I know the most likely answer is just that they’ve never seen the movie at full, but I truly don’t get what people see in Bateman. Man’s pathetic. He has a mental breakdown because of presentation cards, kills a random man and his dog because he was made to look bad in front of his circle and couldn’t retort back, his monologues read like an edgy 13 year old trying to sound cool and badass, he solely puts sex and violence on TV and barely looks at it even, spends all day playing around in his office instead of working and constantly speaks in an incredibly obvious fake pretentious voice.
Even in his killer side, he constantly trips over himself and panics every time the detective questions him, he craves approval even from his victims and much much more.
He’s so lame its funny how so many people see him as this weird superior sigma chad when he’s anything but.
I feel like many people simply struggle with media literacy. As in, reading between the lines. They see the surface level cool guy and leave it at that, no further analysis.
Yeah the answer is basically in the comment, his monologues read like an edgy 13 year old trying to sound cool and badass. It’s probably 90% edgy 13 year olds who made content that adores him, and the remaining 10% are older people who haven’t developed the skills to see further than that.
I do think a huge overlooked part are the people who use the memes ironically too. When they first started popping up, even when they weren’t self aware, I was happy to see memes made from outside the current zeitgeist and from a film I liked so I generally showed them my support. Now a meme of it can be made that’s totally without irony and I recognise it as part of the format more than someone who is oblivious about the film.
People either identify with the irritations Bateman has, or like the movie for its commentary on society and therefore choose Bateman as a symbol of the entire movie.
For the first group, some really want to be able to say “fuck off” more often but aren’t able to because of society. They feel like they’re close to snapping and seeing someone else act out their shameful desires brings them a lot of enjoyment.
For the second group, they are mostly ironically (sometimes post-ironically) fanboying Bateman. They might think that by drawing attention to the ridiculousness of him getting away with his actions, they are providing commentary on the state of society. In a sense, they’d be calling Christian Bale’s acting “based” because of how realistic it is.
Bateman is also an extremely metrosexual character.
I heard a radio interview from the author Ellis where he said he’d written American Psycho after getting an unexpected windfall from his first book at a young age. Part of the book is based on his experiences as a closeted gay man in that era of Manhatten.
Oh yeah, I get its on purpose and I enjoyed the movie a lot. Its just so perplexing to see so many people consider him to be this cool smooth dude when he’s meant to be so lame. He can’t even talk back to his coworkers insulting him in his face, come on.
He really does capture what it is like being one of those Wall Street types. Everything from Daddy getting him the job, his total lack of technical and soft skills, his lack of distinct self, and not even the basic virtue of hard work. An entire civilization resources going to maintaining the image of a small select group who statistically would perform better if they didn’t show up tomorrow.
I know the most likely answer is just that they’ve never seen the movie at full, but I truly don’t get what people see in Bateman. Man’s pathetic. He has a mental breakdown because of presentation cards, kills a random man and his dog because he was made to look bad in front of his circle and couldn’t retort back, his monologues read like an edgy 13 year old trying to sound cool and badass, he solely puts sex and violence on TV and barely looks at it even, spends all day playing around in his office instead of working and constantly speaks in an incredibly obvious fake pretentious voice.
Even in his killer side, he constantly trips over himself and panics every time the detective questions him, he craves approval even from his victims and much much more.
He’s so lame its funny how so many people see him as this weird superior sigma chad when he’s anything but.
I feel like many people simply struggle with media literacy. As in, reading between the lines. They see the surface level cool guy and leave it at that, no further analysis.
Yeah the answer is basically in the comment, his monologues read like an edgy 13 year old trying to sound cool and badass. It’s probably 90% edgy 13 year olds who made content that adores him, and the remaining 10% are older people who haven’t developed the skills to see further than that.
I do think a huge overlooked part are the people who use the memes ironically too. When they first started popping up, even when they weren’t self aware, I was happy to see memes made from outside the current zeitgeist and from a film I liked so I generally showed them my support. Now a meme of it can be made that’s totally without irony and I recognise it as part of the format more than someone who is oblivious about the film.
Rich and good looking
People either identify with the irritations Bateman has, or like the movie for its commentary on society and therefore choose Bateman as a symbol of the entire movie.
For the first group, some really want to be able to say “fuck off” more often but aren’t able to because of society. They feel like they’re close to snapping and seeing someone else act out their shameful desires brings them a lot of enjoyment.
For the second group, they are mostly ironically (sometimes post-ironically) fanboying Bateman. They might think that by drawing attention to the ridiculousness of him getting away with his actions, they are providing commentary on the state of society. In a sense, they’d be calling Christian Bale’s acting “based” because of how realistic it is.
Bateman is also an extremely metrosexual character.
I heard a radio interview from the author Ellis where he said he’d written American Psycho after getting an unexpected windfall from his first book at a young age. Part of the book is based on his experiences as a closeted gay man in that era of Manhatten.
Perhaps people love a man that they can relate to🤷
IIRC he’s supposed to be a satire of stockbrokers from the 80’s.
Oh yeah, I get its on purpose and I enjoyed the movie a lot. Its just so perplexing to see so many people consider him to be this cool smooth dude when he’s meant to be so lame. He can’t even talk back to his coworkers insulting him in his face, come on.
It’s because the people who support him are the dumb, ignorant, selfish bullies who wish they had the guts to be a serial killer like him.
They try to absorb power from wherever they go and in him they see power because he kills with few repercussions. It’s sad to see, really.
He really does capture what it is like being one of those Wall Street types. Everything from Daddy getting him the job, his total lack of technical and soft skills, his lack of distinct self, and not even the basic virtue of hard work. An entire civilization resources going to maintaining the image of a small select group who statistically would perform better if they didn’t show up tomorrow.
They are the royality without the nobility.
A lot of them are 13 year olds that idolize Bateman. It’s relatable to them.