It is the way Harron places this killer within the society that feeds him, breeds replicas of him, which makes American Psycho so powerful. The world Bateman inhabits is one ruled by power and one-upmanship. The surface is everything there is apparently no worth to anything deeper, and all those that populate Bateman s milieu seem to actively reject anything that stretches deeper than the superficial. There is a terrific scene as Bateman and his colleagues compare business cards. The camera and the narration work so perfectly together that it creates a moment both broadly comedic and pathetically tragic.
Success rides on font, on tint, on texture.
Yet in an ironic twist, despite this obsession with appearances, people are mistaken for others with alarming regularity - there is anonymity amongst these people simply because of the mantra of self absorption and promotion they chant every time they open their mouths. We are never encouraged to sympathise with Bateman, but we do get a very real sense of what has made him. Harron exposes brilliantly the corporate world that demands this lust for power that drives Bateman to perpetrate these acts of violence. The film cleverly juxtaposes the more horrific deeds in this society - the emotionless murders committed by a man in the throes of insanity, with the casual racism, the brutal viciousness and callous bitchery of the corporate world that accepts him, promotes him, and condones him. The performances, almost all stretched to distorted crazy mirror extremes, help reflect the reality Harron presents.