Examining Patrick Bateman | American Psycho (2000) Reaction
Added 2025-03-08 01:46:00 +0000 UTC
Comments
I read that in Bateman's voice in my head.
Tanya TMS
2025-03-10 17:52:04 +0000 UTCIt's an underrated hidden gem of a movie. Lots of commentary to be had there. Would love to see you react to it. But will probably watch again in a day or two.
Tanya TMS
2025-03-10 17:49:05 +0000 UTCI don't think Patrick is meant to represent everyone in society necessarily, just that the essence of him attempting to 'fit in' is more universal. There's a 25 year gap between this and today and I think this element of his psyche translates today to many more people in a way I don't know that it perhaps did back in 2000. I mean in the way capitalism has shifted us all into this space of work, eat, sleep, repeat, never having the time to adequately live our lives or find who we are, and I've found that a lot of people if not all of us wear masks depending on the situation, especially in a work environment. I think today this translates not just to this ultra privileged, corporate, business environment we get here with Patrick but to all sectors of work. At least that's been my experience. That's the 'we' I'm referring to, the universal aspect. I acknowledge that the film as intended on release in 2000 wasn't necessarily going for that and that the focus was the power, the money, the privilege. I mentioned these things too, but from a contemporary standpoint I just felt it resonated in ways to our modern world in other ways and found myself wanting to focus more on that. As for the killings being real or not, I can entirely see interpretations holding water of them being real. My take of them being more so psychosis or delusions was just a first time watch impression, not something I'd die on a hill for to be honest. Worrying to know they're doing a remake of this though 😬 haha...uh oh.
Tyler Alexander
2025-03-10 17:02:39 +0000 UTCI only meant the hints of germaphobia I promise 😬
Tyler Alexander
2025-03-10 16:54:47 +0000 UTCI haven't! Yet...
Tyler Alexander
2025-03-10 16:53:28 +0000 UTChell yeah im down for this one. Fear and loathing in las vegas is a movie worth a watch aswell ;) cult following
Nik
2025-03-08 13:15:34 +0000 UTCoh oh Tyler, have you seen The East? It's not campy like American Psycho, but it is kind of revolutionary in a way. All this capitalism makes me want to watch it again. Alright, I typed too much. Cheers.
Tanya TMS
2025-03-08 09:25:30 +0000 UTCIt's not that I don't agree with most of what you are saying here, I do. I mean we are really feeling it now in the states, aren't we? And I should let Tyler answer the "we" for himself. But I will speak to it from my own experiences. That specific cross section of the Billionaire class does and has historically trickled down through the classes, causing similar issues with some (not all) people finding their identity or stepping into superficial lifestyles- where everything is about image and prestige. Perhaps at different class levels with different examples it looks different to an extent, but it's still a real phenomenon. I honestly believe that is part of the satirical element and point of the movie (just my opinion). People looking up to and aspiring to put on the masks of those in power? Watching this film? Perhaps it helps them look inward to search for a more meaningful existence. Perhaps. And ... lol... the "greed is good" era of Wall Street has never ended. It is still very much alive. I don't think the film was meant to create a feeling of compassion from the audience. I see it as a warning. And I've dated a "middle class" Bateman trying to outdo everyone with valuable things that only have value to empty minds. It's really sad to see how this fruitless existence primarily seen in the rich has a mimetic effect on lower classes **sometimes.** But it does. (Not that a poor Bateman going on a killing spree would have people cover it over for them though. You're spot on in your analysis of what the rich get away with.
Tanya TMS
2025-03-08 09:15:28 +0000 UTCLove this reaction. To quote a Western philosophical thought from centuries ago: "The unexamined life is not worth living" (Socrates). But also can the examined life not be worth living as well? I've heard several people throw out the theory that the killing spree was all a form of psychosis in Bateman's head. And maybe. But the part that stands out to me is the void - the unbelonging, not only to the world around him, but ontologically. I don't honestly believe this portrayal of consciously moving through this void applies to "modernity" (universally). But I do think it touches on the void created by hyper-capitalistic society - a search for meaning in the meaningless. A touch of Raskolnikov here. Raskolnikov as a nepo baby born into a class where the ideology of compassion is absent beyond superficiality. Anyways, watching your reaction to this was fun... and NGL, I think you scared me a little (lol, "I think I'm a lot like him except for the killing" ??? What Tyler? What?). Please retract that statement. lol.
Tanya TMS
2025-03-08 08:47:23 +0000 UTCoh my. you're doing this one. Excited. here we go!
Tanya TMS
2025-03-08 07:40:26 +0000 UTCi think your interpretation was so so close, but forgive me the thing i think perhaps you missed is when you say “we,” like patrick bateman is meant to represent all of us in society, and i don’t think this is meant to be a universal story? maybe there are a few generalizable themes but i think this is a skewering of a very very specific cross section of rich white male yuppies in the “greed is good” era of wall street. like the references to donald trump, the guy who famously has a toilet made of gold. he’s not a relatable figure, not an every man, and neither is patrick bateman. they’re empty suits. but you are right that this is a stereotype, and people like trump have worked hard to normalize it, to make us buy into the idea that trump is an ordinary and acceptable product of the world we’ve created. and i don’t think the episodes of him murdering people were his own delusions, he’s committed atrocities but the system has conspired to fully let him off the hook for it, they literally whitewashed his crimes in that freshly painted apartment (perhaps in the same way trump got convicted in court as a rapist and then immediately reelected president and will never ever face real consequences. he also once said on live tv that he could shoot someone in the middle of the street and people would still support him). and like you said, these guys all so blandly identical, no one can tell them apart, his own lawyer calls him the wrong name to his face, so how could the lawyer be sure that he saw paul allen in london? yeah this movie has kinda aged perfectly. it’s a shame they’re going to remake it, i don’t think they could do a satire this bang on again
keira
2025-03-08 03:33:44 +0000 UTC
