PDF downloads of all 1699 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. ": Bateman and Courtney have sex, but in the middle she complains about the type of condom he's wearing. Edit, When comparing business cards with his co-workers, Bateman tells them that the font in which his card is written is Silian Rail.This is not a real font, the name was invented by Bret Easton Ellis for the novel. Some dialogue was also edited: Bateman orders a prostitute, Christie, to bend over so that another, Sabrina, can 'see your asshole', which was edited to 'see your ass'. Bateman does however make a short appearance in Glamorama (1998), which has not, as of yet, been adapted into a film. Edit, The character of Patrick Bateman is quite interesting in how he could be diagnosed mentally. [Patrick Bateman] Do you like Phil Collins? Davis however, who is estranged from his father, is unaware of this until Bateman and Simone de Reveney inform him. LitCharts Teacher Editions. What are the differences between the novel and film. "I'm leaving": Bryce freaks out in a nightclub, tells Bateman he's leaving, jumps off a balcony and runs away. The idea being that he gets so hysterical he's just straight up begging somebody to listen to him confessing to all these crimes, and there's still no reaction, and it's almost like he gives up. We see a mounting anxiety in him of being mistaken for other people, of killing people and not getting caught, like the real estate agent. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. Additionally, Penguin, who had published paperback editions of Ellis' previous novels, decided to follow suit and they too chose not to publish American Psycho. As with much of the film, if we accept this theory, exactly how much is reality, and how much is fantasy is difficult to say.Mary Harron, for her part, favors the practical explanation championed by Turner, although she does acknowledge that there is a degree of ambiguity at play; You can read it as simply New York greed of real estate people wanting to sell an expensive apartment but ignoring the terrible things that took place there or it could be all in his imagination, an embodiment of his paranoia. However, at no point does anyone ever react in any way seriously to what he says.Examples of Bateman's outbursts include; in the nightclub early in the movie, Bateman says to the bartender (Kelley Harron), "You're a fucking ugly bitch. (The interview can be viewed in its entirety here. After a particularly infuriating party, Bateman asks Evelyn why she doesn't just date Bryce instead of him, pointing out that Bryce is rich, good-looking and has a great body, to which Evelyn replies, "Everybody's rich. Hell never come back to meet up with Courtney, and we never learn what happened the rest of her night once she realizes shes being sent off to the meat-packing district for no reason. The reason the apartment is empty is because there never were any murders committed there, perhaps Paul Allen never even lived there in the first place, or perhaps he genuinely has moved to London and the real estate company is attempting to rent the apartment to a new occupant. Is that true? As he has an extensive exercise and beauty routine to make himself look good and young. Edit, In the final scene of the film, after Bateman has confessed to the murders, he confronts his lawyer in a bar and tries to talk to him about it. Meanwhile, Bateman is using drugs to prepare his victims; this will make his attack easier. Bret Easton Ellis: Mary Harron's American Psycho is set mostly in pre-crash 1987 but it's a period that almost seems as distant as the Jazz Age or the swinging 1960s London of Austin Powers. However, nowhere in either the film or the novel is the exact nature of Bateman's job explained, nor do we ever see him actually doing any work.According to Mary Harron on her DVD commentary, the lack of specifics and failure to identify his exact role are thematically important and offer a commentary on Bateman's psychological state; His best friend is Simone de Reveney, a multi-billionaire and the largest refiner of Russian gold in the world.Over the course of the emails, it is revealed that in 1991, Bateman married Jean, his former secretary (played by Chlo Sevigny in the film), although by 2000 they are going through a nasty divorce, battling for custody of their eight-year-old son, Patrick Bateman Jr. (who Bateman refers to as PB, and says he is an intellectual prodigy, uninterested in childish distractions). No matter what he says or what he claims to have done, the people around him just don't react. There are also a couple of new shots during this scene, totaling 17 seconds of additional material. Edit, Near the end of the film, Bateman stops by Paul Allen's apartment to clean up the evidence of his crimes (primarily the murder of Elizabeth and Christie). Where was he? I chopped Allen's fucking head off. "C: "Because I had dinner with Paul Allen twice in London, just ten days ago. - that says he went to London. "(2) The second theory is that Bateman isn't really saying such things out loud at all, his outbursts are all internal, but he psychologically manifests them as external. I should have left it more open ended. Even if he imagined the murders, he is obviously still mentally ill since most normal people would not fantasize about murdering dozens of people especially the way Bateman does. She does, indeed, seem to care deeply for Bateman, doting on him in the office and following whatever orders he may give her, whether it be a business task, making a reservation at a restaurant, or dressing or . Now, if you'll excuse me, I really must be going. 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. In the last scene, McDermott says that Bryce is back. This is proven by Patrick alternative, smooth side. This prompts McDermott to ask "Well who is it then?," to which Bryce answers "It's Paul Allen." The issue of mistaken identity comes up time and again in the film; it is why Paul Allen refers to McDermott as Baxter and Bateman as Halberstram, it is why Stephen Hughes thought he saw Paul Allen in London, it is why Halberstram thought he was with Bateman the night Allen was murdered. [the complete article is available here] The names were changed since it was later discovered that there were real people who worked on Wall Street with those names, and they production could run into trouble down the road.Also while most of the dialogue from the novel is similar in terms of wording, they are slightly changed up to match the actors portraying the characters.The scene were Bateman sleeps with the two escorts, the novel he uses the word Rolex. In his apartment he owns original work by Andy Warhol, Damien Hurst, Donald Baechlor, Fernand Lger, Pablo Picasso, Balthus, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, Morris Louis and Helen Frankenthaler. 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. By treating the book as raw material for an exuberantly perverse exercise in '80s nostalgia, she recasts the go-go years as a template for the casually brainwashing-consumer/fashion/image culture that emerged from them. [from DVD commentary track] Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. I've been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. He is a wealthy and materialistic yuppie and Wall Street investment banker who, supposedly, leads a secret life as a serial killer.Bateman has also briefly appeared in other . The arc that the character has had from the beginning to the end of the movie is that he has become acutely aware of what it is, and he can articulate it to himself; he's in pain and he wants to inflict that pain on everyone, he feels nothing, he doesn't care that people are in pain. What is the name of the song when Bateman is walking with the woman in the street? They are all so self-obsessed that no matter what any of them says, the others don't care and won't react; if it doesn't directly involve them, they simply aren't interested. My nightly bloodlust has overflown into my days. Such as Rule/Law Breaking, Excessive Lying, Remorselessness, Impulsive Behavior, etc. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. Elizabeth is oblivious to her surroundings, having no idea that Christie is a prostitute and assuming that she can just call to purchase drugs whenever shed like. How can Harold Carnes have had lunch with Paul Allen in London when Allen is already dead? I would much prefer to see him skinned alive, a rat put up his rectum, and his genitals cut off and fried in a frying pan, in front of - not only a live audience - but a video camera as well. Edit, There is very little difference between the two versions of the film. 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. Here, money and sex are interchangeable in a certain kind of way of looking at the 80s, in which money was the erotic object, it was the source of eroticism in the 80s.American Psycho: From Book to Screen (2005)] From what weve seen before, this likely isnt an uncommon occurrence. Edit, The time period of the film is late 1986 to March 4th, 1987; as is evident by the Christmas party early in the movie and the Ronald Reagan speech on the TV in the last scene. In the novel Timothy Bryce and Paul Allen have mildly different surnames. Impulsive such as when he picks up the prostitutes, as well as not calling Dorsia and making the appointment for a few months out.Aside from Anti Social Personality Disorder he also displays traits of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Everybody has a great body." TIME and Spy, a satirical journal built upon a mockery of all things 80s (in a similar vein to the novel), obtained drafts of the novel and ran with the story, with Spy referring to it as "misogynistic barbarism. There is a jarring narrative shift here, when Bateman immediately transitions from sex to torture. Wolfe responds by telling him there was no ad in the Times. I want to stab you to death, and play around with your blood." Having split up with Carruthers, she got involved with Timothy Price (Timothy Price is called Timothy Bryce in the film where he is played by Justin Theroux), but the relationship never went anywhere and she left New York. Of course brokers work very hard, but this isn't a realistic portrayal of office life. Throughout the book we hear of his countless sick and demented actions of him cooking his victims flesh, and having sexual intercourse with his victims bodies, and various body parts. It clarified that the novel was a critique of male behavior" (Charlie Rose interview).Guinevere Turner: We're not just having a gay old time showing women be killed by a serial killer, we're showing you a character and his panic. All I wanted was to be ambiguous in the way that the book was. Bateman is such a dork, such a boring spineless lightweight. Instant PDF downloads. "In the light of the ensuing controversy, Simon & Schuster decided not to go ahead with publication, citing "aesthetic differences." Bret Easton Ellis: "The film is a pitch-black comedy of manners about male narcissism" (official site archived here)David Ansen (critic): "The movie dissects the '80s culture of materialism, narcissism and greed" (quoted here). Jean Character Analysis. PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. 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). Not only are they socially and psychologically uniform, but they accept and promulgate that uniformity, reveling in one another's anonymity as it necessitates that personal relationships are superfluous to the achievement of their ultimate goals - success and wealth. Nothing matters, no one's paying attention, and so he might as well, since the only thing that he seems to feel real about or get excited about is killing people, so he might as well keep doing it; it doesn't matter, no one is going to notice. )In his review of the film, Ellis particularly praised the work of production designer Gideon Ponte, actor Christian Bale and director Mary Harron. If one accepts this theory, then this also explains how Carnes could have had lunch with Paul Allen in London after Bateman had already killed Allen; Carnes had lunch with someone he thought was Allen but was, in reality, someone else entirely. He shows no remorse in business, in his personal life and during his murders. Marcus Halberstram (played by Anthony Lemke in the film) has left the United States after being implicated in the still unexplained disappearance of Paul Owen (Paul Owen is called Paul Allen in the film where he is played by Jared Leto). And it hints that his "acts" are caused by his reaction to the emptiness and foolishness of his surroundings which inspire his defiance, as well as his inability to hold back his darker impulses, and that the killings and destruction are his only means of aiming for truth. Patrick Bateman : I have all the characteristics of a human being: blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Elizabeth complains about the restaurant they went to. Complete your free account to request a guide. In the novel, the corresponding scene reads: or listening to Kenny G on his Walkman; on his dates; during his exercise regime to perfect a lean sculpted body; the occasional murder he commits; his facials; dining out with colleagues; watching horror and porn videos; and constantly looking at himself in mirrors (even during sex), which of course, reveals nothing, and the movie - presented in gleaming wide-screen - is a visual representation of his mindset: sleek, cold, airless, a world where everything is ultimately about style. American Psycho II is an unofficial spin-off which is not considered canon. Did you know I'm utterly insane?" We're all just robots. This is a gauge for Batemans hallucinations; perhaps this encounter is real and its memory unclouded. On a more analytical level, videotapes could also function as something of a status symbol (Bateman is so rich and cool, he can rent huge amounts of videotapes whenever he wants, and most nights, that's exactly what he does). Is that Edward Towers? After Al is dead, Bateman stomps on the dog, however, we don't actually see him stomping on it, he raises his foot and the camera cuts to a wide angle where we hear the dog yelp. Indeed, the only time in the novel when someone does acknowledge that Bateman is a little unusual is when he doesn't order hash browns with his dinner at a restaurant called Smith and Wollensky, prompting McDermott to call him, "a raving maniac" (p. 363).As with the question of what happens in the conversation with Carnes, there are two primary schools of thought on why people never seem to react when he says these things:(1) As with Carnes, the first theory is a practical one which argues that people can hear what he says, but just don't care. You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes. American Psycho II: All American Girl (2002) sees Bateman (played by Michael Kremko) killed by a potential victim (Mila Kunis), who then becomes a serial killer herself. For instance, the book shows how the excesses of the 1980s were manifested in warped relations, not only between men and women but also among men. In the novel, this leads to a scene where Bateman is trying to steal Owen's limo (in the novel, Paul Allen is called Paul Owen), and ends up getting mixed up over what his own name is, identifying himself to the driver as first Patrick and then Marcus (p. 190). This starts in a non-violent manner, with him very specifically instructing the women on what to do to him, to each other. Bateman orders "Christie" and Sabrina around, instructing them to go down on each other and stimulate one another to climax. "B: "But has anyone seen him in London? And we get to see first hand of the world Patrick lives in get his unfiltered thoughts in a stream-of-consciousness narrative. As the emails draw to a close and Bateman begins watching the movie, the film begins with the opening credit sequence from American Psycho itself.The entire set of Am.Psycho2000 emails is transcribed chronologically here. The way the content is organized, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in. Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs We talk on the phone all the time. "C: "The message you left. Edit, Yes. Henceforth why Bateman says "Don't touch the watch.