Question about American Psycho

[mstill11]

I just finished the book and watched the movie right after. Book was pretty interesting, the movie blew. Anyway, a friend of mine is trying to tell me that everything that happened was in Batemans head and he never killed anyone?? I did not see this in the book at all. The scene where he blew up the cop car may have been in his imagination but I think the murders were real. I can see how one may think it was all in his head though. Any thoughts...

------------------

Make love to yourself like no one is watching!!!

[kitty19]

i liked the movie, particularly when they make reference to the tunnel ("where is so-and-so?" "he's at the tunnel").

anyway, i didn't read the book, but in the movie, it seems like there is a line b/t what goes on his head and what really occurs. like the killings seem real, but then when he is yelling in rage sometimes it seems like it's in his head.

but the ending, completely makes me think that the whole thing was in his head, too.

this movie was very stanley kubrick- ish!

------------------

*kitty19*

*turn it around baby*

[nickijay]

That's one sick book....i read it a few years ago and haven't seen the movie yet. I think i need to read it again though i found it disturbing the first time around.......

------------------

Boink like a bunny!!!

[paranoidandroid]

i had the same thoughts as you. basically, the movie was not very good and it definitely played up the line between the guy being insane and things going on in his head vs. reality. e.g. in the film when he's chasing the girl with the chainsaw it must have been in his head and in the book i would say there's no way it was in his head as she never makes it out of his apartment and he writes her the $1000K cheque knowing it won't be cashed.

------------------

And they tell me that women grow on trees

And if you catch them right they will land upon their knees

[foxyroxy20]

that movie confused me, I mean I hated the ending cause there was some parts when i thought it was all in his head, like when he was confessing all the murders to his attorney and when the police car blew up, and some parts i believed it was reality, like when he was doing the killings and also when he went back to the apartment and it was freshly painted, that was weird, it confused me.

[translucent]

I didn't read the book. Just saw the movie. The whole "ubermensch" thing seemed reminiscent of Dostoevky's "Crime and Punishment." I interpreted the ending as indicative of just how the upper class gets away with anything, even murder. People in that society are so afraid of scandal, that they'll cover up anything in order to maintain appearances for themselves as a whole. Even the attorney seems to imply this by intentionally ignoring the confession. He seems to be reaffirming the notion that a member of their class simply doesn't go public with anything bad. The upper class is not truly subject to the same laws as commoners and anything nasty a member does is simply swept under the rug.

Just my $.02

------------------

[rudeboyyouth]

That movie was shot superbly, superb acting by Christian Bale and Mary Harron's stylistic camera usage added the extra edge to that film. The classist Dostoevskian interpretation of the film is interesting, but I hardly believe that was even remotely what the movie was indicative of. It just depicts the petty psychological nature of the corporate tycoon during the mid 80's as well as now. The monetary, materialistic nature that taints everything they do and say, even the clothing that they wear. All that is done by these individuals is done to convey a look of prestige, regardless of how their lives are crumbling from within. And more importantly, what Harron shows superbly in her film is that some individuals take this preservation of their prestige to great lengths, in turn, flipping out (even if only in their minds).

I interpreted all the events as if they had occurred in his mind; especially when they show Chloe Sevigny flipping through his notebook and it depicts drawings of exactly what he imagined he did to those women (i.e. cutting them in half by dropping the chainsaw and so forth). It seems as if he flipped out and imagined himself doing the most horrendous of things. And I think him being confused with that coworker of his added to that confusing ending which really was interesting.

Overall, that movie was great.

[cathym11758]

I did not read the book (I will now) and I was also confused by the ending. Was the message that he can get away with it do to his upperclass position in society? Or was it all in his head? Or did some of it happen? I did like the movie, he was one sick narcissistic bastard, but they could have done better with the ending.

[boa_boy]

I read the book when it first came out and was thoroughly compelled and was quite intrigues with what the adapatation would be like......I thoroughly enjoyed it, and laughed all the way thru. You could tell the people in the cinema who had read the book for they were the ones cracking up laughing. I did a whole big censorship assignment for a class in HS (I was quite militant then about freedom of speech), and looked at the outrage that women's had with the book......it was quite ironic therefore that the maker's of the movie were women and I think this is a key distinction between the cinematic and written works....if everything in the book was literally in the flick there's be an XXX rating for the sex and similar for the violence! As for whether it happened or whether it was in his head, the book WAS written in the first person if that gives some idea to that issue, personally I couldn't give a shit and I see it perhaps becoming a topic of internet chit chat for years to come.....kinda like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.....

shit I'm in da orifice I'd betta do some work!

------------------

I'm dreaming of a white christmas------------------------> boa_boy@yahoo.com

[alrousasa]

interesting movie, kind of confusing though..

------------------

"Passionately pursue what you love to do"

[keshiki]

The movie is definitely one for interpretation but I think your friend was right and that it was all in his head....I don't think the lawyer was covering it up. If you think about it, a lot of the killings were not that possible...especially when they show Paul's apartment and it is all painted white and clean......to each his own.

[vt2be]

well i havent read the book, though from what i hear i think i just might have to. but i liked the movie, though some scenes were a bit unrealistic..... but wasnt that the whole point??? i thought the movies had some other intresting points as well ( which i'm too lazy to type up at the moment). anywho, at the end i got the impression that it truly was all in his head.

[mstill11]

Perhaps its because I read the book days before but I thought the movie was the worst, and I saw it with someone who didnt read the book and agreed.

It was flat out boring. THe voilance wasnt good enough to make you realize how insane he was, and the chainsaw scene? Not in hte book, and by far the stupidest thing Ive seen in a movie in years. Bale looked the part but they did not develope him into a crazed lunitic that he was.

I guess if I hadnt read the book and had a few bingers it would be interesting.

------------------

Make love to yourself like no one is watching!!!

[foxyroxy20]

Originally posted by translucent:

I didn't read the book. Just saw the movie. The whole "ubermensch" thing seemed reminiscent of Dostoevky's "Crime and Punishment." I interpreted the ending as indicative of just how the upper class gets away with anything, even murder. People in that society are so afraid of scandal, that they'll cover up anything in order to maintain appearances for themselves as a whole. Even the attorney seems to imply this by intentionally ignoring the confession. He seems to be reaffirming the notion that a member of their class simply doesn't go public with anything bad. The upper class is not truly subject to the same laws as commoners and anything nasty a member does is simply swept under the rug.

Just my $.02

its funny, thats exactly how i thought the ending was that the attorney was covering everything up for him, that he had so much money he got away with it.