Released in 2000, American Psycho featured Christian Bale, who played Patrick Bateman, a young and wealthy NYC investment banker who lives a double life. He maintains appearances with his fiancée and circle of wealthy associates while harbouring intense hatred for them. Having a great obsession with materialism and status, Bateman spirals into a dark world of violence and psychosis. His murderous acts, disguised by his polished exterior, go against traditional notions of masculinity, exposing the emptiness and toxicity behind societal expectations. As his body count rises, Bateman’s grip on reality loosens, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality. Bateman is what people would call a yuppie, a derogatory term that refers to a young person who has a well-paying job and lives a fashionable life. He is intelligent, attractive, charismatic and isn’t afraid of flaunting his money.
There are many examples of toxicity in the movie however one of the more iconic scenes in is when Bateman and Paul Allen show their business cards to their colleagues. Not only does Bateman express insecurity and anger when he thinks that Allen’s card is better than his, their colleagues also displayed insecurity and blind conformity when they agreed that Allen’s card was better, even if all the cards were the exact same. After this moment, Bateman goes up to a homeless man and proceeds to kill him, venting his anger towards his colleagues into the homeless man. Another example is when Bateman gets confused as Allen, a satirical take on the stereotype that all yuppies look the same. While one would brush of the fact that they got confused for another, Bateman, who has fragile sense of self, took great offence. He invites Allen to his house and kills him in a fit of rage. He also uses women for his own personal benefit. He views women as objects and any of his relationships with them holds no emotional connection, they’re there solely to increase his social status and his self-confidence. Throughout the whole movie, when Bateman feels some sense of powerlessness, he automatically resorts to extreme violence to cope with his loss of control.
The movie itself uses traits of the Wall Street elite in the 1980s and satirizes it to make masculinity as fragile and artificial. In American Psycho, masculinity is seen through physical representations of power which Bateman shows through his violence towards women who are sexualized and other competitive men. Patrick feels immense insecurity in his own social circle, he does not seem to fit in. He has no real influence over others and is often confused for other bankers. He hires prostitutes to gain some sort of control and attention that he does not possess when he is with other people. Another thing he does is make his victims listen to music. He does this because no one cares about Bateman’s opinion or anything about him. He mimics the masculine traits his coworkers have to make up for his incompetence.
This movie also had a major impact in our generation. In 2022, the movie blew up on TikTok and created a new wave of toxic masculinity called “Sigma males” which are essentially the perfect men. They don’t boast their status like alpha males and they attract women unlike beta males. They accept themselves as different and they are respectful and successful men. Patrick Bateman became the ideal role model of the sigma male movement. Boys and men ignore his descent to madness and boil down his character as a guy who gets a lot of women and money. Ironically, Patrick Bateman could be anything but a sigma male. He chases after validation and flaunts his wealth in order to fit in his social circle. While he does have a lot of success and gets many women, they ultimately result into his madness. He is everything but a perfect man.
Fight Clubs/Night Clubs 