Character Analysis: Patrick Bateman

Character Analysis: Patrick Bateman

By: Brian Cotnoir

     Well, it has been far too long since I wrote a Character Analysis and now I am here to make up with one of the most popular antagonist of early 21^st century films.

CHARACTER: Patrick Bateman from “American Psycho” (2000)

Patrick Bateman is a 27-year-old Executive Banker living in New York City during the glory that is the 1980’s.  He is the picture perfect definition of a Young Urban Professional Person (a Yuppie).  He is calm, collective, stylish, incredibly organized, and attractive.  His apartment is white, pristine, and very neatly organized He appears to have the perfect life, but looks can be deceiving.  Underneath his external beauty, and professional appearance Patrick has many dark and unsettling tendencies.  He is cheating on his fiancée with her best friend; he picks up prostitutes, and even fantasizes about killing his co-workers.  He is a person of habit.  He believes in neatness, organization, which he uses to mask his delirium and rage from others.  He possesses traits of a person who is Obsessive-Compulsive, anal retentive, controlling, paranoid, and extremely competitive.  Throughout the film, Bateman makes references to being a part of “the Rat Race”, and he does not like to be outshined by anyone: not a co-worker, not a family member, not even a stranger on the street.  Patrick Bateman strives to be the best and won’t tolerate anything less than the absolute best.  Even something as simple has having a nicer business card than him will send him into a sequestered rage. 

THE ACTOR:

Patrick Bateman is played by Academy Award Winning Actor Christian Bale, and really I don’t think they could have gotten a better actor to play this role than Bale.  One thing that Christian Bale did for this role that shows how seriously he took it was that throughout the filming he adapted the daily routine of Patrick Bateman (such as his morning beautification routine, and his rigorous exercise training).  Not to mention Bale, who is a British citizen, masks his accent very well throughout the film.  So well, that many people who worked on the film believed he was actually an American, and when they heard him speaking with his natural British accent many of them just assumed he was preparing for a role in another film.  I’ve heard some people say that this role could have been more fun if it was played by other actors such as Edward Norton, Johnny Depp, or Daniel Day-Lewis, but I don’t think that any of them could have brought the same amount of charm, intensity, charisma, and dark humor as Bale.  Simply put Christian Bale is the best person they could have got for this role.

What I see every time I hear Huey Lewis playing

CHARACTER IS SIMILAR TO OR INSPIRED BY:

     Patrick Bateman comes from the novelization of American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.  As far characters he is similar to or inspired by I would place Patrick Bateman in the same category as Norman Bates from “Psycho” (1960.  Besides having the root word Bate in their surnames both Patrick and Norman are young, homicidal, white males that show signs paranoia and wanting to constantly be in control.  They kill not only because they want to, but they feel that they also have to.  I would also say that Patrick is also similar to Alex DeLarge from “A Clockwork Orange” because both of them have similar violent tendencies and are aficionados of music: Alex is an expert on classical composer Ludwig Van Beethoven, and Patrick is a huge fan of popular mainstream music acts of the 1980’s such as Robert Palmer, Whitney Houston, and Huey Lewis and the News.  Both also find a link between their favorite music and their violent crimes.

Patrick Bateman "American Psycho"

Norman Bates "Psycho"

Alex DeLarge "A Clockwork Orange"

FATE OF THE CHARACTER:

What ever became of you, Patrick???

Well ultimately what happens to Patrick Bateman is unclear.  After being paranoid about getting caught, Patrick has a breakdown and confesses all his murderous misdeeds to his lawyer in a frantic phone call.  When he confronts his lawyer the next day, he laughs it off as if it were just some sick joke, and shows no real concern.  So this brings into question: did Patrick really murder all those people or where they all just merely violent fantasies he created in his own mind.  I personally believe that Patrick did not commit the crimes for a number of reasons such as early on in the film we hear Patrick threaten a female bartender at a club, but he does not follow up on his threat.  Also that scene where he is chasing the prostitute down the hall way naked with a chainsaw, I find it really hard to believe that no one in his apartment building heard the chainsaw or screaming.  Also, Patrick’s Lawyer said that he ate lunch with a man named Paul Allen in London, even though Patrick claimed to have killed him. I can also see the evidence to support that Patrick did actually kill all those people, and if you believe he really did kill people in the film, I don’t think you are wrong for thinking that.  I think that just adds to the mystery and fascination of Patrick Bateman, because we don’t actually know whether he is a homicidal maniac or just a mentally unstable person with homicidal tendencies.