Analyzing Evil: Patrick Bateman, From American Psycho

Welcome everyone to the thirteenth episode of Analyzing Evil! Our feature villain for this video is Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. I hope you enjoy, and thanks for watching. If you have any feedback or questions feel free to let me know below!

#PatrickBateman #AmericanPsycho #Psychopath

[jakubport]

Not gonna lie, this was one of the most brutal Batman prequels I've ever seen.

[Skvid]

Fun fact: Christian Bale saw Tom Cruise on the Late Show with David Letterman while preparing for his role in American Psycho. Cruise's "intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes" became the inspiration for how Bale would portray the psychopathic murderer.

[megamayo]

I don't know what's more ironic. Christian Bale played a psycho character then became Batman. Or one of his victims became the Joker.

[NORTH]

I have always wondered if Patrick actually does anything at work. Throughout the movie he is never working. He simply sits there and watches tv.

[o.t.n_ofthenightproduction]

"a monster could be sitting right next to you, at this very moment"
Looks at cat: 👀

[Joseph]

My favourite line is: "I Gotta Return Some Videotapes" I'm using that quote every time when somebody asks me where I'm going, or what I will be doing later on, and I don't want to answer.. Unfortunately no one ever gets it.

[MySerpentine]

He's just deep enough to know how shallow he is, and it's broken him.

[billysinge]

I like the theory that Patrick Bateman’s father, who “practically owns the company” (Pierce & Pierce) knew exactly what his son was doing.
He found out about what had happened in Paul Allen’s apartment, and as a member of the American elite, which billions of dollars and huge influence, sent in a “cleanup team”; hence why, when Patrick Bateman enters the apartment and it’s painted white and the bodies are removed, the realtor says “don’t go making any trouble now” and “don’t come back.” She knows, from his father, exactly what’s happened here, and is part of the operation to clean it up and protect Patrick and *most importantly*, keep his family name clean. It’s also written in the book that the place was full of flowers, and the scent of them was so strong it was all one could smell; implying strongly that the team were masking the smell of rotting flesh.
The lawyer was also told about Bateman’s actions, and was asked and/or paid off by Bateman’s father to keep quiet about it and even deny Bateman’s confession to the murder of Paul Allen etc.
It’s a satire, essentially, claiming that the American elite in the ‘80’s would rather cover up dozens of brutal murders than lose influence and status. It’s as if Bateman’s background and wealth and class will not allow him to be held accountable for his actions, no matter how desperately he wants recognition for these “achievements.”
This all ties in with the general message of the story, and explains the realtor scene and the lawyer scene as well as Paul Allen’s disappearance, for which “it’s all in his head” is simply a poor-quality explanation.
Think about it.

[xxczerxx]

Just a note on the love of music: it's shown in the book that his long speeches about his 'love' for music like Huey Lewis and the News are ripped from New York Times reviews.

[jMOPS]

Patrick “you’re not terribly important to me” Bateman.

[walkerfox]

Let's see Paul Allen's analysis.

[PhantomSavage]

Patrick is obsessed with Ed Gein because Norman Bates (the original Character from Hitchcock's Psycho that Patrick is an evolution of), Leatherface, and Wild Bill from Silence of the Lambs are all based on Ed.

The real Ed Gein lured and victimized women like Patrick Bateman, he made furniture out of skin and bone like Leatherface, he made and wore a full body skin suit like Wild Bill, and while wearing said skin suit he'd allegedly danced around in his yard (like the end of Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and pretended to be his dead mother (like Psycho).

Real life Ed has been the fucked up blueprint to half of every major iconic movie psychopath in our modern culture, so it makes sense Patrick feels a personal connection to him.

[Johnsmith]

Crazy how Patrick is 27 and lives in a gorgeous, high-rise apartment and I'm 26 and live in an awful studio. Although considering the movie takes place in 1987 our rents might actually be the same.

[stachan]

In the book, Bateman went anti-semite against one jew, thus the "cool it down with those anti-semitic remarks" was just another memorised statemen he said to fit in.

[gremlins]

That scene with the homeless man always sticks in my head..not so much the killing, but the way he talks to the homeless man is just so nasty and cruel

[chuteboxegod]

Best line of the whole movie is when Patrick breaks into Paul Allen's house "There is a moment of sheer panic when I realize that Paul's apartment overlooks the park and is obviously more expensive than mine."

[PatrickPierceBateman]

Hey, I'm a child of divorce, gimme a break!

[alecazadi-hocking]

I’ve always found it fascinating how the director stated that everything that happened in this movie was not in Bateman’s head like some people think it is. Instead, Patrick actually did kill all of those people, but everyone around him is so self-absorbed with their own greed and image that no one cares or cares to believe him. Absolutely brilliant.



EDIT: To clarify, yes he is also having vivid hallucinations, such as when the ATM tells him to feed a a stray cat. That’s one of the reasons why it becomes so confusing trying to figure out if everything really happened or not. Because Patrick is having a hard time figuring out what’s happening or not since he’s constantly losing touch with reality. He’s an unreliable narrator for sure, but he’s also a psychotic murderer who isn’t sure if the last kill was real or a dream.


Sorry, I read a few of the comments for the first time just now and thought I would chime in and put that in there.

[keenanmiller]

The books ending is far less ambiguous.
The author has made it clear ... Bateman did all that shit

[hihunter]

I found out that when Willem Dafoe for doing his scenes, three takes of each were done: One where he knows Patrick is the killer, one where he suspects he is, and one where he doesn't suspect a thing. The editors then put bits and pieces of each take into one, so the audience can't get a clear vibe about how Dafoe feels about Patrick, adding more ambiguity to the film. I just thought that was very interesting.