Themes Of American Psycho

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

“Is evil something you are? Or is it something you do?” (Easton Ellis). Are we considered evil by our action or thoughts? If we are constantly contemplating evil and horrific thoughts but do not act upon them, the initial thoughts may still influence our unconscious minds, which can then, in turn, affect our conscious thoughts and actions indirectly. Compare that to those who act upon their evil thoughts and therefore are more authentic to their natural and uninfluenced personality. Humans are strongly related to our savage animal brothers; however we do everything in our means to appear separate and civilized. Regardless of our attempt at separation, we still remain savage beasts by nature and suppressing our natural state only makes our

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

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.

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.

Exploring How Alfred Hitchcock Manipulates The Audience In Psycho Alfred Joseph Hitchcock is thought to be, by most, the greatest film director of all time. He was born in Leytonstone, London on13 August 1899. He directed many great films such as The Lodger, The Birds, Sabotage, Notorious, Rear Window, and of course one of his greatest achievements ever, Psycho in 1960. He directed the first British sound film - Blackmail.

Living the American dream was a part of the road to Suburbia. As soldiers were returning home from the wars, births were reaching record highs known as the baby boom. Just in the year 1957, a total of 4,308,000 babies were born.4 Desiring large families and great economic prosperity, the women’s role as mother and homemaker were built-up in movies and television and magazines. Ultimately, with additional “leisure time” at home, Americans bought televisions, nice record players, lawn mowers and other electronic products. Manufactures and advertising agencies jumped at the opportunity to profit on consumerism. “More and more, ad executives and designers turned to psychology to create new strategies for selling. Advertisers appealed to people’s desire for status and “belongingness” and strived to associate their products with those values.”5 The Baby Boomers that began the consumerism in the mid-1950’s socially altered the United States then and still do

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.

Brett is the picture perfect image of the post-war generation transformation of values in relation to gender. In the roaring twenties, Brett embraces her freedom; she is the typical roaring twenties lady, with a boyish haircut, and both the drinking and sexual promiscuity of a man. Her infatuation with money and her interaction with money and other values is interesting, as she interacts indirectly through means of drinks, meals, clothing articles, trips, and sexual affairs. What makes Brett most interesting is that she herself is a value amongst men, giving her body, companionship, and friendship to Jake, Mike, and her many suitors. As the theme of the importance of money continues, some may wonder how Brett is included in such a money-thirsty group when she herself doesn’t spend much of a dime; this is because her primary man,

“I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip" (Harron) thought Patrick Bateman as he contemplated his growing feelings of emptiness and need for bloodlust. American psycho is the story of a greedy, materialistic, self obsessed businessman who transforms into an unstable and violent sociopath. Abnormal behavior can be defined by four patterns deviance, distress, dysfunction, and danger (Comer 2). Deviance is exhibited as unusual, or extreme behavior. Throughout the movie, Bateman was very blunt and would casually say violent, graphic comments. The only time Bateman experienced distress was towards the end of the movie when he couldn’t stop killing. He began to panic, called his lawyer to confess, and didn’t go into work. However, most of the time Bateman said he enjoyed the rush of a kill. Typically, abnormal behavior interferes with the person's ability to conduct daily activities (Comer 2). As a result of Bateman’s abnormalities he could not sustain a healthy relationship. The most extreme characteristic of Batemans abnormal behavior was that it caused him to put others in danger.

going back to the other views to see where the policeman is and how is

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.

Harron’s production of American Psycho being a black comedy is necessary when taking into consideration of the film being accepted into society. Being able to laugh at Christian Bale during his performance as Ellis’ unstable character Patrick Bateman helps the audience overlook the murders taking place and be drawn into Bateman’s humorous character, which is innocently a result of the times.

Bateman is in a way sickened by the everyday all-American life he leads, while the reader is sickened by the flip side of Patrick Bateman.