What is American Psycho about? Upon looking at it, it is about a man who is a serial killer. That’s the most frequent interpretation you can come up with if you are actively seeking to interpret the movie in an appropriate way; however, let us dig a little bit deeper.
Throughout the movie we can clearly see the many different interactions the main character has with other people. What this means is that he is essentially living however he wants to live, but on the outside he manages to show his persona very well. He does this by actively listening to what others have to say. He also has many of the most frequent lines rehearsed in his head. What this means is that he knows precisely what to say and when. He is, in other words, the perfect fake man.
The perfect fake man is what makes him so interesting. It is as if, in every situation he is in, he is able to get out of it without showing who he truly is. This is an impeccable skill, especially if you are trying to hide the fact that you are a serial killer. Now, where the rubber meets the road is capitalism.
We argue that such a man as the American Psycho is an indirect of Capitalism. The creation of such a man requires for the circumstances to be precisely as those during the capitalism time. Take note of the interactions between people. Most are essentially transactions. People are not concerned about each other, they only care about themselves and within that view the psycho prevails. He learns how to rehearse and communicate with everyone and as a result of that he is able to come out on top as someone with great skills of a tremendous speaker. Everyone is looking at him, nobody is really understanding him in any way. They look at him suspiciously sometimes but nevertheless, that’s it.
The capitalism part also comes out hard when we see the man having sex with multiple women then murdering them. During that scene, the man is often seen looking at himself in the mirror. What is the possible spark for this type of action. It could be argued that this sort of thing is the result of the increased fixation on the consumption culture. This is because a consumer gets sold a lie that how he looks or who he is and how much he has is the only thing that matters.
Let’s look at our character. He has a good job, good looks, he has almost everything anyone in his position would want. What else is there that he is missing. Whatever it is that he is missing may precisely turn him into the character that he is. Being fixated on constantly competing in capitalism and trying to find out whether or not what he has done is even believable or not.
Whenever he looks at himself in the mirror, he is deeply fixated on appearing he be the great ideal of capitalism. He wants to tell himself that he has succeeded, that he has become the very ideal he has been sold. But his subconscious mind knows it isn’t true, so, he tries to convince himself that this should be the case. But is is not the case, not at all. This realization is what causes him to turn to violence. Not directly, but as means of coping with what his life has become.
