Exploring the world through the eyes of the anti hero Patrick Bateman, American Psycho exhibits a world in which society is centered around itself in such a scale that even a violent murderous psychopath goes unnoticed. Patrick Bateman is a narcissistic psychopath, who has no qualms about murdering homeless people, prostitutes, old women and even dogs, yet he seems like everyone else in the society. Everyone is so much alike that Bateman’s lawyer and even his colleague confuse him for someone else. In a country obsessed with American dream, director Mary Harron shows the grim reality of what happens once the dream is actualized.
Bateman is a strange character. From outside he seems like a refined man of noble taste, but from inside, he is something
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Characters almost seem interchangeable. Bateman is confused for Marcus Halbertstarm and Davis. Someone else is thought of as Paul Allen in London. This shows how much similar everyone is. A violent serial killer is physically and psychologically similar to multiple characters. Perhaps there are others like him and Bateman is just one of the many. When he reaches, Paul Allen’s apartment to get rid of the body, he finds that it has already been taken care of. The realtor disposes the body and hides the evidence of murder to keep the protect the property from devaluation. Greed for some extra money overshadows death of a human being. In a world deluged with greed and selfishness, perhaps Bateman would stick out like a sore thumb if he weren’t a psychopath.
Even after Bateman makes his confession, there is no repercussion for him. Society seems to see the devil inside him and eagerly accepts him for the familiarity he brings. Throughout the movie Bateman’s behavior was reinforced,even when he went out on a suicidal rampage he got off scot-free. Bateman might be a psychopath but in this world of greed and egotism there are many that are equally capable of what Bateman did, albeit in small scale. Bateman says, “There is an idea of Patrick Bateman, some kind of abstraction but there is no real me”. In a way there is a little bit of Bateman in