“American Identity”
When thinking of the copious amount of films in American cinema, it can be difficult to find just one movie that defines the American experience. There are so many movies one can point at and say “That’s America!”, but there are only a few that I personally think really encapsulate America to me. When I think “America”, I think American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000).
American Psycho is a grotesque horror based off of Bret Easton Ellis’s 1991 novel “American Psycho”. The film takes place in 1987 New York City, where we follow Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) as he commits atrocities like murder and dismemberment; all under the noses of his friends and colleagues. We as the audience are given his internal monologue; a both helpful, and unsettling addition to his story. We hear him fantasize about many things from killing the people in front of him, to him being jealous of his coworkers, or even daydreaming about the dead women from the night before. He lives his whole life under the guise of being a respectable and reserved investment banker. That’s America.
Now hearing me say “American Psycho is America” might be very disconcerting, but hear me out. People run around their daily activities, absorbed in their own life; many thinking they need to be better than someone else. This is perfectly shown in the business card scene when we hear Bateman get jealous of his rival’s business card. When he asks to see Paul Allen’s (Jared Leto) card, we hear Bateman’s inner thoughts: “my god...it even has a watermark”. He was so set on being the best and the smartest in the room that when he finds out he’s not, he spirals. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met people that go through the same thing:
“I got a 94 on the test! What’d you get?”
“I got a 96.”
I can almost hear Bateman’s voice, “my god...it even has a watermark” in these situations. However, not everyone is in the business of trying to one up each other. But everyone, and I mean everyone, goes around daydreaming.
It could be as simple as daydreaming about dinner, it could be as complex as daydreaming about being famous, it could even be (god forbid, like I do) daydreaming about being a director! Everyone goes about their day daydreaming about something. Bateman happened to daydream about murder, but to each his own. We follow him around as he constantly fantasizes about what he’d rather be doing. Sometimes I wish it was as easy as saying “I have to return some videotapes” to get out of situations when I’d rather be watching tv or sleeping.
Patrick Bateman is an incredibly unsettling and, quite frankly, a terrifying person. I’ve never met anyone like him and I pray I never will. But at the same time, he bizarrely demonstrates the American experience with his facades and his daydreaming, all while trying to stay ahead in a money/business centered society. The way his character is so disconnected from our reality, while also being a mirror image of our society is, well...scary. And what is America besides terrifying?
