In the latest article in their series on original characters, Industrial Scripts examines Slushpile-favorite American Psycho‘s Patrick Bateman.
Investment banker by day, ax murdered by night, Bateman is a narcissist who becomes violent when his masculinity is challenged. As his rampage continues, he slowly loses touch with reality. “Even though Patrick Bateman is a vile character, he has different layers to him that make him believable and interesting to follow,” the article says. “A protagonist doesn’t need to be likable in a traditional sense. There just needs to be something about them that’s striking and interesting.”
Bateman has stuck with audiences after all these years, because his behavior shifts easily from terrifying to bizarre to hilarious. Further, there’s a core of internal conflict that encourages audiences to stick with him until the end of the story.
The film version uses Bateman’s relationships to reveal his various sides. Patrick’s assistant, Jane, idolizes him, and is the only person who seems to care about him. Though he has the chance to kill Jane, Patrick declines, perhaps because she’s the only person who sees him as he wishes to be seen. “She satisfies his ego,” the article explains. “She doesn’t undermine him and the power dynamic is very clearly in his favor.”
In contrast, investment banker Paul Allen makes Patrick feel inferior, going as far to call him a loser. Paul is murdered with an ax, and shows us the template for Patrick’s killings, including his habit of playing music before a murder. This reinforces what we learned about Patrick from Jane, but from the opposite direction. His moods are motivated by jealousy, resentment, and ego.
Patrick’s fiancée, Evelyn, reveals his emotional facade. Both are uninterested in other people and both are having affairs, yet they maintain their relationship for looks. After several murders, Patrick tries to confess to Evelyn, but she’s too self-absorbed to listen. When Patrick dumps her, Evelyn becomes genuinely upset. Uncomfortable with this public confrontation, Patrick goes on a killing spree, dropping his facade of successful investment banker and embracing his murderous self.
Patrick Bateman is a textbook narcissist who is engaged in constant power struggles. When on the losing end, his feelings of inadequacy or powerlessness trigger violence. Even something as simple as exchanging business cards creates a power struggle among Patrick and his similarly-dressed, similarly-employed colleagues. “This is a petty world of one-upmanship, one which Patrick eventually decides that to compete within he must destroy,” the article says. “Whilst the study comes via the very recognizable portrayal of the kind of hyper-masculine world that Patrick is a part of, the satire comes in the extreme lengths Patrick goes to in order to keep up with this world and satisfy his monstrous, out-of-control ego.”
Patrick is also an unreliable narrator. The film leaves you wondering whether he killed all those people or merely imagined it. Patrick’s lawyer says he had lunch with Paul Allen days after Patrick supposedly killed him. In another scene, Patrick tells a woman he wants to kill her, but she continues their conversation as if she hasn’t heard. “Nothing can be trusted in this world, not even the character that leads us through it,” the article says. “Nothing can be taken at face value.”
By examining toxic masculinity and the hyper-competitive environment of Wall Street finance, Patrick Bateman shows what a writer can do with an extremely unlikable protagonist. “The film challenges us to laugh at the bizarreness of his behavior, even if the facts of it are deeply disturbing,” the article says. “But it’s the way that his characterisation is so tightly tied to the film’s tone and intention does he become such a powerful and memorable character.”
