to the Others' lack of reaction, Patrick Bateman doubts his own identity, his actions, and even his existence. Thus, Patrick resolves: "I simply am not there." This carries the Sartrean notion further, in that the lack of the Others' reaction to oneself and one's actions does not render one's self nor one's actions nonexistent. Rather, the Others' definition of oneself influence one's perceptions and one's way of defining oneself. In Patrick Bateman's case, his perception of himself is the direct result of the Others' definition of Patrick Bateman. Yet the Others' offer no definition of Patrick Bateman which would differentiate him from the other cookie-cutter males. (This is either due to the Others' indifference or to their incapacity to distinguish between the cookie-cutter males.) Patrick Bateman has no real perception or definition of himself, and the Others' lack of reaction produce his lack of identity. Patrick Bateman's lack of identity and his constant drive to capture a definition of himself (a definition which the camera does capture by creating visual portraits of Patrick-Bateman-the-murderer) enables the character to feel compelled to kill and destroy others. Thus, as a serial killer, Patrick Bateman is able to constantly reinforce his own perception of his empty, emotionless self through the repeated anihilation of the Others' --that is, of his victims'-- identities. An American psycho who personifies the notably American phenomenon of serial killing by embodying the undying symptoms of a society that "simply is not there," Patrick Bateman will probably live forever. American Psycho, a film which boldly and playfully integrates its cinematic elements, constructs a powerful story that speaks of the tragedy of indifference, the comedy of obsession, and the violence that ensues from the loss of human identity.		DVD Music Books Search by keywords:
American Psycho Film Analysis © 2000 Cinephiles - All rights reserved.