When I was first starting to enjoy literature, one opinion I heard on a lot of forums was that American Psycho is one of the greatest pieces of satire written on capitalism/masculinity/the 80’s. However, when I eventually “got into” Bret Easton Ellis (not just his books but his podcast and such as well), I was confronted with something very different.
BEE obviously isn’t a serial killer, but Patrick Bateman IS Bret Easton Ellis. Per the man’s own words, Patrick Bateman and American Psycho as a whole, reflected Bret’s life in NYC in the late 80’s. Bret has gone on to say that Patrick was sort of a stand-in for his thoughts/opinions/feelings at the time. The things that happen around Patrick basically happened to Bret in real life as well.
In 2020, Bret gave an interview where he stated that one reason he disliked the movie adaptation was because the director basically made Patrick less tied to himself and injected way more satire than he wanted there to be.
A lot of people dislike Bret and use this revelation to say they like the film better, but honestly I like that American Psycho is more about the author trying to deal with his own internal struggles rather than looking at society’s ills as a whole, because not only does the story stand on its own, but it feels way more personal this way.
by TooWorried10