Why do Investment Bankers like American Psycho So Much?

Yes - I love this movie. Who doesn't? Nearly every person that I've met who works in IBD thinks this is a great movie because it makes investment bankers look bad ass. Even though I love this movie, I think a lot of people have the wrong idea (if you don't and I am stupid, tell me in the comments section).

American Psycho is a comedy - a dark one, but its a comedy. When Christian Bale first saw the script, he laughed and asked if it was a joke. What's the joke? Investment bankers! Patrick Bateman is someone who thinks he should be so important, because he is an investment banker, and, as we all know, investment bankers are masters of the universe. But, nobody can even remember his name, he's nobody. He gets away with a number of murders because even his closest friends and his lawyer have no idea who he even is. He starts killing because he feels like such a loser and is trying to get attention in any way he can.

So, where is the joke here? What makes this funny? Bret Easton Ellis, the book's author, was trying to draw attention to the fact that every single investment banker is exactly the same. He's also trying to say that investment bankers have no reason to feel like such hot shots because none of them are any different from the next, none of them so special.

I can't deny that I think this is a great movie, but I think it's good to always keep it in mind when talking about it. Also, there are a number of ways to interpret this movie - just like everything else this analysis is not "right". If anyone thinks I'm totally off-track here, let me know in the comments. I'm really looking for a discussion on this one.

 

Just like any joke, you find most funny what you can relate to. I think the movie is very well made, Bale acts great, and there are a lot of fun subtleties (business card scene, "that whole Yale thing", the clothing...). You can't rationalize everything.

 

Bear in mind the era it takes place in was the same masters of the universe, "golden age" era that makes Wall Street (the movie) so beloved. What are the absolute limits of excess...

Metal. Music. Life. www.headofmetal.com
 

A cool thing I noticed upon watching the movie a second time was that - if you pay attention to any of his passionate dialogues you'll realise it's actually all complete bullshit. Case in point - the famous morning routine; all of that shit has no effect on skin quality, yet he sounds so certain it does. Same can be said for his analyses of music, and his analysis at dinner.

For me the entire movie is about someone who 'appears' to be the pinnacle of perfection and desire; fit, smart, well paid, with a meticulous understanding of culture and personal hygiene - and yet scratch beneath the surface and you'll realise it's all bullshit. You realise that he is just an animal that happened to end up in privilege. In doing so you come to understand the simultaneous power of prestige and privilege, and it's that its utter bullshit. On one hand, Bateman escapes because of it (have no doubt - when looking at Ellis' future books, commentary etc - Bateman wasn't hallucinating, and it all was in fact covered up), but on the other, looking to the substance of what makes privilege, it's petty (ref; the business card scene), and self-inflating bullshit (ref; any verbal diareah that comes from his mouth).

 
setarcos:

A cool thing I noticed upon watching the movie a second time was that - if you pay attention to any of his passionate dialogues you'll realise it's actually all complete bullshit. Case in point - the famous morning routine; all of that shit has no effect on skin quality, yet he sounds so certain it does. Same can be said for his analyses of music, and his analysis at dinner.

For me the entire movie is about someone who 'appears' to be the pinnacle of perfection and desire; fit, smart, well paid, with a meticulous understanding of culture and personal hygiene - and yet scratch beneath the surface and you'll realise it's all bullshit. You realise that he is just an animal that happened to end up in privilege. In doing so you come to understand the simultaneous power of prestige and privilege, and it's that its utter bullshit. On one hand, Bateman escapes because of it (have no doubt - when looking at Ellis' future books, commentary etc - Bateman wasn't hallucinating, and it all was in fact covered up), but on the other, looking to the substance of what makes privilege, it's petty (ref; the business card scene), and self-inflating bullshit (ref; any verbal diareah that comes from his mouth).

I'm curious then, what your takeaways were the first time you saw the movie.

 

I count myself lucky to be able to enjoy movies the first time without having to think that much about them. So I'd say my takeaway was less a critique, and more just enjoyment at the experience of a psychological thriller - perhaps I'm simply an order of a magnitude less 'critical' than my peers (which I think could be implied within your comment - that my analysis was prima facie obvious).

 
Best Response

Look,

American Psycho isn't about investment banking. A deranged banker's lifestyle, which features banking buddies and colleagues, happens to be the medium through which Bret Ellis delivers his commentary on the hallmark narcissism of New York yuppie life in the Reagan eighties. He's done the same thing with entertainment (see any of his books set in LA), liberal arts colleges (Rules of Attraction), and fashion (Glamorama). Read any Ellis interviews and you'll see that American Psycho doesn't target investment banking because of investment banking. Here's a recent one (check your volume if you're reading on a work computer - bush league for having ads with audio):

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/american-psycho-at-25-bret-eas…

Excerpt:

"RS: What is the book about in your opinion?

Ellis: It was really about the dandification of the American male. It was really about what is going on with men now, in terms of surface narcissism.

RS: What do you mean?

Ellis: Beginning in the Eighties, men were prettifying themselves and in ways they weren't. And they were taking on a lot of the tropes of gay male culture and bringing it into straight male culture — in terms of grooming, looking a certain way, going to the gym, waxing, and being almost the gay porn ideals. You can track that down to the way Calvin Klein advertised underwear, a movie like American Gigolo, the re-emergence of Gentlemen's Quarterly. All of these things really informed American Psycho when I was writing it. So that seemed to me much more interesting than whether he is or is not a serial killer, because that really is a small section of the book."

But if you still feel like banking was unjustly singled out and you want a pick-me-up, read Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities. Wolfe cuts everyone in 1980's New York down to size: bankers, politicians, community activists, reporters, UES lunching ladies, law enforcement, lawyers. Everyone

 

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