Datasets:

P00j4n

/

PHIL2

like 0

See discussions, st ats, and author pr ofiles f or this public ation at : https://www .researchgate.ne t/public ation/254901598 'American Psycho': a double portrait of serial yu ppie Patrick Bateman Article Januar y 2003 CITATIONS 10READS 9,074 2 author s, including: Tarja Laine Univ ersity of Amst erdam 32 PUBLICA TIONS 178 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE All c ontent f ollo wing this p age was uplo aded b y Tarja Laine on 04 F ebruar y 2021. The user has r equest ed enhanc ement of the do wnlo aded file. Title: Ameri can Psych o: a double portrait of serial yuppie Patrick Batema n Author(s):Jaap Kooijma n and Tarja L aine Source :Post Script. 22.3 (Summer 2003): p46. Docu ment Type: Critical essay Bookmark: Book mark this Docu ment A double relation is accen tuated by me ntal processes leaping from o ne character to an other--or is marked by the fac t that the subject iden tifies himself w ith something e lse, so t hat h e is in dou bt as to which his self is. --Sigmund Freud, 19 19 He wears t he finest clothes, the best desi gners heaven knows. Oo h, from his head dow n to his toes. Halston, Gucci, Fiorucc i. He looks l ike a still that ma n is dressed to ki ll. --Sister Sledge, 1979 In 2000, director Mary Harro n adapted Br et East on Ellis's controversi al third novel American Psyc ho (1991) to the screen , starring Christian Bale as the 27-year -old yuppie/ser ial killer Patrick B ateman. L ike the no vel, the film Ameri can Psych o can be seen as an ultimate portrayal of the 1980s New York yup pie lifestyle, depicting a world dominated by he donism , greed, an d egocen trism. The n ovel's lo ng enumeratio ns of brand name co nsumer goods , denoting the fashion-dictated materialism t hat co nstitutes yuppie life, ha ve been translated c inematica lly into a steri le space of (now extre mely dated) 1980s designer goods. The film versio n anatomizes the construction of Batema n's double identity t hat in t he novel is created through t he use of an unreliable narrat or, the appropri ation of pop cultural prod ucts (particular ly brand names, po p songs, and the ima ges of horror an d porn movies) , and the use of "cinema tic" techniques of narratio n. In this articl e, we will treat t he fiction al character Patrick Bateman as a double construc tion of narratio n and identity by examini ng the ways in w hich Batema n is construc ted as both a yuppie and a serial killer. By focusi ng on his being an unreliable narrator in t he novel and a reliable narrator in the film, we wi ll show h ow readers/spectators make se nse of Batema n's constructed identity through t heir role as Batema n's "witn ess" w ithin his ow n fiction al and cinematic world. Rather t han consider ing the film versio n to be an adaptatio n of the novel, we ar gue that the novel and film complemen t each ot her. In both the novel and the film, Batema n's iden tity is based o n a double construc tion. Bateman embodies both the well-groomed image of the Wall Street yuppie and the grueso me imag e of the seri al killer. Yet, while Bateman manages to establ ish the image of the yuppie as a credible appearance bef ore others within the fictio nal world, beyo nd the world of fiction it is clear that his iden tity as cold- blooded seri al killer is merely a hallucinatio n. By cre ating himself an iden tity as a serial killer, Bateman attemp ts to connect with somethi ng real beyo nd the su perfic iality of brand na mes. However , his seri al killer identity appears to be an illusion and this ren ders his identity as yuppie as artific ial, mea ningl ess, and inven ted. In other words , the readers/ spectat ors are invited to enter in to the process of Batema n's dou ble identity con struc tion, as Americ an Psych o reveals Batema n's tech niques of the se lf. By clear ly indicating that Bateman 's identity as serial killer is a hallucina tory constructio n, Americ an Psych o--bot h the novel and the film--sug gests t hat Bateman 's identity as yuppie is a construc tion as well. This is the essence of the novel, w hich i n the film vers ion is made palpab le through the process of narration, and specifically through the use of an unreliable/ reliable narrat or. While in the no vel, Patrick Bateman gradua lly proves t o be an unreliable narrator , in the film Batema n's unreliability towards those withi n the fictional world is made expl icit to t hose ou tside--paradoxica lly thereby making him a reliable narrator for the spectators. For example, when Batema n takes hi s drugg ed mistress Cour tney (Sama ntha Mathis) to the fashionable restaura nt Bar cadia, she expli citly asks if they are at the more fashionable restauran t Dorsia . Batema n confirms this, while at the same time showing the spectat ors in close- up the menu that shows t he restauran t's real name. This construction of dou ble narratio n, where the spectators are placed in-betwee n, suggests that we are watching a film t hat takes place withi n Bateman 's world of facade , his imag inary world. This eleme nt is prese nt in the novel as wel l, but the film version-- appropriate ly--ha s taken it to be the most cruci al element, the level that constructs t he en trance point for the spectator in to the film. From the very beg inning, the spectators are invited to see the image of Bateman as an imaginary double construction , both within and bey ond the cinematic diegesis and narration. The double image of Patr ick Batema n is constructed bot h withi n the novel and the film, a nd both media help to con struc t the double image of the yup pie and the seri al killer--which, in the en d, becomes actual ized only in an empty sy mbol, a reflection. THE CONS TRUCTION OF THE SE RIAL YUPPIE One of the first scen es in t he film Americ an Psych o features a sequen ce of shots that portray P atrick Bateman doing his daily morning routi nes. Batema n is shown placing an ice mask on his face, traini ng his abdo minal muscles, taking a shower , and applying a facial mask. As he removes t he mask t hat h as formed a scree n on his skin, Bateman's voiceover reveals an expli cit self-a nalysis : There is an ide a of a Patrick Batema n, some kin d of abstraction. But t here is no real me, only an entity, some thing illusory . Although I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours, an d maybe you can even sen se our lifestyles are probably comparabl e--I simply am not there. This self-a nalysis also appears in the novel, though almos t at the en d, on pages 376-3 77, an d is the key to understa nding Ameri can Psych o. Bateman strives to co nceal his la ck of being with designer suits and po p culture, but remain s aware of the mea ningl essness of his pro ject: "Surface, sur face, surface was all that anyone fo und mea ning in . .. this was civilization as I saw it, colossal and jag ged ..." (375). As a result , he tries to na rrate himself an identity as a serial killer, but fails in this project to o, as he is unable to maintain his re liability as the narrator of his own life. By striving to embod y both the ima ge of a yuppie Wall Street stockbroker and a serial killer, Batema n beco mes a dark double of the 1980s New York yup pie subculture t hat revea ls nothing but mea ninglessn ess. From the start of both the novel and the film, Bateman's identity is unclear. He is repeatedly recognized as somebo dy else, he often confuses the identities of his fellow yup pies, a nd more t han once he deliberate ly miside ntifies himself to others. Bateman 's cameo appearance in Bret Easto n Ell is's seco nd novel The Rul es of Attraction--tel ling his brother Sean to "Stop deliberately misu nders tanding me" (238)--intro duces the identity con fusion that is domi nant in American Psycho, the novel and the film. When the novel was published in 1991 , many cr itics (Iannone, Mailer, and Ma ngue l) focused o n the "boring" enumeration s of bran d name con sumer goods and the "revolting" description s of the raping, butcheri ng, and ki lling of women, rather than recognizing the na rrator' s confused identity an d unreliability. They perceived the novel as a manifestatio n rath er than merely a descr iption of a nihilistic and empty culture. As post-feminist Naomi Wolf excla imed American Psycho was "t he singl e most boring book I have ever had to en dure" (34). However , the unreliability in na rration ironizes the overload of bran d names an d butchered body parts , suggesting that the distinction between serial consumption and seri al killing has disappeared. Although his sharp eye for detai l suggests a careful and selective observer , Batema n con tinuously makes seemingly unimpor tant mistakes. Progressing into the no vel, as the ki llings become more expl icitly described, t he "errors" increase. Shoes by Susan Warren Ben nis Edwards are mentioned as sh oes by Warren Susan Allen Edmonds, and as by Edward Susan Bennis Allen (s ee Young, 102). Batema n's seemi ngly structured , yet boring and revolting world proves to be inco nsisten t and illogical, both in time and space. A Christmas party is followed by a nig ht in May ; the daily refere nces to the topics of that mor ning's Patty Winters Show change withi n the course of the day ; the pop artists Batema n me ntions do n ot ma tch the pop songs he hears o n the rad io. Batema n is in fac t an unreliable narrator w hose cred ibility and iden tity should be questio ned, including his co nfession of being "a fu cking evil psychopath" (Ellis 20). Bateman 's unreliability as narrator fo rces the reader to rea lize that the killings only take place in Batema n's min d. Such a realization is significan t, as it shows t hat Batema n appropriates objects an d ima ges of pop consumer culture-- both the "boring" and the "revolting" ones--t o construct a double identity of himself, one that by defi nition is mistake n. In this way , the bran d names are equated to t he vio lence, an d vice versa, reflect ing the way in whic h Bateman 's double iden tity is constructed as mu tually incoh erent. In her discussion o f the no vel, Elizabeth Young has argued t hat Patr ick Batema n is not a "ch aracter" but a "cipher"--an empty si gn denoting the nothingness of yuppie identity. Batema n is "Everyyu ppie, indifferent to art, originality or even pleasure except i n so far as his po ssession s are the newes t, brightest, best, most expensive an d most fashionable" (103 ). The Everyy uppie is a flat "character" whose nihilism is concealed by his perfect exterior , a deperso nalization ironica lly contras ted by the "perso nal names" of his cloth es: Ralph Lauren , Calvin Kle in, Gior gio Armani. His subjectivity is based on (capita list) materia lity and sy mbol ic expressio n, as ha ute cout ure fashion and cos mopolitan l ifestyles have become identity building blocks that communicate t he sub ject's socia l desirability and stat us, articu lating the subject's cultural body (Lauer an d Lauer; Silverman ). Bateman is an inscriptive surface that can be signified, "masked" t hroug h fashions, lifestyles, ha bits an d behaviours (G rosz). Throug h the inscript ion of cultural values, si gnified by t he bran d names like Clinique and Giorgio Armani , Patrick Batema n embo dies the 1980s yuppie cultura l enviro nment. In fact , Bateman succeeds in establishi ng the ima ge of the Everyyu ppie to the exten t that he is constantly mistake n as being someon e else who em bodies the same ima ge; indeed his firm is full of Bateman -clones. Seve ral critics have poin ted out that the film versio n captures t he satir e contained withi n the novel, ho w its cinematograph y and prod uction design mirrors Bateman 's narcissism and love of desi gner goods, and how this is juxtaposed to the killings Batema n com mits (Kauffman, Porton , Rayns, Smith). More importa ntly, the film vers ion hig hlights t he way in whic h Bateman construct s his identity as yuppie with the cliche ima ges of con sumer goods and pop culture, and the way in w hich t he co nstruction o f his identity as ser ial killer is based o n the cliche ima ges of horror and por n films. In the film versio n, this construc ted superfici ality of his serial killer iden tity is shown as Batema n lectures o n pop mu sic (Phil Collins, Huey L ewis and the News, Whitney Hou ston) before "per formi ng" the sex acts a nd/or killings, suggesting that his ser ial killer identity is as superfic ial and artifici al as his yup pie identity. While getting his si lver colored axe (like his 1980s mobile phone, a gadget of high desi gn) ready to bu tcher, Batema n lectures abou t the Huey Lew is hit singl e "Hip To Be Square"- -"A song so catch y, most people proba bly don't listen to t he lyr ics, but t hey should, because it's not just about the ple asures of conformity and the importa nce of frie nds, it's also a perso nal stateme nt ..." and murders his col league and com petitor Paul Owen (Paul Allen in t he film versio n, played by Jared Leto), hiding the dead bo dy in a over night bag designed by Jean Pau l Gaultier. In another murder scene, we he ar a bombastic instrume ntal vers ion of Whitney Houston's "The Greatest Love of All." Again , as Bateman is ready to kill, he philosop hizes abou t the po p song. "Its universal message crosses a ll boundaries and in stills one with the hope t hat it's not too late to better ourselves. Since it's impossible in the world we live in to empat hize with others, we can always empat hize with ourselves. It's an importan t message, cruc ial really, and it's beautif ully stated on the album" (our ita lics). Once the music stops, the sound is immediate ly take n over by the puffing sounds of Batema n having sex with two wome n, abruptly transforming into screams , as Bateman chokes one and chases t he ot her with a chai n saw, with blood a ll over the place . The juxtaposit ion of the banality of pop so ng philosophy with the stereotypica l action s and sounds of the porn star and seri al killer reinforces the notion that Patrick Bateman 's identity is constructed as an empty sign of pop con sumer culture . The inconsiste nt and illogical narrative struc ture of time and place in American Psycho appears to be solved after Batema n's murder of Pau l Allen, whic h subsequen tly leads to an investi gation b y detective Donald Kimbal l (Willem Daf oe). The murder no t only provides an explanation for Bateman 's deliber ate attempts to be mistaken for Marcus Halberstram, bu t also suggests a mo tive. Paul Allen ha s the nicest business card, has succeeded in ob taining the Fisher accoun t, and is always able to get a reservatio n for the Dorsia restauran t on Friday night, making Allen, rat her than Batema n, Everyyu ppie. By being the ultimate success ful yuppie, Allen chall enges Bateman 's sub jectivity as the Every yuppie- -and thus needs to be extermina ted. In Allen's embodime nt of the Everyyup pie, Batema n sees himself m ore perfect than he feels himself (like the child before the Lacanian mirror) , and he experi ences his yu ppie sub jectivity to fade away . As a result, t he sub jectivity of the serial killer emerges. In addit ion, the investig ation suggests that the ou tside world is finally rea cting to Bateman 's actio ns as serial killer, implying that Batema n's imaginary world is in fac t "real." However , both in t he novel and the film, t he in vestigation by detective Kimbal l is prese nted i n such a stereoty pical, hyper-real Hollywood fashion that the reader/spectator is forced to ques tion t he su dden emergence of logic and con sisten cy in t he narratio n. At this point, the comparison between the novel and the film becomes mo st relevant. In the novel the "cinema tic" narration takes over, meaning that the narrative follows t he conventions of the traditional Hollywood t hriller. As according to convention the murderer always g ets caugh t, the ne xt mur der Bateman commits is followed by a stereot ypical chase scene--Bateman is chased b y the poli ce cars an d helicopters, including a con ventional exch ange of fire. The chase is the only part of the novel whic h is written in the third perso n narrative, rat her than in the first person , enhancing the image of Patrick Bateman --the Hollywood ki ller--starring in the role of his life. ... and in t he near distan ce he can hear ot her cars comi ng, lost in t he maze of streets , the cops now, right here, don't bother with warnings anymore , they just start shooting and he retur ns their gunfire from his belly, getting a glimpse of both cops behind the ope n doors of the squad car, gun s flashing like in a mo vie and this ma kes Patrick rea lize he's involved in an actual gunfigh t of sort s, that he's trying to dodge bullets, t hat the dream threate ns to break is gone , that he's not aiming car efully, just oblivious ly retur ning gunfire, lying there, wh en a stray bull et, sixth in a new round, hits the gas tank of the police car, the headli ghts dim be fore it burs ts apart , sending a fireba ll billowing up into the dark ness .. . (Ellis 350, our italics) The film version brings Bateman 's movie to life, as the cinematic techniques of narration used in the novel are adop ted in the film. With the "voice" of the ATM-mac hine tel ling him to "feed me a stray cat," Bateman enters the m ovie in whic h he stars as the mai n villain. As Batema n pulls his gun on the small kitten , an elderly woman passing by shouts "O h my God , what are you doing? Stop that!" He shoots the elderly lady dead , an act which is directly followed by first t he sou nds of a police siren, then by the police car pulling up around the corner: the ch ase begins. As the non-die getic music swells, Batema n adds to t he cacoph ony by set ting off the alarms of the parked BMW' s and Porsc hes. With its use of the cliche eleme nts, the ch ase scene is a direct caricature of the action genre , including explod ing police vehicles and the exchange of fire. As the star of his own action film, Batema n succeeds in killing all the poli ceme n and making the police cars blow up in an ato mic explos ion. By bringing Bateman 's movie to life, t he film invites t he spectator in to the process o f Bateman 's identity con struc tion: the way in w hich Batema n sees himself as a star in his own movie indicates t he way in which he has assu med the modes of his soci al conduct, either as Every yuppie or as serial killer. Conventional eleme nts of the thriller and horror film genre can also be fo und in t he film' s other chase scene, in w hich, after choking his frie nd Elizabeth (Guinevere Turner ), Batema n kills Christ y (Cara Seymour ), a prostitu te that he has picked up fr om the street. This scen e, entitled "T exas Chai nsaw Massacre II" on the DVD edition , reinforces the co nnectio n to t he ho rror genre. The chainsaw chase scene is drastically different from the style and pace of the rest of the film. The scene includes point-of- view shots of Christy , while almost a ll the remaini ng POV's are exclusive ly Batema n's, with the exception of the PO V's of Bateman 's secretary J ean (Chloe Sev igny). In this way , the film systema tically incorporates f emale POV's other than Batema n's, suggesting a gendered identificat ion, which will be discussed later on. Christy 's PO V's are intercut with long shots of her fleeing from the crime scene, her finding disso lving bodies of earlier killed wome n in Batema n's closet, and of Bateman chasing her with a chainsaw in his h ands, blood drippi ng from his mo uth. The fast-paced scen e ends with the absurd murder of Christy at the bottom of the staircase, as, from an impos sible angle, t he dropped ch ainsaw sl ices her in two. Together with the pol ice chase scene, the absurdity of this scene sugg ests t hat the m urders take place in Bateman 's fantasy; n ot in the die getic wor ld of the film, but in t he universe of Bateman's cinematic fiction. As a result, we as spectators are draw n into his cinematic fantasy , a "film" t hat is play ing in Bateman 's head, feat uring the exa ggerated parody e leme nts of the ho rror genre t hat Batema n uses to construc t his identity as serial killer. Patrick Batema n is constantly confronted with the possibi lity of his hallucinat ory identity as Every yuppie fading away . When his col leagues seem to have m ore elegant and st ylish visiting card than he has, he suffers a panic attack. His corporea l body is brough t into asy nchrony with its enviro nment as it collapses under t he fancy suit: we can see sweat drops appearing on his we ll groomed skin an d we can hear his heartbeat speeding up. In order to hold on to his halluc ination , Bateman "kills" the ones--like his colleague Paul Allen--that presen t a threat to his halluc inatory iden tity. Yet his atte mpt to m urder another colleague in "real life" fails, and this results in an other threat to hi s serial killer identity. The appeara nce of detective K imball provides a cred ible plotl ine to the narrative of Batema n's life . But all the other characters pose a potential threat to Batema n's hallucinat ory identity, and this is why he cannot encou nter anyone except on the most superfic ial level. In the novel, Batema n's cinema tic fictional world is impli ed throug h the use of the unreliable narrator an d the use of the third person narrative in the police-chasing scene. In the film, h owever , the cinema tic fiction al world is made expl icit throug h the use of horror and action film co nventions. B ateman cannot separate the "real" wor ld from the wor ld of fiction--mo stly horror an d por n films-- that he fills his days with. As a result, he sincere ly believes t hat these action s have rea lly taken pla ce and, after the poli ce chase scene, he calls his lawyer all confused an d shaken, and "co nfesses" t he murders. Batema n knows that, in a conventional fictio nal thriller, the mur derer always g ets cau ght, and that is why his twisted min d has to inve nt a cha se scen e. Yet it is clear that Batema n has fantasized the chase, as wel l as the murders , in order to provide himself with an exciting identity as serial killer, desperately trying to retain mea ning into his life. Through t he jux taposition of the spectators in bet ween t he "su bjective reliability" and "objective unreliability" in the process of narration, the spectators are invited to partic ipate in the process of cinematic meaning productio n. MIRRO R, MIRROR, ON THE WALL ... In Lacanian ps ychoanalysis, the divided subject misrecognizes itself as a unified subject wh o acts in the world . This means that to be able to functio n in t he world, the subject ha s to "accept" its fu ndame ntal disunit y. This takes place for the first time in w hat L acan calls the mirror stage. In the mirror stage the infant beco mes aware of itse lf as an autonomous en tity that is distinc t from its en vironment. Whereas originally the infant experienced itse lf as a shapeless mass , it now g ains a sen se of wholene ss by making an imag inary identificat ion with its reflect ion in t he mirro r. In the mirror image the child now appears as a unified en tity that is separate from other entities. The g ratifyi ng exper ience of the mirror image results in the child' s sense of unity and inner control, a pre-lingu istic, pre- Oedipal stage that Lacan calls the realm of the Imaginary . This interplay between the mirror imag e and the self co ntinues in to adulthood, preven ting the threat of a loss of self. The e laboration of an unitary bo dy image is an essential part of subjectiv ity throug h which the sub ject is able to signify its body (1 979). The film Americ an Psych o is full of reflecting mirrors and other surfaces o n whic h the spectat or gets to glance P atrick Batema n's face. These often vague mirror imag es--like the one in t he metal lic cover of the menu in a fancy restaura nt--re flect B ateman back hi s acquired double identities : the one of a fashionable yuppie that he wants to show to ot hers, and the one of a cold- blooded ki ller and por n star that h e wan ts to believe in hi mself. In the sex scene with two fe male prostitutes , Bateman literally plays t he ro le of the porn star . Not o nly does he look at himself con stantly in t he lar ge mirror , striking a pose an d flexing his muscles, bu t he also performs be fore the camera of his homevideo set. The identity of the serial killer is repeated through t he theme of the mirror even in the film pos ter, in whic h Bateman 's ima ge is reflected on a knife. Whereas Bateman manages to establ ish the image of a yuppie as a credibl e appearance bef ore others--eve n to suc h an extent that he is constantly mistaken as being someone else who embodies the sa me image--he seems t o be a cold-blooded killer only in his own fantasies . Already in t he beg inning of the film, we see a reflection of Bateman 's face in the mirror behi nd the bar of a night club when he tells the waitress: "You're a fucking ugly bitch. I wanna sta b you to death and play aroun d with your blood." As the waitress does n ot react to this, t he spectator is left to wo nder whether B ateman really said these word s out loud, or that it jus t took plac e in the mirror wor ld of his imaginatio n. In the bathroom seque nce we are shown a double reflect ion of Batema n in t he mirror that forms a triangl e with the "original image" (a frame withi n a frame ). On the visual level, the reflection s are g iven equal status with the "ori ginal" so that it is almost u ncertain which Batema n is the ori ginal one. This suggests that it is really only a reflection that is being portrayed as "Bateman " while the "rea l" Batema n does no t exist at all. His reflect ion on the glass of the framed po ster of Les Miser ables is perhaps the m ost thought- provoki ng: Batema n's iden tity is as illusory as the on e of the su blime beggar of Victor Hugo, b ut whereas the latter ha s emotio nal and psycholog ical depth, Bateman is mere ly a psychic void. The mirrors and other reflect ing surfaces do not play an impor tant role in the visual field of the film only because Bateman is narcissist ic (he is not a Narc issus w ho got lost in t he mirror image). B ateman needs t he reflect ions of his ow n ima ge as a confirmation of his existen ce, his Se lf--and this is how Sigmun d Freud has described the funtion of the dou ble in his work The Uncanny (1919). Accordi ng to Freud, a subject needs to be able to recgonize itself in the reflection in order to be on e with itse lf. This is, however , somethi ng that Bateman is not able to do (and w hy he constantly ne eds to con firm his iden tity by looki ng at mirrors an d other reflecting surfaces ), which causes his Self to g radual ly fade away . Bateman cannot attach himself to the world an d to achieve himself an identity in an other way but the dou ble mirror images, because he has no emotio ns--except fo r greed an d disgust. Batema n is incapab le to be co ncerned with anyone besides hi mself which is the precon dition for existing in the world. Because Patrick Batema n confuses his bo dy with his mirror imag e, appeara nce with sub stance, he simply is not there, except as a reflect ion. Like the facia l mask, Batema n has bui lt a protective screen betwee n himself and the harsh truth that his subjectiv ity is merely nothingness. This mask is, on the one hand, his acquir ed halluc inatory iden tity as serial killer, and, on the ot her, the--equal ly acqu ired-- credibl e appearance as Wall Street yuppie (his cultura lly inscribed body). These two identities function as a mask to Bateman and as a double for each other: the seri al killer embodies the Ot her that the yuppie refuses to be. This is why Batema n's double identity causes hi m such anxiety: the identity of the seri al killer causes t he yu ppie to fear for its existe nce and vice versa. According to the m yth, whoever meets his or her double must die, an d, indeed, as Bateman 's nightly bloodlust starts to pe netrate in to his days, as "rea lity" eventually has to c lash with Bateman 's halluc ination s, his ma sk of sanity g radual ly begins to sl ip an d his identity even tually fades away-- what is left is nothing. Batema n is confronted with the fact that his identity as serial killer exists only in his ima gination. L ike Dorian Gray , he searches his "por trait" in t he closet of the apart ment of his "murdered" fellow yuppie only to find it clean and shiny, with empty paint can s in the corner. Has the portrait been pain ted over? Bateman has taken his halluc inatory id entity as ser ial killer literally, and as "reality" finally penetrates t hroug h this h allucinatio n it also causes t he (eq ually hallucinat ory) identity of Everyyu ppie to fa de away . The iden tity that he has projected o nto the external world (the serial killer) vanis hes along with his incorporated id entity ( the Everyyu ppie) and Batema n rus hes ou t of the build ing in a hysterical state , in the verge of total collapse. In the fin al scen e Batema n has return ed behind the facade of his hollow yuppie life, an d the busines s goes on as usual. Sitting in t he Harry's Bar with his colleagues he con fesses in a voiceover that "inside does no t matter." Inside does not mat ter because it does no t exist, an d it is from this state t hat Bateman has NO EXIT . THE RU LES OF EVIL ATTRA CTION What is then appeal ing in this portrait for t he specta tor? From t he very begin ning of the film , as the camera strolls in Batema n's taste ful apart ment on the level of the eye , the specta tor is invited to enter in to his world. Yet, the spectators do n ot iden tify dir ectly with Bateman , but with the wo men--es pecially his secretary Jean--wh o are in love with him. It is this iden tificat ion with women that ren ders Batema n's character fasci nating for the spectator . This position f or identification is not exclusive to male specta tors. As Tania Modleski convincingly has shown in he r reading of Hitch cock' s Rebecca, male identification with a female character is possibl e, because of the male infant's original identificat ion with the mother. In Americ an Psych o, this possibi lity for identification is created by tran sforming the women (who in t he novel appear flat) into full- dime nsional characters, by g iving the spectator access to their point of view (which in t he novel does n ot occur ), and by n urturing empa thy for t hem. This appears to be a conscious choice from the part of the filmmaker , as director Mary Harro n has defined her con ceptio n of the film as a feminist project (Porto n 44). First, American Psycho can be considered feminist becau se of its strong reliance on identificat ion of female characters. Without this id entification , the spectato r--male or female -- cannot unders tand the film. The climatic scene of the film (w hich again does no t appear in the novel) is told from Jean's perceptual as we ll as psychological point of view: we survey Batema n's diary filled with brutal drawings t hroug h Jean's eyes an d we share her ho rror as we are shown a close- up of her terrified face. Secon d, the way Bateman is portrayed as an "ob ject-to-be-looked- at" with his perfec tly sculpted body seem s to invite female (and gay) spectators to look in an eroti c, active way. Third an d final, identification with female figures in American Psycho is also impor tant to the deve lopment of horror conventions in t he film: one can not understa nd evil unless o ne empat hizes with those who are being victimized, an d it is this structure of empathy that is essential to horror (dis)pleasure. Even though spectators are prone to be dis gusted by Bateman 's actions, they can not reject him en tirely. First of all, Bateman is quite an attractive character , not monstrous. He does n ot mee t the requiremen ts of the mo nster of a horror stor y that, for instance, Noel Carro ll has described, being an outsider that does n ot fit into reality, a stra nge creature in a normal world . Batema n certainly does not look like a mo nster (as the tag line of the film impli es, evil never looked so damn good) and his appearance a lso fit s perfectly into his socia l life. But Bateman is also charmi ng, at least in the diegetic world of the film. He arouses love in almost every heterosex ual woman and gay man in the film : his secretary Jean, his colleague Luis Carruthers ( Matt Ross ), his neigh bor Victoria (Marie Dame ). As one of his o ne nigh t stands pu ts it, there is somethi ng sweet about Bateman. As a result, t he spectator feels the urge to see hi m as a perso n that is full of psyc hic traumas instead of a glossy mo nster with no inner life. The specta tor wants to be able to understa nd and even pity Batema n, to fil l the void of his subjectivity , and to "normal ize" him in a certa in sense of the word. Furth ermore, with the excep tion of the brutal killings of a poor , homeless bla ck bu m and his little dog, the murders t hat Batema n com mits are either distanced i ronically or only impl icitly referred to. He meets a woman late at night in t he street an d brings- -suppo sedly bloody--s heets to t he Chi nese launderette t he next day , or keeps a mo del's head in his refrigerator ne xt to a carto n of sorbet. But when he attem pts to perform a "real" murder on his colleague Luis, Bateman gets all shaky an d sweaty with the result t hat Carruthers mistakes Bateman 's actions as roma ntic advances. Spectators, t hen, also ha ve an am bivalen t relationship with Batema n, so typical for the horror g enre where specta tors are both attracted to an d repulsed by the threate ning mo nster--whether an alien or a psychopath (Shaw). On the one ha nd, spectators are confronted with Batema n's mo nstrou sness, but on the other, they become Batema n's confida nts, narratees, an d this is why Batema n is both a fascinati ng and a disgusti ng characte r. However , not bo th at the same time. Batema n is a Janus-face , of whom spectators can see only o ne side at the time. Indeed, af ter Batema n has killed Paul Allen , only o ne side of his face is covered with blood, t he ot her side is not. In the scene that follows t he killing, B ateman turns first t he bloody side of his face to the camera and then the clean side. Bateman 's secretary J ean is the spectators ' "double" in the film, in the sense that she is the only o ne in the diegetic level of the film who rises to the same l evel of knowled ge as the spectators , being at the same time attracted to Bateman . After Batema n's hysterical breakdo wn, Jean goes to his desk an d finds a diary filled w ith gory drawings--a scene that explicitly suggests that Bateman has do ne the ki llings in his he ad and not in "reality." Both Jean and the spectators are then the locus of the co ntradictory double life of Bateman , which manifests itse lf both on the level of narration and on the leve l of the reflect ing images. In conventional horror films , spectators are enabled to iden tify with heroic protagonists t hat overcome t hemselves to destroy t he mo nster (W ood, Shaw ). American Psych o, however , does not bring this kind of cathartic outlet for the spectators , as there is no final strugg le betwee n the hero a nd the an tagonist--so mething just disappears, Batema n's double identity was ne ver there. It is thus impossibl e to ren der the situation normal--everyt hing ha s remai ned the same--an d that is why the en ding of the film is a disturbi ng anticlimax for the spectators as wel l as fo r Bateman. In this way, American Psych o plays with the cliches of porn and horror films, but in the end takes distance fr om them. No CA THARS IS In the final scene of American Psych o, entitled "No Cath arsis" on the D VD ed ition, a connection t o the "real" world is temporari ly established through the telev ision speech b y President Ron ald Reagan, talking abou t "mistrust an d lies" in t he Iran-Co ntra scan dal. However , as Bateman 's friends dismiss Re agan as a liar who covers up his "inside" with a false exter ior, Batema n's voic eover takes over by stating that "inside doesn't mat ter." Subseque ntly, the voiceover continues t he self-an alysis presen ted at the begin ning of the film: There are no more barri ers to cross. All I have in common with the uncontrollable and the insane, the vic ious and the evil, all the ma yhem I have caused and my utter indifference toward it, I have now surpassed. My pain is constant and sharp an d I do not hope fo r a better wor ld for anyone. In fact, I want my pain to be in flicted on others. I want no one to escape. But even after admitting this, there is no catharsis. My pu nishment continues to elude me and I gain no deeper knowledg e of myself, n o new knowled ge can be extracted fr om my telling.... The image of Patrick Bateman , portrayed in the film American Psycho, is merely an imaginary double construc tion. While his character in the novel already sy mboli zed the emptiness and the nothingness of yuppie identity, by making use of fiction within a fiction , the film versio n brings Batema n's nothingnes s to yet an other level. The chase scen e, wh ere Batema n run s aimlessly and in a hysteric al state along the empty streets of New York, resembles a nightmare a la Kafka, or perh aps Baudr illard, and suggests that Bateman 's double iden tity simulacrum is finally falling apart. Batema n entered a movie in whic h he stars, and where he is able to attach meaning to his life as a movie killer, yup pie, an d por n star , but now he cannot find hi s way back an ymore , because t here really is nothing beyo nd the m ovie. Batema n's acquir ed double appearances ha ve irrevocably replaced the sub stance of his Se lf--if it ever was there in the first place. And it is this level that the film brilliantly invites the specta tor to experience. Batema n's attempt t o achieve an iden tity of a yuppie is thus no more than an illusion, a set-up , an alter ego. American Psych o is a double portrait of a yuppie monster, but what this do uble portrait reflects is nothingnes s, and that is what is terrifying in the portrait. Indeed , as Batema n's voiceover concludes : "This confession has meant nothing." Works Cited Baudr illard, Jean. For a Critique of the Po litical Econ omy of the Sign. New York: Telos Press , 1981. Carroll, Noel . The Philosop hy of Horror . Lond on: Routled ge, 1990 . Ellis, Bret Easton. The Rules of Attraction. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987. --. American Psycho. New York: Vintage Books, 199 1. Freud, Sigmun d. "The Un canny." In The Penguin Freud Library , Vol. 14: Art an d Literature. Translated by James Strahe y. Lond on: Penguin , 1990. Grosz, El izabeth . Volatile Bod ies. Towards a Corporeal Feminism. Bloomingto n: Indiana UP, 1994. Kauf fman, Linda S . "American Psycho." 54.2 Film Quarter ly (2001): 41-45. Lacan, Jacques. The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psych o-An alysis. London: Penguin , 1979. Lauer, Jeanette C . and Robert H. Lauer. Fashion Powe r. The Meani ng of Fashio n in Ameri can Soc iety. Englewood C liffs, NJ : Prentice Hall, 1981. Mailer, Norman. "C hildren o f the Pied Pipe r." In Vanity Fair (March 19 91): 154. Mangue l, Alberto. "Des igner Porn." S aturday Night (July/August 19 91): 46-49. Modleski, Tania. The Women Who Kn ew Too Muc h: Hitchcock an d Fem inist Theory . London: Routled ge, 1988. Porton , Richard. "American Psyc ho." In Cineaste 15.3 (June 2000): 43-45. Rayn s, Tony. "American Psycho." In Sight and Sound 10.5 (May 20 00): 42. Shaw , Daniel. "Power , Horror , and Ambivalence." Film an d Philosop hy. Spec ial Issue on Horror . 2001. 1- 12. Sipe, J eff. "Blood Symb ol." In Sight an d Soun d 9.7 (July 1999 ): 8-10. Silverma n, Kaja. "Fragmen ts of a fashionable discourse." In Tania Modlesk i (Ed.) Studies in Entertai nment: C ritical Approache s to Mass Culture. Bloomingto n: Indiana UP , 1986. 139-152. Smith , Gavin. "Ameri can Psycho." In Film Comme nt 36.2 (Marc h / April 2000): 72. Wolf, Naomi. "The Animals Speak." In New States man & Society (12 April 1991): 33-34. Wood, Robin. Hol lywood fr om Vietnam to Rea gan. New York: Columbia UP, 198 2. Young, El izabeth. "The Beast in the Jungle, the Figure in the Carpet : Bret Easto n Ellis' American Psych o." Elizabet h Young an d Graham Cave ney, Eds. Shopping in Space: Essays o n America's Blank Generation Fiction. New York: Atlan tic Monthly Press / Serpen t's Tail, 1993. 85-122. JAAP KOOI JMAN is assista nt pro fessor in Media and Culture (formerly Film and Television Studies) at the University of Amsterdam , the Netherlan ds. His research focuses o n the appropriation of images of "Americ a" in Europea n and Dutch Cu ltural prod uction. TARJA LAINE is a teacher in Media and Culture at the Univers ity of Amsterdam , the Netherlands. She is curren tly finishi ng her Ph.D. thesis on Finnish visual culture and the way in whic h the emo tion of shame as a mas ter narrative is circulated in F innish national imag inary. Kooijma n, Jaap^ Laine, Tarja Source Citatio n: Kooijma n, Jaap and Tarja Laine. "Americ an Psych o: a double portrait of seri al yuppie Patrick Batema n." Post Script. 22.3 (Summer 2003): p46. L iterature Resource Center. Gale. UNIV OF MASSACHU SETTS LOWEL L. 20 Feb. 2008 <http://go.galegroup.com. libproxy .uml.edu/ps/start.do?p= LitRC&u=m lin_n_umass>. Gale Docume nt Nu mber: GALE |A1130962 57 View publication stats

"iiTA-'UV^^kOO E't <'^3ft;>^^ :7^ '-A'v^v .v'^j:* The -publishers willbe-pleased tosend, upon re- qu(...TRUNCATED)

"This free for download ebook is a direct reproduction of the original bona fide personally approved(...TRUNCATED)

"THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY OR HELLENISM AND PESSIMISM BY FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE TRANSLATED BY WM. A. HAUSSMA(...TRUNCATED)

"BRAHMA SUTRAS BRAHMA SUTRAS TEXT , WORD- TO-W ORD MEANI NG, TRASLA TION AND COMM ENT ARY BY Sri Swa(...TRUNCATED)

"ESOTERIC TEACHINGS OF THE TIBETAN TANTRA INCLUDING SEVEN INITIATION RITUALS AND THE SIX YOGAS OF NR(...TRUNCATED)

"Human, All Too Human by Friedrich Nietzsche. First published in 1878. The translation of the first (...TRUNCATED)

"Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the most inuential thinkers of the past 150years and On the Genealogy(...TRUNCATED)

"9780525558613_Human_TX.indd i 8/7/19 11:21 PMNot for Distributiontio 9780525558613_Human_TX.indd ii(...TRUNCATED)

"R A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive by John Stuart Mill. First published in 1843. This(...TRUNCATED)