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Film: American Psycho (2000) - Essay Example

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Each of the films you have to choose from address one or more of the primary research areas of our class. For example, gender, race or class. In examining the film your essay…
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Film: American Psycho (2000)
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Extract of sample "Film: American Psycho (2000)"

Essay will be the same, you just need to add one more pages of Thesis into that essay. Essay is paste it below.. Structure: Your essay will unpack and examine the issues addressed in the film that you see as most pertinent. Each of the films you have to choose from address one or more of the primary research areas of our class. For example, gender, race or class. In examining the film your essay will demonstrate an understanding of the sociology of popular cinema and draw on connections between the issues within the film and the sociological concepts we have addressed in class.

Your paper will be graded on theoretical incorporation, research, originality, critical analysis, clarity, and writing skills.What is Critical Analysis? Your essay is NOT a film review and it is expected that you will use outside sources in examining the thematic concerns within the film. For example, while a romantic-comedy may provide us with humour, melancholia, sentimentality etc, this genre also has a specific function: to reaffirm the idea of "happily-ever-after," " true love" and more. The way in which these ideas are presented and made "normal" would be a starting point for an essay on a romantic-comedy.

You will examine the issues in your film from the same perspective, critically.So I watnt you to add 250 words into my last essay that you did it. To see last essay is paste it below..American PsychoThe movie American Psycho is derived from the novel composed by Brett Easton Ellis is a horror movie based on the theme of a psychotic serial killer. The film is one of the best social satires and it attacks the male culture to a large extent. The movie has an ideal merge of horror, satire. The film focuses on the mental unsteadiness of the Wall Street professional who has his yearn towards blood and this compels him to cause serial killing.

Some critics are of the view that the movie has portrayed a satire condition of the American consumerism. According to a critic the movie also expresses mental pressure of a person who is in the corporate life of illogical fantasies. The movie is a cross over film which falls into the variety of the horror film (Hantke, 119).The film focused on a wide number of issues associated with socioeconomic background. Thesis:The film American Psycho is based on psycho thriller and depicts cruelty and brutality at its peak which has been much of a social concern.

The film depicts a form of cannibalism which has been the sociological taboo in the present generation of civilized humanity. American Psycho is also created on the “slasher formula” in which a depiction of mean beast is portrayed and based on his madness he carries out his act of massacre against others. The film focuses on the representation of ‘graphic horror’ and sexual imagery. The interpretation of such effects has been controversial and has given rise to debates. The film also focuses on the negative attitude towards the women.

The protagonist of the story, the American Psycho is depicted as a person who has an obsession for success, fashion and style and the story depiction brings out the fact that his illusion for success causes him to commit the crimes along with his psychological problems with which he is associated. The story also depicts that the person has a strong passion for violence and he wants to live a life that is completely based on money and power. The story also depicts that as he becomes older his hatred for the entire world becomes more and more extreme.

The crisis experienced by him devours him and the gruesome murder he commits is the expression of deepest emotions faced by him. The amount of violence and horror shown in the film do raises sociological concern. The portrayal of horror in the film can cause varied effects among the teenage viewers and they can take behavioral cues from the unpunished violence in the film which is afterwards reinforced with arousal within them and also forces them to commit such crimes. Not only that, the story of the movie also expresses the brutality of the male dominated society regarding the brutal attitude of men towards women.

The movie portrays on the creation of the soulless character. Considering the social aspects linking with the movie it can be conferred that the violent spasms depicted in the movie are basically the revenge fantasies of a repressed corporate. The movie casts Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman who performs in the leading role in the movie that portrays a character of someone untouchable and indestructible. The murders which he commits in the movie are shown in an unconventional manner and he becomes a serial killer and conducts crime at such a rate throughout the movie that he loses the track of the body count.

As time passes, he becomes thirstier to kill people and starts to enjoy his killing habit. The depiction of crime in the movie has been to a much larger content and has raised the attention of many. The particular calmness and an indifferent attitude, that a psycho killer generally follows, are perfectly depicted by the lead character of the story. The performance of Christian Bale adds more flavors into his character and his cold, and charismatic approach as a psycho is truly riveting (Caroll, 200).

The effective satire of the movie and the critical punch has been provided by the dead on straight approach of role play by Christian Bale. The cultural aspect prevailing in the sector of business during the era of 80’s has been depicted with clever scene portrayal in the movie which grabs the attention of many. One of the memorable scenes in the movie which depicts the above attribute is the four business men Playing cards and trying to trump each other with a nice looking face. The hilarious situation depicted the competition level among the corporate and also stresses on the socio economic background pertinent in the era.

The story depicts the addiction of American people toward their passion for luxury goods and for fashionable and controversial lifestyles. At the very end the psychosomatic anxiety of the movie displaces the black comedy in the movie. The end of the movie is dramatic as it narrates the feeling of the psychoanalytic killer. He expresses the utter mayhem he has caused over the period and he remained with an indifferent attitude. He expresses his pain at the end and the voiceover reflects that he wants the same amount of pain to be instigated on others and wants no one to get respite from him.

The voiceover also reflects his psychological state of mind where he reflects that he is being chased by his punishment and that his confession meant nothing to him. The concluding part of the movie appears somewhat preachy as the director tried to manipulate the feelings of a psycho killer with his thoughts and views (Roman, 313). The director also tried to provide an explanation of the excessive violence in the movie through the help of the concluding voice over. However the cruel killings have no justification in the real world.

The movie American Psycho appeared to be one of the most controversial films due to the shocking content of violence and has been repulsive by many viewers. The film portrayed the story of a serial killer who keeps on continuing the crime due to the mental instability. The reason for such brutal killing has been portrayed due to the pain and suffering due to the mental disturbance faced by the person. The inhuman killing in the movie has been tried to be supported by various actions of the protagonist.

The serial killer tried to grasp the empathy of the viewers by stressing on the fact that the aspect of his cruelty in the character is not his real self and is just his mere facet of characters. However the depiction of such cruelty can be massively harmful for the society and cannot be supported by any facts. In relation to the cruelty and brutality depicted in the movie it was however successful in grabbing the attention of the many and the controversies associated with made it popular among the various viewers.

The movie is especially harmful for the young people of any generation. The movie falls into a genre of its own as it combined the depiction of cruelty and satirical depiction of the portrayal of a psycho killer which was a unique approach. Most importantly the indifferent attitude of the protagonist even after killing so many people is the most striking notion of this film. The ways that the killer follows, in the story of the movie to kill people, are very difficult to see for the children as well as for the adults.

Even the protagonist does not feel guilty to kill a child and an animal (a dog). Despite of all those criticisms, the movie receives a positive review in The New York Times (Marin). References Roman, James W, Bigger than blockbusters: movies that defined America, ABC-CLIO, 2009Hantke, Steffen,American horror film: the genre at the turn of the millennium, Mississippi: Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2010Caroll, Rachel, Adaptation in contemporary culture: textual infidelities, London: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2009American Psycho, Prod.

Christian Solomon, Chris Hanley, Edward R. Pressma, Perf, Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, DVD, Lions Gate Films, 2000Marin, Rick, ‘American Psycho: Sliced. Diced. Back, The New York Times, 2000, November 18, 2011 from http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/09/style/american-psycho-sliced-diced-back.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

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