Movie: American Psycho vs American Society

Director Mary Harron’s American Psycho, portrays a man who appears socially, financially, and culturally successful to the outside world. But the same culture that he strives to conquer seems to lead him to horrible acts of violence. The mere idea of committing the acts of violence shows the downfalls of our current society. Some of these downfalls may be loss of respect for others, and a money driven mentality. Driven by Greed, Harron’s Patrick Bateman is continually striving for improvements in his physical appearance, financial/social status, and masculinity. This continual need for improvement and desire for perfection by Patrick mirrors our American work ethic.

American Psycho’s Patrick illustrates how his economic and social stature can mask his serial killer mentality. In a scene where he discusses movie reviews with his secretary while holding a nailgun to the back of her head. She

has no idea of the nail-gun and thinks he is a normal, sane person because of his high social status. As he lures women back to his fancy apartment, he is using his money and nice things as a tool to commit these acts of violence. This ironic twist of a man’s mentality rela

Some topics in this essay:
American Psycho, Psycho’s Patrick, Patrick Bateman, Stephen Prince, Newitz Sharrett’s, Christopher Sharrett, Film Fiction, Fight Club, american psycho, serial killer, Philip Simpson’s, acts violence, Postmodern Media, serial killers, “economic performance anxiety”, “economic performance, performance anxiety”, aspects freedom, patrick bateman, serial killer’s, violence film,