When he arrives however, the apartment is bare, cleared of all possessions, and the gruesome mess left in the wake of his murders is gone. According to the film's official website, the videotape addiction is a metaphor for Bateman's "emotional isolation"; he has no real life himself, no real existence to keep him occupied, so he needs to fill that emptiness by continually immersing himself in the lives of others, i.e. Nobody can tell each other apart, it's all very empty, it's shallow, it's competitive, and it makes men look really really bad, and it makes them look kind of gay, because it is such a mans' world, and they are so obsessed with how they look, with clothes and their business cards, that it's taking that competitiveness to an aesthetic level that's kind of what we think of as how gay men are; impeccable dressed, impeccably groomed, really concerned with each other, and women are an outside factor. Up to his old tricks, Bateman leaves Elizabeth hanging while he goes in search of a prostitute this is just what he did to Courtney the first time he hired Christie. Elizabeth is clearly only interested in Bateman for his money, arguing with him that a restaurant even favored by the idyllic Wall Street man, Donald Trump, wasnt good enough. Known all over town, he receives special treatment at many of the city's most exclusive bars, restaurants and salons. How much did you pay for it? Bateman is approached by an older woman (called Mrs. Wolfe in the novel and the film credits; played by Patricia Gage), presumably a real estate agent, who inquires if he saw the advertisement in The New York Times. However, Patrick covers himself up as being Paul Allen. Edit, There is very little difference between the two versions of the film. LitCharts Teacher Editions. I think it's a failure of mine in the final scene because I just got the emphasis wrong. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account. Edit, No. Similarly, George Corsillo, who had designed the jackets for Ellis' previous work, turned down the American Psycho job, citing "creative differences. Interestingly enough, in the novel, a second layer is added to this scene which supports the mistaken identity theory; Carnes first refers to Bateman as Davis, and then at the end of the conversation refers to him as Donaldson. Jean is Patrick Bateman 's secretary, or, as he refers to her, "my secretary who is in love with me.". "C: "Oh, excuse me, nothing. Though Christie is reluctant to see Bateman again after being so badly beaten during their previous encounter, he knows that flaunting his money and using alcohol to cloud her judgment will get him just what he wants. Bateman also informs us in voiceover that Marcus Halberstram does the exact same thing at the company as he does, so presumably Halberstram is a vice president as well. So when he shoots a car and it explodes, even he for a second is like "Huh?" Have you heard of it? He then instructs them to begin paying attention to him, and they do so, as he moves them around on his body however he likes. For example; "I was fooling around renting videotapes" (p. 118 - explaining to Evelyn why he didn't take her call); "I've gotta return my videotapes, I've gotta return my videotapes" (p. 151 - during a mental breakdown); "It doesn't give me enough time to return yesterday's videotapes" (p. 229 - during lunch with his brother); "I have to return some videotapes" (p. 265 - trying to excuse himself from a date with Jean, despite it being midnight).On a practical level, the returning of videotapes seems to be Bateman's standard excuse to explain his whereabouts or to get out of something he's not interested in. If someone has a nicer apartment than you, it is a cause for concern, if someone has a nicer business card than you, it is a cause for jealousy. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. According to his business card, he is a vice president at Pierce & Pierce. There are so many questions about American Psycho's loving protagonist that, to this day, fans are still debating for answers. Edit, Awards However, within a few days, it transpired that Koch Records, the publishers of the soundtrack, hadn't obtained the publishing rights to "Hip to Be Square" by Huey Lewis & The News (separate rights needed to be acquired for each song; one for the movie and another for the soundtrack). The Armani-clad automatons that populate American Psycho go-go 1980s Wall Street wasteland don't realize how much their world sucks (they're like children playing at being lonesome grown-ups) but the movie zones in on Patrick Bateman - one of those anonymous drones - who does, and it details the numbing ritual of his bored, deranged young businessman's daily life. They literally cannot tell one another apart, nor do they particularly want to. Is there any explicit violence toward animals shown in this movie? Bateman also is seen trying to keep himself young and good looking, as perfectly shown in the opening monologue scene. The conversation however, does not go the way Bateman anticipated;Bateman: "Did you get my message? Evelyn (played by Reese Witherspoon in the film) is on her third marriage, to a foreign dignitary (referred to by Bateman as "European gay aristo-trash"), as were her two previous husbands (her married names were Princess de Vestota and Comtesse D'Erlanger). Bloodstained Kleenex will lie crumpled by the side of the bed along with an empty carton of Italian seasoning salt I picked up at Dean & Deluca. In an interview with Charlie Rose, she stated that she felt she had failed with the end of the film because she led audiences to believe the murders were only in his imagination, which was not what she wanted. Bateman is just a person with a mentally unstable mind. Patrick Bateman : Well, I work on Wall Street. Edit, You could say that. Bateman then shoots the woman instead, letting the cat go. He is involved in only one violent incident during the period documented (from March 15th, 2000 to April 17th, 2000); he breaks the jaw and crushes the trachea of a beggar who tries to mug him at an ATM.Various characters from the film/novel are also mentioned. This theory would explain why Wolfe tells Bateman to leave, why she asks so strangely, and what she means when she says she doesn't want any trouble; she suspects that he has something to do with the murders which she is trying to cover up, so she wants him as far away as possible in case he jeopardizes her sale. I should have left it more open ended. Everybody has a great body." As he goes more crazy, what you actually see becomes more distorted and harder to figure out, but it's meant to be that he is really killing all these people, it's just that he's probably not as nicely dressed, it probably didn't go as smoothly as he is perceiving it to go, the hookers probably weren't as hot etc etc etc It's just Bateman's fantasy world. Similarly, in the novel, when Bateman arrives at a club called Tunnel, he looks around and muses to himself "Everyone looks familiar, everyone looks the same" (p. 61). That's where a lot of the humor lies, in poking fun at these peacocks who are so strangely preoccupied with one another. We then see who Bateman is talking about and it isn't Paul Allen.The next case of mistaken identity also involves Allen, as he continually misidentifies Bateman as Marcus Halberstram and Evelyn as Halberstram's girlfriend, Cecelia. But he also goes after his male coworker and an old friend . Patrick Bateman is a wealthy investment banker in his 20's in the late 1980's. We follow him as he and his friends live a life of vanity, drugs, and a lot of violence. Ellis also appeared on an episode of Charlie Rose (1991), along with Christian Bale and co-screenwriter/director Mary Harron, where he said he liked the film very much, and felt it improved on the novel in certain aspects; "the film clarified the themes of the novel. Interestingly enough, in the corresponding scene in the novel, the narrative switches from 1st person present to 3rd person present mid-sentence (p. 341) at the beginning of the sequence, and then back to 1st person present (again mid-sentence) at the end (p. 352). Again, Les Misrables highlights a distinction of class and the contrast between Bateman and these women. It subsequently transpires that Bateman's psychiatrist, Dr. M, is in fact having an affair with Jean, and the two have fallen in love. I can't make myself any clearer. Rio Macarena is a popular song by Los Del Rio. Its almost as if hes blacked out while narrating. By extension then, this could be read as a condemnation of corporations in general; they too tend get away with murder (in a figurative sense) and most people just choose to ignore it, just as do Bateman's associates. Allen also refers to Bryce as Baxter, and at the same Christmas party where Allen continuously refers to Bateman as Halberstram, Bateman is also called McCloy by Harry Hamilton (Peter Tufford Kennedy).Mistaken identity is also treated self-consciously and comically in the film; after Bateman has murdered Allen and is placing the body in the back of a car, he is approached by Carruthers who enquires, "Patrick? Perhaps the fact that Bateman is well-dressed and appears confident, in control, leads people to disregard his threats.Similarly, at various points in the novel, Bateman makes comparable statements which are completely disregarded. A Stephen Hughes said he saw him at a restaurant there, but I checked it out and what happened is he mistook a Herbert Ainsworth for Paul. "Carnes: "Jesus, yes, that was hilarious.
Did the murders really happen, or did Bateman just imagine it all? ": Bateman tries to have sex with Evelyn but she is more interested in watching TV. Bateman does not describe what happens, but its clear his controlling and dominating nature has turned violent. What does Patrick Bateman do in the book? Kimball has asked the real Halberstram about it, and he denied being with Allen that night (which is true, as Bateman was with Allen). Similarly, whether or not Bateman is really "dead" remains an open question. Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don't know why. here, American Psycho: The Pornography of Killing - An Essay by Holly Willis (2005). My eyes open and I warn them not to touch the Rolex, which I've kept on during this entire time. These videos can be sold as "art" and "free expression" and could be available at every video outlet, library, liquor, and convenience store in the world. He pulls out a coat-hanger and tells the prostitutes that they aren't finished yet. The scene where Patrick Bateman calls his lawyer to confess to his horrific murder spree (many of which are episodes featured in the book but not in the movie), is the most emotional piece in all . As far as the filmic adaptations go, American Psycho was adapted first, and the scene with Sean was omitted.