Also includes a behind-the-scenes interview with Justin Theroux about 80s hedonism. Another idea is that the videotapes offer a commentary on Bateman's mindset. It is also revealed that the restaurant Dorsia has closed down.In the "plot" of the emails, Bateman is attempting to outmaneuver a successful businessman named T. Davis Ferguson, the largest producer of Silicate in the world, by manipulating Ferguson's wayward son, Terry Davis. And we get to see first hand of the world Patrick lives in get his unfiltered thoughts in a stream-of-consciousness narrative. because even he is starting to believe that his perception of reality cannot be right. An important aspect of this question is Bateman's destruction of the police car, which explodes after he fires a single shot, causing even himself to look incredulously at his gun; many argue that this incident proves that what is happening is not real, and therefore, nothing that has gone before can be verified as being real either. And he's right back where he started; he' sitting in the same bar with the same stupid friends talking about what they're going to eat and what they're going to drink, and it's just like, this guy is out there, and there's lots of other guys like him. Complaining about everything, Bateman points out that "The only real pleasure I get from being here is seeing Scott and Ann Smiley ten rows behind us, in shitier, though probably not less expensive seats?" I would much prefer to see him skinned alive, a rat put up his rectum, and his genitals cut off and fried in a frying pan, in front of - not only a live audience - but a video camera as well. Bret Easton Ellis: "the film clarified the themes of the novel. This starts in a non-violent manner, with him very specifically instructing the women on what to do to him, to each other. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. We then see who Bateman is talking about and it isn't Paul Allen.The next case of mistaken identity also involves Allen, as he continually misidentifies Bateman as Marcus Halberstram and Evelyn as Halberstram's girlfriend, Cecelia. As such his name is not on any of the ownership documents or stock certificates, which are instead all in his son's name. It is usually categorized and diagnosed by a set of behaviors. Bateman then shoots the woman instead, letting the cat go. She just wants that association or anyone who might know anything about it to be away from the apartment so she can sell it. After Bateman has had sex with Christie (Cara Seymour) and Sabrina (Krista Sutton), they are all lying together in bed, when he gets up and moves over to a drawer. Not only are they socially and psychologically uniform, but they accept and promulgate that uniformity, reveling in one another's anonymity as it necessitates that personal relationships are superfluous to the achievement of their ultimate goals - success and wealth. Edit, Although it is not revealed in the film what the tablets are, in the corresponding scene in the novel, Bateman takes two valium. She then tells him that he should go, and that she doesn't want trouble. Kimball has asked the real Halberstram about it, and he denied being with Allen that night (which is true, as Bateman was with Allen). How much did you pay for it? However, Bateman instead finds no remains and a cold realtor who informs him . At one point, an extremely confused Bateman asks, "What shape was it cut into?" "In the light of the ensuing controversy, Simon & Schuster decided not to go ahead with publication, citing "aesthetic differences." However, before he can fire, he is interrupted by an old woman (Joyce R. Korbin). Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs Mary Harron: "The book and the film are often defined as being about the 1980s, but the 1980s did not invent greed, did not invent commodity fetishism, did not invent a society that is so obsessed with perfect surface" (from DVD commentary track).Bret Easton Ellis: "Like the novel, the movie is essentially plotless, a horror-comedy with a thin narrative built up of satirical riffs about greed, status and the business values of the 1980s culture" (official site archived here).Guinevere Turner: It's part of the idea of the character, that everything is so empty, although he has tons of money and he's constantly buying things and obsessing over having the thing, he's trying to fill this void, and it's not working. As such, people do hear him, but no one is really listening to him or taking him seriously. "C: "Bateman killing Allen and the escort girls, that's fabulous, that's rich. However, Patrick covers himself up as being Paul Allen. | Even if he imagined the murders, he is obviously still mentally ill since most normal people would not fantasize about murdering dozens of people especially the way Bateman does. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account. His clothes are sent to him by designers prior to being released in stores. That's where a lot of the humor lies, in poking fun at these peacocks who are so strangely preoccupied with one another. He and his male contemporaries are so weak, so shallow; no one looks good, the women don't look good, the men don't look good, no one looks good. Bateman picks up a nearby kitten and lifts it up to the ATM slot, pointing his gun at its head. "B: "It never was supposed to be. "I ate some of their brains, and I tried to cook a little. The three of them end up on the couch, beginning to have sex. (2) The second theory is that the conversation provides evidence that the murders are all in Bateman's head; it proves Bateman didn't kill Allen, because if Allen is alive and well in London, how could Bateman have killed him? Summary:Christie was a local prostitute, whom Patrick Bateman had taken to his home alongside another sex worker named Sabrina. By extension then, this could be read as a condemnation of corporations in general; they too tend get away with murder (in a figurative sense) and most people just choose to ignore it, just as do Bateman's associates. [the girls shake their heads. [official site archived here] Stop. As the emails draw to a close and Bateman begins watching the movie, the film begins with the opening credit sequence from American Psycho itself.The entire set of Am.Psycho2000 emails is transcribed chronologically here. When he tells the Chinese woman at the drycleaners that he will kill her, she doesn't seem to fully understand him, although she does react slightly to his threat. This is a highly unusual narrative technique, suggestive of a sizable shift in consciousness and focalization, and an altogether different narrative perspective. These are: Patrick crossing his arms during the jump-rope scene, and Patrick doing a moonwalk to hide his ax before killing Paul Allen. In this decadent society, virtually everything functions as a status symbol; people have no real inner psychological awareness, they measure themselves on their external appearance, and they measure one another based upon what they see on the surface; the more elaborate the surface, the more successful the person. It's easy to believe that because the character is a misogynist, the story is too. Its almost as if hes blacked out while narrating. The scene of his breakdown is taken directly from the novel, where Price runs down into an abandoned railway tunnel. Similarly, in the novel, when Bateman arrives at a club called Tunnel, he looks around and muses to himself "Everyone looks familiar, everyone looks the same" (p. 61). Edit, This is the most frequently asked question in relation to the film, and the answer remains ambiguous. As outlined above, the society depicted in the film is one of no real interpersonal relationships, no empathy, a society made up of people who care only about themselves and their own ability to accrue massive amounts of wealth and materialistic trophies; the richer you are the better you are. "C (suddenly much more serious): "Excuse me, I really must be going now. He is a wealthy and materialistic yuppie and Wall Street investment banker who, supposedly, leads a secret life as a serial killer.Bateman has also briefly appeared in other . "C: "Because I had dinner with Paul Allen twice in London, just ten days ago. Edit, Mistaken identity is a major theme in both the film and the novel, and some fans argue that it is in the recurring cases of mistaken identity wherein lies the true meaning of the film.In the novel, the phrase "someone who looked exactly like" or variations thereof, occur continuously; time and again Bateman encounters people who may or may not be the person he thinks they are. Instead, they had responded to the situation by requesting a meeting with Mehta hoping to talk him out of publishing the novel. Impulsive such as when he picks up the prostitutes, as well as not calling Dorsia and making the appointment for a few months out.Aside from Anti Social Personality Disorder he also displays traits of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The greed of real estates agencies is shown to be no better or worse than that of stock brokers; the materialistic, hedonistic, surface-obsessed world in which they live has shaped their outlooks and their goals, and they have become as much a cause as a product of the problems in their society. Killer looks. It ends up being an indictment of machismo and misogyny. Edit, Yes. What is the significance of returning videotapes? [Patrick Bateman] Do you like Phil Collins? Is it all in Patrick Bateman's head? Edit, There is very little difference between the two versions of the film. What is the significance of returning videotapes? I should have left it more open ended. What is the significance of mistaken identity in the film? They literally cannot tell one another apart, nor do they particularly want to. Throughout the book we hear of his countless sick and demented actions of him cooking his victims flesh, and having sexual intercourse with his victims bodies, and various body parts. Bateman does however make a short appearance in Glamorama (1998), which has not, as of yet, been adapted into a film. The names were changed since it was later discovered that there were real people who worked on Wall Street with those names, and they production could run into trouble down the road.Also while most of the dialogue from the novel is similar in terms of wording, they are slightly changed up to match the actors portraying the characters.The scene were Bateman sleeps with the two escorts, the novel he uses the word Rolex. In Germany, for example, the novel was deemed "harmful to minors", and its sales and marketing were severely restricted up to 2000, when it was allowed to be sold generally. (The production designer Gideon Ponte, deserves special mention for the awesome, glamorous sterility of Bateman's bachelor pad.) Wolfe responds by telling him there was no ad in the Times. He has a manservant named Ricardo who follows him everywhere and is always on hand. The scene then cuts to Sabrina and Christie walking out of Bateman's apartment; Sabrina is cut, limping, bruised and bleeding, we don't see Christie's face, but we do learn later that whatever happened, she had to attend casualty.It is revealed in neither the book nor the film what exactly Bateman does to the girls. "Carnes tries to walk away, but Bateman prevents him.C: "Davis, I'm not one to badmouth anyone, your joke was amusing, but c'mon man, it had one fatal flaw. "You want me to floss with it? A further example is when Bateman reluctantly attends a U2 concert with Evelyn. In his apartment he owns original work by Andy Warhol, Damien Hurst, Donald Baechlor, Fernand Lger, Pablo Picasso, Balthus, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, Morris Louis and Helen Frankenthaler. Written by Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner, based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis. That was you wasn't it? "People wanna get caught": Bateman meets Kimball by chance in a nightclub and Kimball tells him that in casual situations, people often reveal things about themselves even though they don't realize they are doing it. For example, the constant listing of the items of clothing worn by each and every character (this is mirrored in the film in Bateman's meticulous listing of his shower products). "K: "But I've had a hard time getting actual verification. We're just making so much fun of him. Later on, he chases a hooker named Christie with a chainsaw and somehow manages to kill her by throwing the chainsaw down many flights of stairs. It's all part of trying to feed this void that is, in a larger sense, the void of the eighties' intense consumer culture and decadence. I'm Patrick Bateman. The way the content is organized, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in. As with the practical explanation of the mistaken identity theme and the Carnes conversation, this would tie it into the film's social critique; everyone looks alike, no one knows anyone else, and no one really listens to anyone else either. You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes. None of them care that he has just confessed to being a serial killer because it just doesn't matter; they have more important things to worry about. How to make your google slides look aesthetic. I've heard the novel was a bit controversial. There are so many questions about American Psycho's loving protagonist that, to this day, fans are still debating for answers. Struggling with distance learning? Bateman then purchases the trust outright, and the bisexual Davis joins the homosexual de Reveney on his yacht. The emails are considered canon insofar as, although Bret Easton Ellis himself didn't write them, he did approve them before they were sent out.Set in 2000, with Bateman no longer working for Pierce & Pierce due to something he refers to only as the "issue," the emails reveal that he has become a huge success. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. His masseuse, Manfred, does callouts only to Bateman and a member of the Rockefeller family. This is also seen among his colleagues as well. I awaken only when one of them touches my wrist accidentally. Bateman, McDermott, Bryce and Van Patten are sitting at a table and McDermott looks across the room and asks, "Is that Reed Robinson over there," to which Bryce replies, "Are you freebasing?