Amercian Psycho -The Male Projection on Women by Clara Lee

THE MALE PROJECTION ON WOMEN

Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, is a novel published in 1991 that ventures into the ideas of the middle-class white man during the 1980s economic crisis. It is brutal in its imagery and supposedly sexist in its nature; the pinnacle of all things that play a part in suppressing women in literature, and in reality. Since its release in 1991, many critics considered this novel’s appearance as pulp fi ction with no introspection for women in literature. The novel follows the 1st person narration of Patrick Bateman, 27, an elite Manhattan business man who has an insatiable desire for violence, particularly towards women. This is intertwined with his frantic struggles to keep afl oat to the conformity of male vanity.

This novel was also made into a movie adaptation. Unsurprisingly, the movie had a similar reaction. It was directed by Mary Harron, who had the one and only feminist Gloria Steinem comment on the idea that Leonardo DiCaprio (who was originally chosen for the role) should NOT take up this opportunity: “there is an entire planet full of 13-year-old girls waiting to see what [he will] do next, and this is going to be a movie that has horrible violence toward women.”1 Subsequently, Christian Bale had ended up playing the role, who eventually became her step-son during the movie’s production.

Nevertheless, for many feminist critics, American Psycho is shallow. It portrays the ideas of women through men: blonde, thin, mindless ‘creatures’ who are an accessory to a man’s pleasure. It is to believe that American Psycho controversially illuminates the weakness of men, and their own fragility projecting onto other women. Hence, as a female reader, it is hard to deny that Ellis isn’t actually promoting extreme misogyny - he is demonstrating it.

In the novel, we are exposed to the multiple yet synchronised perspectives that Bateman and his colleagues have on women. During the beginning, the group of men leave one of their many ostentatious restaurants for a bar called ‘Pastles’. All of them decide to comment on a woman they’ve seen, sitting at a diff erent table. They unanimously reject the idea of her beauty from the shape of her knees as “this unnoticeable fl aw now seems overwhelming”. I think what Ellis is trying to display here, is the extreme hypocrisy with the ideologies of what it means to be a ‘man’. Patrick is undoubtedly dramatizing ‘problems’ that are so irrelevant and completely fabricated by society. The ‘problems’ themselves are involving appearances that require no further thought, and yet he dwells on these aspects for a copious amount in the novel. Once more this emphasises the satirical foundation of the novel.

by Clara Lee

The intense tone of this passage feels ironically comic; you are unable to shake off the feeling of how important it is to him. This leads us to Bateman’s frantic meltdown shortly after, about the material of a business card from another colleague. He is physically described as ‘sweating’ and becomes absolutely fi xated on the card on the table, furious that Van Patten has a card made with “Eggshell with Romalian type”. Arguably, there are more fl aws in Patrick’s pessimistic attitude than there is in any women we come across in this novel.

Patrick Bateman’s anger that surges from his own insecurities is then placed onto other women. He flaunts his desire for the ability to tune in to his primal urges after a long day of pretences; his insanity is an elevation of his conformity with the ideas that men ‘should’ have on women. Moreover, Patrick is never able to confess all the murders he may have committed – he is either misheard or ignored, just like many of the women who over the years have only been considered for their anatomy. However, you are left only to question whether he is actually committing these violent acts towards these people, which is illustrated when “blood starts pouring out of the ceiling … [he] has to see her shoes.” Nothing is certain in Bateman’s narration, which leads us to question not only his sanity, but the ideas that men in his position have. Why should we, as readers, take anything that is said about women in this novel as inherent truth? The only truth that we are left with, is that the men with ideas such as Patrick Bateman, are the ones who create a world where women are left to fight for the normality of equality.

It is interesting to note that the value of women originates from his ideologies on the value of wealth. Bateman’s pride is the potion for skewed embodiment; his considerations of what is truly real. Whether that be the apparency of how he considers his morning routine to be equally, if not more important than the value of human life and the female population, or his formidable overriding ego. Patricia, one of the many women who are lured by his surface level attraction, according to Patrick is “safe because her wealth, her family’s wealth, protects her”. She is safe from an impulsive and frenzied attack that he may decide to execute.

Undoubtedly, Patrick Bateman suffers from a severe God complex. Yet, when this is applied contextually, Patrick Bateman’s representation is hopefully, far removed from reality. Ellis admits that American Psycho “wouldn’t be published today” as a result of the progress that society has made on understanding the need for feminism in literature and in society. Nonetheless, this shouldn’t discredit the overruling conclusion: women still face this kind of torment by these kind of men. Simply put, Patrick Bateman is the combination of the cruel male ego; a representation of weak men projecting their insecurities onto women. Even Ellis himself claimed that this character was a image of himself and his abusive father. Perhaps, it is not as far removed as we would like to assume.