The Psycho Stars Christian Bale

The 1960 Alfred Hitchcock classic thriller, Psycho and the psychological thriller novel, The Talented Mr.Ripley by notable American author Patricia Highsmith both challenge the audience’s perception of the noir protagonist through pronounced exploration controversial themes via the. Through the use of a range of stylistic features, the authors aim to blur the line between innocence and guilt in order to develop a false sense of empathy for the protagonists Tom Ripley and Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). Characterisation of both of these protagonists, used in a way that forces the audience to connect with them and adopt an controversial point of view, transforms the audiences perception of how the murderer of a psychological thriller should behave. Hitchcock uses

According to the “Hare Psycopathy Checklist” a psychopath is a person who knows right from wrong in our society but often feels no guilt, remorse or empathy when they engage in wrong actions. They lie easily, blame others for their actions and often hurt people who are close to them. David Berkowitz meets the criteria of Hare’s checklist and is believed to be a true psychopath. Berkowitz is known as the “Son of Sam”, a thrill seeking serial killer who terrorized the city of New York for over a year. Information about David Berkowitz’s background, personality traits and lifestyle and his serial killer profile help to prove that he is in fact a psychopath. In conclusion, this essay will prove to readers that David Berkowitz is a notorious

American Psycho is an incredible film with an even more brilliant cast; Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, and Reese Witherspoon, to name a few. When the scene opens, you see Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) going about a normal healthy life as a wealthy investment banker. But then you start to see the secret life he is leading as a serial killer. When he and his friends flaunt their business cards to each other, he gets jealous of coworker Paul Allen’s (Jarod Leto) card, he murders a homeless man and his dog out of rage. Bateman went to a Christmas party and was mistaken by Allen for another

After the release of the novel in 1991 American Psycho was criticised greatly on moral grounds, calling it “meaningless” and as being “… a bloodbath, serving no purpose save that of morbidity…” and yet only in more recent years has the artistic styles of the novel been more accepted, seeing that the acts of violence contain a meaning for Bateman, believing he is ridding society of its problems and further expressing the issues surrounding Capitalism also represents. Ellis withholds the major acts of violence until later on in the novel, firstly offering the reader inside the mind of Bateman and showing his decline into insanity even to the extent that he is aware of his decline he states “I like to dissect girls. Did you know I'm utterly insane?”.

Have you ever had a discussion with someone person and the first thing you hear, that person is a psycho? What the individual is really describing is a person who is believed to be insane or crazy based off of the way the person interacts with others or along. The movie that I chose to watch is American Psycho. This movie is about a materialistic, wealthy Wall Street investment banker who has a double life in which one of the lives he lives is as a serial killer.( Harron, M Director ,2000, April 14). He is addicted to drugs, sex, and conspicuous consumption. He is obsessed with designer clothes, business cards, alcohol, and music such as Whitney Houston, Robert Palmer, Huey Lewis, and many other artists. Most people think they know the answer after watching this movie but director Mary Harron's answer might surprise you there is a long list of evidence supporting the claim that Patrick Bateman has to be imagining everything.

Antisocial personality disorder is a disregard for others rights and violating theses rights. This disorder starts as a child to people who carry this disorder portray the characteristics of irritability, aggressiveness, lack of remorse, and irresponsibility. A psychopath falls under the umbrella of antisocial personality disorders. A psychopath is a person with a personality disorders which is inherited from their parents at birth. Flashes of these inherited factors show and happen in the child upbringing this includes torture animals at a young age, playing weird dark games as a kid, or ripping heads of toys. A perfect example of a Psychopath is Edmund Kemper. A man who showed his psychopath tendencies at a young age that grew into to him becoming a serial killer.

Personality disorders are pervasive in nature, and are depicted in various mediums from film to novels. Narcissism will be discussed as it pertains to American Psycho; a film made in the early 2000’s to describe a man who lives a double life as a business man and serial killer. The main character in particular, Patrick Bateman displays with themes of Narcissistic Personality Disorder and his case along with the factors that are congruent with Narcissistic Personality Disorder will be discussed throughout.

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 first step in diagnosing someone as a sociopath is to create a standard of sociopathic behavior. Formally, sociopathy is referred to as Antisocial Personality Disorder or ASPD. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines ASPD as “A mental health condition in which a person has a long-term pattern of manipulating, exploiting, or violating the rights of others"(Sociopathic Traits 1) and lists seven identifying traits. It is important to understand that ASPD is a condition of varying degrees. To be considered a sociopath, one does not have to display all seven traits. In fact, there is much debate about what level of sociopathic behavior deserves a diagnosis of ASPD. Possibly the most widely accepted scale is the Hare PCL-R, which ranks sociopathic tendencies. Even though Hare is the most commonly accepted standard, it is still somewhat disputed. The professional agreement, it seems, is that ASPD can vary in intensity. Therefore, even though he does not display the

This is how Bateman and his colleagues think about women and also how the media portrays the importance of what women are: sex symbols. Women in "American Psycho" are depicted as nothing more than sexual desires and personality or intelligence has little to no importance in the story. A primary example is when Bateman has sex with two prostitutes named Christie and Sabrina. Afterwards, he proceeds to torture both women where "[he] impatiently leads them to the door, both of them dressed and sobbing, bleeding but well paid" (Ellis, 1991). This scene displays the lack of intelligence or personality that both women have and goes on to demonstrates how Bateman used them for his sexual and sadistic pleasures. However, in Stephen King 's "Misery", there is a lack of sexualisation towards the female protagonist. Paul Sheldon, who is trapped within the home of crazed Annie Wilkes is less than thrilled to be stuck inside a isolated house with a woman. While most works of horror have younger female actresses, Annie Wilkes is a middle aged women who plays a big part in the story (Foster, 2014). "Misery" certainly subverts the sexual appeal that the media portrays in today 's horror genre.

American Psycho can be interpreted in two ways: either Bateman, due to his mental disorder, killed multiple people, or he was having hallucinations about his kills. If he truly committed murder the DSM-5 diagnosis for Patrick Bateman indicates that he is suffering from antisocial personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, and borderline

There can be no doubt that Bateman partakes in numerous improbable scenes which aids in blurring the boundary between reality and fiction, like other postmodern pieces. For instance, Bateman goes to McDonalds 'splattered with flecks of his (Ali's) blood'. 'Cat Club' waitresses and various other people pass Bateman, without recognising his decrepit attire. This may lead to the questioning of his reliability as, surely, such significant detail wouldn't go amiss. Joan Smith supported the ideology of Bateman being disingenuous, through the assertion that American Psycho is '"unconvincing" in its depiction of murder’ .

Throughout cinema, there has always been space in our hearts for the gore and intrigue that come from horror films. Though they come with different plots, there remains “the monster”, the character that brings along disgust, horror, suspense, and even sympathy. In Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), our monster is Norman Bates, the boy next door. This was one of the first times in American cinema that the killer was brought home, paving the way for the future of horror movies. According to Robin Wood in “An Introduction to the America Horror Film” (183-208), Bates follows the formula of the Monster being a human psychotic. This is conveyed through his normal façade portrayed with his introduction, the audience’s ambivalence, the use of

According to Eliabeth Wagele from Psychology Today, American Psycho is number 19 on the list of the Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade” The movie stars Christian Bale his performance in the movie was disturbing/darkly funny movie about a serial killer in Manhattan, Patrick Batman a businessman .In the film Patrick reflects our narcissism and how shallow American way of life it was produced from, with sharp efficiency. Patrick Bateman was a monster who murdered for the fun and thrill of it and then the next day he would just go out with his coworkers to the best restaurants and wear the best designer clothes. This is a movie about an individual's and society's narcissism. The 3-Achiever in the Enneagram personality system typifies our American

One of the reasons that this film made the top ten films of all time