He's an American Psycho

"I know my behavior can be…erratic at times," is one of the greatest understatements of the century made by the famous killer of American Psycho, Patrick Bateman. This clever movie portrays the seemingly perfect side of capitalism which struggles to keep its nastier, more gruesome products out of the light. One of these poor side effects is Bateman himself. Bateman is perfect, he has an incredibly expensive apartment, a strict taste for quality clothes, eats only at the fanciest restaurants, and has an attractive physique which keeps the women sticking around. Even though he seems to have achieved the American dream, he is far from satisfied. He finds himself driven insane by the uniformity of his world. In his eyes, the only way to really stand out is to be as successful as possible. The cutthroat work atmosphere of Pierce and Pierce only fuels his selfishness for his own career.

We first see this behavior when the men are comparing business cards in a conference room. Bateman proudly shows his new card and all of the small details of how it came to be. He is taken aback whenever when his other coworkers show their own cards which get more praise than his. This is probably the most famous capitalist scenes of the movie. Although the cards all look exactly the same, their owners compete fiercely to be the best. Looking at the whole picture of the universe, the encounter is meaningless. In the capitalists minds however, those business cards are the most important factor in deciding who is the top dog.

In my opinion, one of the most overlooked themes in the movie is assimilation and disregard of the individual. While watching for the first time, I was too drawn in by the monstrosity of his confusing murder spree and I missed many important interactions between the characters. Throughout the whole movie, Bateman called the wrong name and accidentally mistaken for someone else. What he fails to realize is how similar he is to everyone else around him. In one encounter, he stated, "Paul Allen has mistaken me for this dickhead Marcus Halberstram. It seems logical because Marcus also works at P&P and in fact does the same exact thing I do and he also has a penchant for Valentino suits and Oliver Peoples glasses. Marcus and I even go to the same barber, although I have a slightly better haircut." Even while recognizing how similar the two are, he disregards all of that logic and still thinks of himself as better and more important.

There are many more correlations between a capitalist company's mindset and the logic of Bateman. A capitalist company appears successful with large stores and plentiful products which always manage to keep customers coming back. Bateman's high end job and chiseled looks keep women always at his doorstep, no matter how creepy and suspicious he acts. Many companies do whatever is necessary to maintain a large profit and Bateman was willing to kill a fellow businessman in his way to get ahead in the company. Many companies hide their dirt in plain sight and Bateman hides bodies in his kitchen freezer. By promoting a good product, capitalist companies and Bateman manage to hide their egoistic tendencies.

Money is not to blame for the creation of monsters, it is it success. American Psycho addresses the costliness of Bateman's quality of life, but much more emphasis is placed on the social ladder. He is fighting others for recognition. He wants to feel the jealousy of others when he walks into a room. When he does not receive that envy from work, he switches to spending time with prostitutes to feel important. This plan backfires though when the women do not care about his work. Even if he had all the money in the world, this ingratitude would infuriate him enough to continue murdering.