Both American Psycho and Perfume: The story of a murderer would, at first glance, appear to have evil and unsympathetic main characters – with Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, a wealthy, young banker in Manhattan who kills and mutilates prostitutes and homeless people for fun; meanwhile in Perfume the main character is Jean-Baptiste Grenouille – who kills twenty-five young girls in order to make 'the perfect scent'. However, is it possible that these characters can be sympathised with? Can individuals ordained by society to be murderers possibly be sympathised with, or possibly even pitied?
American Psycho is set in Manhattan during the Wall Street boom of the late 1980s. The main character is Patrick Bateman – an attractive, wealthy banker;
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Hunter). This is shown highly through the use of Patrick Bateman, due to him being extreme concern over his superficial looks and the amount of material wealth he possesses (an example being when Bateman spends around 5 pages discussing his morning beauty routine – focusing on how the beauty product is the finest there is – and meanwhile also discusses his apartment, and about how expensive and tasteful all of his furniture is). Bateman is also used as a way to show how consumerism makes people a commodity - “everything is a commodity, including people”. This is especially apparent in his clear sexism – he constantly objectifies women, and never sees them as more than sexual exploits waiting to happen. Bateman tries to rationalise his behaviour of using people as commodities by saying “though it does sporadically penetrate how unacceptable some of what I'm doing actually is, I just remind myself that this thing, this girl, this meat, is
Psycho is a 1960 American film directed by Alfred Hitchock. The screenplay of the movie written by Joseph Stefano was inspired by the novel of the same name by Robert Bloch on the year 1959. This film is categorized into the horror-thriller genre of film. The starring was Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, Janet Leigh as Marion Crane, Vera Miles as Lila Crane and John Gravin as San Loomis.
The film “ Psycho” directed by Alfred Hitchcock was set in the sixties and was about a secretary Marion Crane who goes on a run after embezzling forty thousand dollars from her employer in order to settle the debt of her boyfriend, Sam Loomis. Overcome by exhaustion, she stops by Bates motel for the night where she meets the polite owner Norman Bates
Hitchcock’s Psycho is a great representative of horror and thriller genres. The director masterfully creates an atmosphere of suspense and creates tension. Hitchcock blends characteristics of a thriller with horror, making the audience terrified. The director creates situations that can happen to anybody of the viewers, and thus, makes such scenes even more scaring and disturbing. For instance, the scene of the murder in a shower impresses the audience to a
In the novel "American Psycho" written by Bret Easton Ellis, Patrick Bateman 's use of violence and his wealth are exemplified in scenes involving the murder of his ex-girlfriend Bethany. As well as appealing to the idea to maintain an upscale image by any means such as purchasing expensive merchandise and taking the initiative to attend upscale restaurants. His actions with the implications of those elements reveal the consumptions of status and privilege. The detailed narration of Bateman 's intense violent acts and purchases of expensive products creates imaginary and conflict for readers to accept the appearance he is trying to come across to his associates and the general public. This may result in readers rejecting his character and concluding that he is worthy of the position in society, he desires to achieve or deserving of it. This plays a significant part in how to read this novel because it demonstrates the obsession of acknowledgment and the measurements individuals are prepared to grasp it. The only sense of acknowledgment Bateman receives from the other characters in the novel is his tan instead of his presence or success. Experiencing treatment like this can possibly help the audience understand his motives for preying on women. Feeding off the vulnerability and the weakness of women provides him with the confidence and authority that he lacks. Overall, the consumption of seeking prestige and praise through aggressive behavior towards powerless people
Serial killers and serial rapists are people that have done the most unforgivable, despicable and unmentionable things. Is it even possible to feel sorry for them at all? With all the things they have done to other humans and their outlook on the human race is unbearable, some even feel justified to take care of this problem. Can anyone truly empathize with those that gave no second thought to their crimes. Those that showed no mercy to those that asked and pleaded for mercy until their final breath.
“We all go a little mad sometimes,” and that could possibly be exactly how many feel after watching Psycho, released in 1960, and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock took a different route in terms of plot and structure for the typical Hollywood style. Psycho, like a young child never stops asking questions, it leaves us in a state of doubt and unbelief. It is classic horror, with the numerous jump scares leaving us at the edge of our seat, as every moment passes. Yet in the beginning, it 's seems to portray a rather classic form in a sense, a near-Aristotelian story. A woman who appears to be the main character in love, who is then faced with a problem, not enough money to marry her love, who then steals money to help build a future
American Psycho is a movie adaptation directed by Marry Harron released in the year 2000 that was based off of the 1991 novel of the same name authored by Bret Easton Ellis. The movie focuses on the main character Patrick Bateman who is an investment banker in New York in the era of the early 1980’s. Patrick is a perfectionist whose life by day seemingly rotates between his picture-perfect job, his superficial relationship with his fiancée Evelyn, and his shallow interaction with his co-workers and peers. By night, Patrick is a textbook Psychopath and a serial killer.
In the Movie, American Psycho, Patrick Bateman demonstrate challenges to identify his unique type of personality theories. The purpose of this essay is to review a selected film as a Psychology student, and discuss it from a psychological perspective. Also in this paper providing a diagnosis for a character in the movie and discuss the behaviors that support the selected diagnosis, and to explain and discuss the mental illness depicted in the film.
Fifty years ago, a person breaking the law would either be called crazy or a criminal. Today, the mental health community has much more specific diagnoses. However, the explanation of certain behaviors may be difficult because there is much overlap among mental conditions. In Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, the protagonist, Patrick Bateman, is apparently simply a psychopath. However, Bateman can be diagnosed with other mental illnesses such as Asperger’s syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, narcissism, and antisocial personality disorder. In both the book and film adaptation, Bateman’s actions can be understood more accurately when analyzed in light of modern psychology.
The use of counter culture and ideology can provide unique perspectives on the issues faced by everyone, even those who do not acknowledge it. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh portrays a drug addict who rejects any conventions of normalcy in the pursuit of an alternate reality. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis does the same through the depiction of a rich and greedy Wall Street tycoon. This essay will closely analyze the themes of illusion and reality in Trainspotting and American Psycho. The relationship between the fantasy world and the “real” world in these texts are closely linked and aid the narrative in a criticism of social and structural issues. The texts are often criticized as glorifying drug use and violence however through analyzing the effect of narrative, drug use and culture on the characters reality and illusions will argue that the elements of drug use and violence help in the deconstruction of greed and popular culture in the texts.
Entrails torn from the body with bare hands, eyes gouged out with razor blades, battery cables, rats borrowing inside the human body, power drills to the face, cannibalism, credit cards, business cards, Dorsia, Testoni, Armani, Wall Street; all of these things are Patrick Bateman’s world. The only difference between Bateman and anybody else is what is repulsive to Bateman and what is repulsive to the rest of the world. Bateman has great interest in the upper class life, fashions, and social existence, but at the same time he is, at times, sickened by the constant struggle to be one up on everybody else. On the other hand Bateman’s nightlife reveals a side of him never seen during the day. Bateman is relaxed, impulsive, and confident
In Perfume, Patrick Süskind writes about the life of an extraordinary boy named Grenouille in 18th-century France. The author presents the shifts of existential thinking of his main character throughout the book. The main purpose of living for Grenouille mirrors that of every other human being — to discover the world, with his exception of seeking only the scenting part of it. The series of events in the boy’s life develop his character and the various goals he strives for: survival, odor education, perfume making, peace, own smell, smell extraction, and to die.
As a German writer, the reason for which Patrick Suskind wrote his critically-acclaimed novel, Perfume, in a French setting, about the French, is questionable. However, candidate answers lie in the setting of the novel itself. Mid-18th century France, which is adjacent to Suskind’s Germany, harboured not only a national, but global revolution of politics, economics, and social norms through the French reforms. This had plentiful influence on all aspects of Prussia since the late 17th century (when Germany was known as Prussia) to the present. This stepping stone to a change in practicality lied in the French Revolution and the change of identity that it instilled upon the populace. An exploration of Grenouille and perfume in Perfume reveals their symbolism of the critical transition from religious prominence, to humanistic considerations, to nihilistic extremes that ensued national and global chaos after the French Revolution to represents its influence on Germany and its constituent populace.
The film starts out in a predominantly Italian American neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York in the mid 1950s. The values that were held the highest at that time in place were family and money. The film's other major setting is John F Kennedy Airport, which is the scene of many of the hijackings and robberies that occur in the movie.
Patrick Bateman is a wealthy investment banker living in Manhattan in the late 1980s. His life revolves around dining at trendy restaurants while keeping up appearances for his fiancée, Evelyn, and for his circle of wealthy and shallow associates, most of whom he dislikes. Bateman describes the materialistic nature of his lifestyle: his daily morning exercise and beautification routine, his music collection including performers such