Analysis of American Psycho - Essay Example

Analysis of American Psycho Introduction It would not be a mistake to suggest that living in the social environment should be regarded as an important prerequisite for the development of the inner potential of a human being. Indeed, if it had not been for the presence of other people a considerable number of features that are seen as characteristic would not have evolved. However, it must be noted that living in the society can also be rather difficult for a person since one is influenced by different forces that often have opposite directions. While the majority of the people are able to cope with this inner conflict and function properly as citizens, there are individuals who perform actions that are condemned by the society because of inability to balance their inner life with their external life. This paper will argue that in American Psycho (2000) the main character Patrick Bateman balances the burden placed by highly competitive homosocial environment with acceptable actions such as creating the public image of a successful man with all the required attributes such as physical beauty or attractive female partner as well as unacceptable actions such as killing the competitors to advance or females to reinforce his masculinity. Highly competitive homosocial world To begin with, it must be noted that Bateman is not an ordinary person: he does not work for 9 to 5 and he does not direct a considerable amount of his energy to make ends meet. He is a successful banker who thinks that the world is his oyster. Indeed, he lives in a world that consists of similar successful males and the patriarchal nature of it is even more amplified by what scholars call “male homosocial desire” (Sedgwick 15). The latter stands for the peculiar phenomenon when men, just like Bateman, are drawn to each other and enjoy an environment that is comprised exclusively by males. However, competition is inevitable when many men are together. It can occur over simple matter or it can also occur over more important aspects such as leadership. In Bateman’s world the worth of a man is defined by the quality and prestige of a business card. This makes a lot of sense: since representatives of this group can through money into each other, figuratively speaking, they agreed on the idea that a business card should become a representative of its holder. That is why every man around Bateman is concerned with making his card better than others. This is what gives the plot the initial development: the main character is outraged when he learns that one of his friends has a better card than he does. What is more important is that the above mentioned closely connected world of successful men is reinforced with a handful of notions that are widely promoted. One of them is homophobia (Sedgwick 51). For example, Luis Carruthers misinterprets one of the actions of Bateman and declares his love for him, but the latter rejects him in disgust. This scene is extremely important since it puts emphasis on two aspects. First of all, Carruthers who is supposedly gay had to conceal his true identity because of the fear that others would condemn him which is the metaphorical closet (Sedgwick 50). In addition to that, when he speaks out his true feelings Bateman, being an average representative of this high end part of the population, rejects him, suggesting that homophobia is a norm in this environment. Success and masculinity It has already been mentioned Bateman is under constant pressure of his environment. So, in order to prove himself worthy of the high end life that he is enjoying, the main character is engaged in various activities. Some of them are approved by the environment. For example, he does morning exercises and is concerned with healthy living not because he is a fan of fitness, but because there is simply no other way for such a successful person as he. Therefore, this is merely the performance that is made for others (Butler 176). Indeed, even beautification that he had is directed to maintain his proper image since that is exactly what is expected from a person like he. This situation can be compared to a bicycle that is being ridden. On the one hand, a bicycle cannot stay vertical as it will always falls on one side or the other because of his construction. On the other hand, when it is being ridden, it can stay vertical as long as needed. Another important aspect that should be mentioned about Bateman’s life is his romantic relationship. He is known to have a beautiful fiancé that he goes out with. The importance of this relationship for him can be explained as follows: Evelyn is almost an ideal female and by making her a fiancé, Bateman contribute to his social status. In other words, a woman in this case is perceived as an accessory and the more beautiful woman is, the more value this accessory has (Rich 24). This reflects the old patriarchal pattern of behavior according to which women are needed for procreation (which is the peculiar feature of their anatomical sex) and social status (a king always needs a queen). If one continues the metaphor which was mentioned earlier about a bicycle, one might argue that there is a vicious circle which can be identified in Bateman’s life: at first he wanted to become rich; he achieved it by becoming a successful investment banker; he no longer wishes to return to his previous life; that is why he should adhere to the standard; as a result, he is no longer in control of his life as it is the public that dictates him what to do. So, in the end, he traded his freedom for money. It is obvious that he does not want to live up to the expectations of others, but he must because otherwise the environment would reject him. No matter how ironic it might seem, but many things that ordinary people dream about such as beautification procedures or an attractive life are merely a necessity for Bateman. Murderous identity Nevertheless, the biggest peculiarity of the character in question is that he is not only a highly successful banker, but he is also a serial killer who managers to avoid punishment throughout the movie. Therefore, a careful analysis of his killings might reveal a lot about his identity. First of all, one should point out that there is some logic behind the murders that he commits. For example, the homicide of Paul Allen can be easily explained by the desire of Bateman to deal with his competitor. If one recalls the statement about the business cards and the subsequent competition, one should agree that by killing his main competitor, Bateman restored the status quo. In spite of the fact that this solution is not acceptable by the public, it did bring him some short term benefits. Secondly, it would not be an exaggeration to suggest that killing for Bateman might be seen as the extension of his erotic drive. For example, he is known to kill several women and there is an episode when he kills a woman while having a threesome. Indeed, he kills Elizabeth during sex probably in order to intensify his sexual drive. He later kills Christie because he could have led police to him. However, one should keep in mind that prior to killing these women, he had already killed more. Therefore, Bateman did not kill only to achieve some logical benefits as it was seen in case of Allen, but killing was probably connected somehow to his erotic life as well. Therefore, one might assume that there is some kind of perversion that is responsible for it. Finally, one should also recall the episode with a stray cat. In that seen Bateman was ordered by a phrase that he saw on the ATM display to kill a homeless cat. It must be pointed out that this is not the first episode where he kills an animal. All this leads to the understanding that Bateman is capable (and, probably, is enjoying) of killing men, women and any other living creature. As it has already been shown, some killings can be justified by the desire to advance along the social ladder, while other killings are connected to his sexual drive. Moreover, some of them are dictated by his distorted mind: it is absolutely impossible that an ATM would command a person to kill a cat. Therefore, Bateman must have been delusional and never received this message, but simple invented it subconsciously. Murder as manifestation of identity Finally, it may be particularly beneficial to examine the manner in which murder helps Bateman to express his identity. First of all, it should be regarded as a way to balance the pressure of the competitive environment. As it has been mentioned earlier, the murders start when Bateman faced an opponent whom he could not deal with immediately. That is why he deemed murder to be the best way in this situation since it would reinforce his status and help him stay afloat. One would make no mistake that this can hardly be regarded as the best solution. Nevertheless, Bateman was so obsessed with the competition and the desire to stay in this high end part of the population that he rejected the risks and considered the harm of murder to be outweighed by the immediate benefits that it brought. Secondly, one should also point that by killing his victims Bateman also reinforced his masculinity to a certain extent. Indeed, it is highly probable that he justified killing women as something that he was able to do as man, because they were inferior to him. It has already been mentioned that he was engaged in a romantic relationship with his fiancé because it helped his social status. Therefore, thinking about a woman as an accessory was nothing new to him. So, by hiring prostitutes he thought he was simply satisfying his sexual desire and when intercourse was not rewarding enough he wanted to intensify the feelings and this resulted in murders. Therefore, to a certain extent this can be explained by the stereotypical kind of thinking that is promote din the patriarchal society that women should be granted with less power than men. Finally, the fact that Bateman has killed several animals shows that his murderous intentions are not limited to the world of humans: he enjoys the act of killing even when it does not bring benefits in terms of his social status or makes his sexual drive stronger. It is quite possible that the murders of the animals can be explained by the idea that Bateman as a man could decide fate not only of women, but of animals as well since they are inferior to him, according to his point of view. That is why the intention to kill a cat shows the following. First of all, the victim of murder does not matter: it can be a man, a woman or even an animal. Secondly, the very act of killing is what Bateman was looking for sometimes. Conclusion Having examined all the points which were mentioned in the paragraphs above one is able to come to the following conclusion: Patrick Bateman was under extreme pressure of the environment which comprised of successful males who created a specific group which was prosperous, but make a person who belonged to it meet the requirements for membership; the main character tried to cope with this pressure in a number of ways: on the one hand, he did everything to appeal to the public such as keeping his body fit and pleasing, he had a beautiful romantic partner and have a wonderful business card which was the measure of value of a person in that environment; however, on the other hand, he also have innate murderous nature which resulted in killings of his competitors to gain some advantage in the completion and killings of occasional females to intensify sexual drives. Works Cited Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York, NY: Routledge, 1999. Print. Rich, Adrienne. “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence”. Signs 5.4 (1980): 631–660. Web. Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. Epistemology of the Closet. Oakland, CA: U of California, 1990. Print. Read More