Date: 2000
Director: Mary Harron
Actors/ Characters: Christian Bale/ Patrick Bateman
Summary: A wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.
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The title says it all. American Psycho is a dark examination of consumerism and capitalism and the ramifications of being all-consumed by these notions.
Patrick Bateman embodies this cautionary warning. He is a narcissistic and materialistic Wall Street executive. Bateman has desensitized from humanity and emotion thanks to his obsessive fascination with superficial notions such as restaurant reservations, an excessive skincare routine, and couture suits. Bateman views his place in the social hierarchy to be the most important element of his existence and belives his position in the social standing order to be determined by his ability to conform to consumerist culture.
The notion of a 'serial killer' is prominent within American culture and its media. The title of the film (and book) is actually very interesting; American Psycho alludes to the idea that American is a nation that breeds more psychopaths and therefore serial killers compared to other countries. Ted Bundy is referenced within this text also which adds to the idea that the notion of serialised killing and an emotional attachment from the society and its people is prolific within American culture. The question that needs to be asked is: does the cultural foundation of America birth psychopaths and serial killers? Perhaps if Bateman lived in a society that wasn't founded on capitalism and consumerism he wouldn't be a killer (if he actually was at all).
Perhaps the most memorable element of this film was the ending and the ambiguity surrounding it. Harron has commented after the film's release that she never intended the film to allude to the idea that Bateman never killed anyone and that all the violence that came to pass was happening in his imagination. I think that the execution of the ending was creatively flawed if that is the case and my personal reading of the film's conclusion is different from the intended directorial vision. In my opinion, Bateman was a symbolic representation of the 'American Psycho': someone who is so emotionally detached from humanity and the society they live in due to the extreme materialistic obsession of their peers and the culture of capitalism suffocating them that they turn to anarchy and violence against the system that bore them.
Many people read the ending differently but the film is a subjective medium and a viewer's reading is up to interpretation. Once a film leaves the sanctuary of production and is turned over to an audience the director no longer has power over its reading so I am not letting Harron's statement impact my view. I thought this film displayed a fascinating take on the darker consequences of consumerism and capitalism and it made me question whether there are more serial killers in America because of coincidence or whether the ideologies the nation is built around actually breeds them?
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