I recently re-read American Psycho. In Short, it’s awful and one of the best books I’ve ever read. There is much discussion on the gorey-serial-killery aspects of the book but what I think underlies the novel is a very accurate description of American culture that resonates even today, despite it not really being yuppie culture anymore. One of the main things I think the novel does well is conveying the environment that would, absolutely 100%, drive ANYONE to a point of insanity. We see instances of this insanity in other characters, that are always in affairs and on drugs. Snorting splenda to feel anything other than the montonomy of choosing dinner reservations for the 100th time to not eat anything.
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It’s also a hilarious book. Many scenes had me laughing out loud, which is rare because I don’t often laugh at things out loud, especially not books. However underneath the gore, the dissection of american culture, and the comedy is a very real, accurate depiction of a serial killer, a psycopath, someone who has experienced real depersonalization. A few quotes really stuck with me that I’d like to highlight.
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“There are no more barriers to cross. All I have in common with the uncontrollable and the insane, the vicious and the evil, all the mayhem I have caused and my utter indifference toward it I have now surpassed. My pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone, in fact I want my pain to be inflicted on others. I want no one to escape, but even after admitting this there is no catharsis, my punishment continues to elude me and I gain no deeper knowledge of myself; no new knowledge can be extracted from my telling. This confession has meant nothing. ”
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This is one of the more famous quotes and they end the movie on it as well. It’s also from the final chapter of the book. I think it sums, succintly, what a pyschopath is at its core. Endless suffering that needs to be inflicted on others needlessly. Without being too poignant, I think there’s something to be learned from this line of thinking presenting the book in terms of understanding mass shootings in america and the conditions that create them. Yes, guns. Yes, we need reform. But understanding the psychology that causes people to be relentlessy self torturing, and needing to inflict that on others is so incredibly hard for people with empathy to feel. Most of the time, at the end of a shooting, the shooters kills themselves. Go figure. It wasn’t about victory. It wasn’t about sending a message. Pure hate with no meaning or reason. That sentiment is summed up by Patrick Bateman.
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Another one that I think shows the subtle grey zone that exists been “Patrick Bateman Psycopath” and “Everyday Psycopath” comes from the scene with the homeless man. He torments the homeless man for supposedly losing his job to drinking (meanwhile every scene Bateman drinks a J&B) or drugs (Most of Bateman’s associates are druggies), then ends the conversation with:
“I don’t have anything in common with you.”
I think this is what makes Bateman an “American” Psycho. Bateman’s entire world is superficial. Brands matter. Who you associate with matters. What you do matters. What Bateman fails to see is that he does have a lot in common with the homeless man. Both need to eat. Both get hungry. Both are human. Bateman is incapable of seeing this and views this as permission to degrade and mutilate the homeless man. I assert that this attitude is more widespread in america than most would realize. Immigration, homeless, etc. Complex social issues with no clear answers that are easy to simplify if we let culture dictate for us what are our in-group are.
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by Thewheelalwaysturns