Freud theory suggests that as humans we have three things that influence our behavior and how we act in society. First, there is the id which is all of our natural animalistic desires if we take away societal norms and expected behaviors the id is what you are left with. Then the ego develops over time through your formative years, and your ego is what attempts to give you the satisfaction and desires of the id but in a socially acceptable form. Lastly, there is the, and your superego is essentially your conscious, that little you standing on your should be telling you to do the “right” thing. The classic story The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde wondrously exemplifies these ideas, Just not quite as well as it is portrayed in the 2000 Mary Haron film American Psycho starring the always entertaining Christian Bale. Bale’s character Patrick Bateman is a Wall Street man who spends his time either indulging or fighting off his hedonistic insanity. Unlike Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, Bateman does not go from being socially normal to what is deviant but is in a constant state of his id desire. Alongside its thrilling look into the natural attractions of man this movie exemplifies certain cultural aspects of the wealthy in America and the effect of materialism in modern culture.
Throughout the movie, we are witness to Bateman's insanity both what he is doing and what is occurring inside of his brain. In the very beginning of the film, Bateman goes up to a bar at a very high-class wall street bar/club where he then hands the woman working the bar a ticket. She then informs Mr.Bateman that these tickets are no longer valid and that it is cash only bar now, He then Smiles pulls out his wallet and hands the woman some money. Immediately after turning around Bateman states “You are a fucking ugly bitch, I want to stab you to death, and play around with your blood.” (this is said in his head not actually out loud to the woman). Now one’s natural tendencies the “id” are not socially acceptable, but the average person’s mind, when aggravated, does not go into that much of an extreme. A “normal” person would most likely think of some rather vulgar thing they would love to tell this bartender but would not think of killing someone for this. This scene though brief is detrimental to the flow of the movie and understanding Bateman, it is the first time we get a glance into his thoughts. Throughout the movie, we hear his thoughts allowed a multitude of times it is happening more and more often as the few morals he has dwindled.
The scene pans out, and the camera begins to journey through Bateman's apartment. His apartment is nearly empty; there is some furniture and decoration that is very stereotypical 80’s high class, in addition to this, the entire apartment is pure white. Despite the scarcity of the furniture, the existing furniture and to a larger extent the rooms looked very expensive. As the camera continues to move around over the shot, a monologue begins from Bateman. He starts by saying where he lives, his name and age, then goes to describe his diet and daily exercise and grooming rituals that contain a baffling amount of products. We then get a close up of Bateman as he is taking of a facial mask, he calmly and hauntingly says with little to no humanity in his
voice “There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some abstraction. But there is no 'real me.' Only an entity. Something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours, and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable, I am not there.". This is so important understanding Bateman, and that his actions were not when he looks at the world and society he does not see him as apart of those. As if it is some unique to him an extreme understanding of the duality of man, his conscious is so abnormal that the reality he sees and understands is understandable through him. This is what I believe he means by “I am simply not there”, Bateman can never understand or connect to the thoughts and motivations of others as they are so far from his own that the way he must act in society is so fake not one part that you will see and live to tell about will be the real Bateman, so it is if he is never actually there. This shows his consciousness of his abnormality as well, he is aware of his thoughts and that they are– Violent and evil but he does not strive to change furthering the point that his actions are a reflection of his mind and not the environment. This point is hammered in in one of the following scenes. Bateman is in a cab with his fiance Evelyn; she is visibly irritating him with questions about why they aren't getting married and plans for the wedding that isn't happening. Bateman remarks that he can't take time off of work which prompts Evelyn to retort by throwing out the fact his father owns the company so he can do whatever he wants. She then continues asking why he even keeps the job as he utterly hates it, he then snaps at her saying “Because I want to fit in!”.
The cab then pulls up to a very fancy restaurant Espace; another Bateman inner monologue begins. He states he almost was moved to tears by the fact they might most likely won't have a good table but is then surprised when they do. Then something slightly odd
happens, they are meeting friends and Evelyn cousins. Bateman continues and informs the audience that he is nearly sure that Timothy and Evelyn are having an affair but Bateman does not care as he is having an affair with Evelyn's best friend who is the engaged to Luis Carruthers– who is the dork in the Batemans office. This supports the argument of Bateman's tendencies are spurring from his environment. The world he lives in socially and economically is so abnormal that many believe this is what is warping his actions and conscious as it instills in him an inability to determine socially acceptable and not behavior because he is so far removed from the normal world. If you are taking this theory and only looking into Bateman's character naturally, it makes total sense. If this were true though why is every other man in his office and social group acting in the same way, would they not all have the same stress– probably more than Bateman as their fathers don’t own the company and the pressure of wall street jobs in insurmountable compared to that of the average nine to five joe blow does in the suburbs of Kentucky. And all the same lifestyle habits of the top 1% are accustomed to yet nobody else is driven to an addiction to homicide. It is the innate uncontrol of his animalistic desires that create the Bateman we follow in the movie. Though many would argue him living in this unnatural world creates and starts his deterioration into his unnatural state, I think it influences him but does not shape him and his tendencies. The materialism of his environment unquestionably influences what triggers his insanity though it not the direct cause of his madness. Throughout the film, Bateman is triggered and sent into spurs of pure rage through things that would are barely even minor inconveniences or unimportant status symbols. The next scene he is in a laundromat where a woman is yelling in an Asian language, Bateman frustrated he can't understand the woman aggressively states “lady if you do not shut your fucking mouth, I will kill
you.”. The woman shocked over this threat she had received over the lack of getting one’s clothes. On top of this instance throughout the movie, Bateman becomes visually upset with some of his co-workers over them having nicer looking business card than him. He even becomes so enraged with one coworker that he attempts to kill him in the bathroom of a favorite restaurant by strangling him, impromptu and a seemingly impossible kill to get away with. Meaning he had to have been so angry that he wasn't even conscious of what he was doing, Most of his other kills are thought out, planned, and happened in his own home. Bateman never directly states if he was doing this to be safer and decrease his chances of being caught, but it can be heavily implied giving his natural smarts that he would be doing this.
Bateman is obsessed with status, given his mental state many of his episodes and kills come from his dislike of someone due to their status and its relation to him. The value he has for people seems to be that off their wealth and influence on others. Bateman's irrationality with these ends of the spectrum is played out very beautifully as the film and novel progresses. Early on in the movie after the dry cleaning event and exciting night with one of his girlfriends, Courtney Bateman ends up walking down a dark alley. He encounters a very down fraudulent homeless man. Bateman kneels next to this man, and it seems like he wants to help him asking him if he is hungry and if he would like some money he even begins to take some money out of his wallet. The man replies “I am hungry” and tells Bateman how he lost his job which then inspires Bateman to make a joke saying “what were you drinking, Insider trading?” he has a very light-hearted and friendly tone. Bateman goes on and says your just not motivated that's your problem and then promises to help the man, leaving the man very excited babbling uncontrollably thanking him he then touches Bateman's arm. As per expected Bateman
immediately jumps back, the tone of his voice does not change staying very friendly, but his words change drastically. He starts to make fun of the man in a way asking him if he knows how bad he smells and then telling him he smells like human feces, he then opens up his briefcase and begins to take something out of it saying “I don't have anything in common with you”, the homeless man continues to thank him as he believes he is being helped. Bateman then pulls out a knife and stabs the man to death. This could be taken as just a random kill that Bateman just thought would be fun and easy; I think it’s deeper and adds more depth into his mental state. When he introduced himself Bateman did it very professionally and the same way he’d greet a client or new co-worker. The tone while friendly is very condescending and right before killing him the mean insults make me believe he killed him over the fact he was homeless and destitute. He hates him because in Bateman's mind he is worthless, a low life which means nothing compared to him. He doesn't kill him because he wronged him or made him look bad, he does it because he values status so much that since this person is homeless and poor and the status of a homeless person is non-existent the value of this man's life is non-existent as well. His inability to access value as a reasonable person would stem from his insanity as many people are cold and dislike the homeless even view them as a burden on society that is not unique to the mentally ill, but those who have these views aren't going around simply stabbing a homeless person to death on their walk home from dinner. The opposite of this homeless man is Paul Allen, a Co-worker of Bateman. Paul–played by Jared Leto– is the big dog in the office this can be told clearly from the first time he is introduced. It is during a meeting when Paul walks in, Bateman had been getting complimented by his co worker Luis and when Paul walks in nothing is said directly but all of the attention and focus of the scene goes to Paul. Paul walks over to
Bateman and says "Hello Halberstram. Nice tie. How the hell are ya?" Batemans strangely doesn’t correct him, the two engage in a conversation and leaves his business card. As said earlier Bateman gets very upset when people have more excellent business cards than he and when he sees Paul’s it nearly breaks him. After this event, comes to a scene that predicts the entire remaining path of the Batemans mental journey in the film. He has shown that he is a mentally unstable human with an inability to control his natural urges, but there still has been a sense of order and thought out the process of who he kills despite the homeless man. In this scene, he is getting a massage, and his thoughts are hard over this “My nightly bloodlust has overflowed into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip". He consciously addresses the little control he has over his brain is dwindling, and he feels he is going to slip into something he doesn't understand. The company Christmas party next where we see Paul come up to Bateman again and mistake him for Halberstram again, the two then make plans for dinner where Bateman makes a reservation under the name Halberstram. The Dinner comes Bateman arrives and the two begin talking, Bateman plays the conversation almost wanting to see what Paul thinks about him as Paul thinks he is talking to someone else. Eventually, Bateman gets a response where Paul calls him a loser. The status of Paul is significant to Bateman he is the “perfect guy’ I think given Pauls sheer status and the way Bateman in some way idolizes the man (Freud would say it is due to his sexual attraction to him) in some way or wants to be him so badly that this sets him off. Both Bateman to act out one of the most haunting and brutal murder scenes in movie history and in the larger Scale Begin the complete deterioration of his conscience. The rest of the Movie has plenty of important views,
but at this point, after Paul’s murder, it becomes a marathon as he cannot control and acts upon his bloodthirst immediately as it comes.
The film and novel of Bateman after this scene dives into this near comedic over the top killing spree and Batemans losing of his mind. From call girl to the security guard at the desk of a building, to police officers it all becomes this incredible ride. Every event more unbelievable than the last, He chases a prostitute down the hallway of his apartment building with a chainsaw as she screams yet nobody, not one person comes outside to see what is going on. He runs into a building in the financial district of New York where he shoots the security guard on duty from a long distance perfectly with a pistol and does the same to a group of police officers by first pulling multiple officers then causing a car to explode. In between all of these events, he also confesses numerous times to various people, and nobody seems ever to hear him or take notice, and it seems to be just driving him madder and madder. He even goes over to Paul’s (who he had killed long before) apartment where he had hidden many bodies to clean it all up and dispose of evidence, and the entire place was cleaned and being prepped for an open house. It seems like Bateman along with every viewer including myself is beginning to get the idea that none of these events are happening, and that is because they are not. In the final scene of the movie Bateman finds his lawyer at a bar where he frantically runs up to him to discuss the recent confession, his lawyer says no he has not. Bateman than informs him of everything he has done. Believing this to be a joke by this His lawyer scoffs it off and says this is impossible and tells Bateman to stop joking; this makes Bateman hysterical as he repeats himself and then asks why it is impossible. The Lawyer looks at Bateman with concern and says “Because I had dinner with Paul Allen in
London twice, just ten days ago”. None of the violent events or murders in the movie happened but merely in his head.
There are many ways this has been interpreted, and this is the way I have taken it. If this is true, then the story has a fascinating message about people and what a monster is. We like to separate these evil desires as inhuman but as Freud suggests these desires might be the most human thing about us. So what the Message from this movie could be if this is true is that we are all profound down evil. Somewhere in our subconscious lie our id and everything it wants and desires. Though we may not act on them, these ideas and thoughts are there. Patrick Bateman is in of course not your average American but is supposed to exemplify what every American wants. Through showing someone like him having deep down these thoughts and tendencies proves we all can, and this film suggests deep down we all are evil. So this does not mean Bateman is not insane but that everyone is American Psycho is just the visualization of Batemans.
...(download the rest of the essay above)