The film American Psycho has strong references to the American consumer culture of elitists in the 1980s. However, the film main reflects popular culture among elitists in the time period but it also applies to a broader spectrum of the population. The main character is personally obsessed in a way with pop culture to be able to emulate others and apply that to how he should act.
According to imdb.com this film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival on April 14, 2000. At the time it was called a future cult classic, which seems to be the case. The film had originally acquired an NC-17 rating according to wikipedia, but cut out 18 seconds in order to get the rating changed to R. Later, in 2005, the DVD was released in two forms, an unrated uncut edition, which was the film in reference to, and a cut R rated film. Primarily the difference is confined to the shortening of the sex scene and slight dialogue alterations. According to Box Office Mojo, the film grossed 34,000,000 dollars at a production cost of only 7,000,000 dollars. A UK publication entitled "The Guardian" both Huey Lewis and the News and Whitney Houston has issues with how their music fit into the production. Huey Lewis refused to allow his music to appear in the soundtrack and Whitney Houston refused to let her song "The Greatest Love of All" be played in the film, even though it was directly referenced anyway. All of these problems were just a few of the issues surrounding the production of American Pyscho.
As mentioned this movie takes place in the 80s, more specifically 1987. A large portion of the film takes place in upscale clubs or expensive restaurants. It is set in New York City as the viewer follows around the main character Patrick Batemen. In the film P...
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...ese girls to be exposed to the violence and sexism, but he may well have ended up ruining his career. Ironically enough, Christian Bale would soon be Gloria Steinems stepson.
The film embodies consumerism. Batemen and his pals sound like an advertisement on occasion and seem to know everything about products. It seems to be a satire in that the primary humor conveyed is also the thing being commented on, consumerism. It seems as the writers deliberately exaggerated the consumerist behavior to bring attention to our own folly. In much the same way the movie depicts consumerism, it also depicts the role of a job. In Patrick Batemens case, his job only serves the purpose to fit in with the lifestyle he chooses. In effect, his choice of job is reflected as an acquisition. This whole film is a commentary on the progressing human tendencies and the illusion of identity.
In conclusion, from my perspective, the movie is presented in the middle 70’s, showing a portrayal of a City of New York overcrowded. The violence presented is the primary ingredient, drugs, betrayals and murderers are also included in this film that shows the city from a perspective of the streets and the world of the mafia, probably something that happened in those days and remains part of an unseen
The film is set in Bodega Bay - a small town by the sea. All the
“American Beauty/American Psycho” gives its meaning in the song when it says, “she’s an American beauty and I’m an American psycho.” In the video, the singer is obsessed with this pretty girl, but he knows he can’t get her because of his mental problems. He calls her an American beauty and calls himself an American psycho. The song “Centuries” is quoted as saying “Some legends are told, some turn to dust or to gold, but you will remember me for centuries.” What this means is that the singer wants to leave his mark on the world. He wants to do something important that will be remembered for
Analytical Essay on the Score of Psycho The man behind the low woodwinds that opens Citizen Kane and the 'high pitched violins' of Psycho (1960). Bernard Herrmann was one of the most original and distinctive composers ever to work in film. He started early, winning a composition prize at 13 and founding his own orchestra at 20. After writing scores for Orson Welles' radio shows in the 1930s (including the notorious 1938 'War of the Worlds' broadcast), he was the obvious choice to score Welles' film debut, Citizen Kane (1941), and subsequently Magnificent Ambersons, The (1942), though he removed his name from the latter after additional music was added without his (or Welles') consent when the film was mutilated by a panic-stricken studio. Herrmann was a prolific film composer, producing his most memorable work for Alfred Hitchcock, for whom he wrote nine scores.
In American Psycho, A handsome urban professional named Patrick Bateman who lived in New York City in 1987.
first time a woman had ever been shown in a bra. This type of film was
The true test of a film’s greatness is time. The 1984 science-fiction/comedy classic, Ghostbusters, has stood the test of time, producing both a sequel (in 1989) and a hit cartoon series. Ghostbusters is the story of three offbeat scientists interested in paranormal matters: Peter Venkman (played by Bill Murray), Raymond Stanz (played by Dan Aykroyd), and Egon Spengler (played by Harold Ramis), who have just lost their university grant, and are suddenly forced out onto the streets of New York. What will they do now to survive? After taking a third mortgage out on Ray’s family home, Peter, Ray, and Egon decide to pursue the idea of catching and containing ghosts in the private sector. Their business, fittingly named: “Ghostbusters”, starts out slow, but quickly the word spreads of their ghost investigation and extraction services. Within seemingly no time at all, the Ghostbusters are a hot commodity in New York where ghost activity is on the rise.
The capitalist ideas so prominent in the Reagan / Thatcher era are as clearly instilled in the youth of the 1980s films as their, usually middle class, screen parents. Only “Pretty In Pink” (and indirectly, “The Breakfast Club”) actually confronts class differences; in the other films, the middle class way of life is accepted as default. Almost every John Hughes film is set in affluent suburbia with the repetition of certain imagery (the big house, gardens and tree-lined quiet streets, and often a wood-paneled station wagon) with a certain population (rich, white families), which is reflected in the body of the attended, well-equipped schools.
PSYCHO is a unique film because it is a black and white film in the
American Psycho is a savage account of a wealthy investment banker in the late 80s that commits heinous acts of murder, rape, and torture. Although on the surface, American Psycho seems as though it is just another horror story, it actually has a much deeper message. This story is a harsh critique of a superficial Wall Street society in the late 80s that was rampant with materialism and greed. This is the society in which the main character Patrick Bateman lives–where appearance, material possessions, and status define a person. This superficial existence leaves him hollow and dead inside and turns him into a psychopathic killer. A society such as this, devoid of any morality, inevitably creates psychopaths such as Bateman. The film shows an excellent portrayal of a vacant, nihilistic killer with no feelings or emotions. However, there is something more to the story that the film did not quite capture. The book seems to not only be a satirical take on this society, but a tragedy as well. Recreating the dinner scene with his secretary Jean shows that underneath the surface Patrick Bateman is, indeed, a human being with real feelings and emotions, and that it is a great tragedy that this superficial society has turned him into a monster.
American Psycho (2000) offers a devastating social satire of the 1980s materialistic and hedonistic high society. Ironically, the film's monsters-in-hiding become increasingly evident even as the cinematography attempts to obscure most of the victims of Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) with the dark hues of the nighttime. Additionally, the point-of-view (P.O.V.) editing in relation to Patrick Bateman illustrates his frustrations to the audience and shows his struggle to not only become the best in his society, but also prevent others that are either not fit for his society or those with particularly annoying idiosyncrasies from being a part of that society. The character study depicts the daily activities of Patrick Bateman, a young New York stockbroker working for Pierce and Pierce, as he hides the murder of Paul Allen (Jared Leto) from Detective Donald Kimball (Willem Dafoe). As the film progresses, Patrick's mask of sanity slowly slips as he finds out that he is not the idea of Patrick Bateman that he reflects himself of being throughout the film and realizes the disconnection that he has from the world around him.
The biggest aspect of the movie was on modern society, which has recently turned out to be consumerism. During the movie this new trend is symbolized by the replica of Tyler Durden, “You are not your job.” This dialogue was completely dedicated to the shaping power of the consumer culture. The movie is about what happens when a world defines you by nothing but one’s job, when advertising turns you into a slave bowing at a mountain of things that make you uneasy about your lack of physical perfection determined by consumerism, as displayed in the scene where Tyler asks, after seeing a Calvin Kline advertisement, “is this what a man is supposed to look like?” with simultaneous irony and sincerity, of the self-perceived emasculation of working-class white men, and how much money you do not have and how famous you aren't. It is about what happens when we are hit by the fact that our lives lack uniqueness; a uniqueness that we are constantly told we gained through the enculturation process.
In the film, American Psycho, Patrick Bateman was a wealthy investment banker who also happened to be a serial killer. He was highly intelligent and was charming which attracted many of the women who came his way. Unlike most people in the world, he lived in constant pain. He was rarely happy with himself, and also hated everyone around him. He felt that he needed to inflict his pain on others in violent ways. He always had something disgusting to say such as, “I like to dissect girls; I am utterly insane.” It is outside of the norm to speak in this way, therefore he would be considered deviant. He displayed feelings of distress as he became frustrated very easily with himself and others. Everything
Entrails torn from the body with bare hands, eyes gouged out with razor blades, battery cables, rats borrowing inside the human body, power drills to the face, cannibalism, credit cards, business cards, Dorsia, Testoni, Armani, Wall Street; all of these things are Patrick Bateman’s world. The only difference between Bateman and anybody else is what is repulsive to Bateman and what is repulsive to the rest of the world. Bateman has great interest in the upper class life, fashions, and social existence, but at the same time he is, at times, sickened by the constant struggle to be one up on everybody else. On the other hand Bateman’s nightlife reveals a side of him never seen during the day. Bateman is relaxed, impulsive, and confident while torturing and killing. He doesn’t have to worry about being better than anyone else. The only competition he has is his last victim. Torture and murder are the two true loves of Patrick Bateman.
In the big city of New York there always exist those who push the envelope a bit, and stretch the law. One such man played by Michael Douglas makes money buying and selling others' dreams. He is a stock speculator; but one that succeeds based on illegal inside information. As he puts it "I make nothing, I own" Released in 1987, Oliver Stone's Wall Street is a representation of bad morals and poor business ethics in the business world. It also shows the negative effects, bad morals and poor business ethics can have on society. The film revolves around the actions of two main characters, Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) and Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas). Bud is a young stockbroker who comes from a working-class family and Gekko is a millionaire who Bud admires and wants to be associated with. Wall Street points out how wrong it is to exchange morality for money. Gordon Gekko reflects this message, and yet receives a standing ovation at a stockholders meeting after delivering his "greed is good" speech. The underlying theme of the movie is that greed is not only not ethical but it lacks moral substance in today?s society.