Re-discovering the awesomeness of American Psycho

[Simple Simon]

It is but Ellis  nauseates me with his long winded descriptions of shit.

if you dont understand why he did that then you missed the point....

[Simple Simon]

i assume the writer is smart enough to figure out that there will be full of smart asses that will claim they got it and needs to tell everybody else about it who might not have gotten it, in order to appear smart, and knowing this, he spins it.

kills > doesnt kill > really did kill.

these type of people are the same ones that need to tell everybody how they got inception and every other movie under the sun.

and of course, the same type of tiresome smart asses need to say that the book is 10 times better.

the book is better than the movie, it allows you to get an understanding of Patricks world through his eyes, the film doesnt give you that.

[ratherbebig]

the book is better than the movie, it allows you to get an understanding of Patricks world through his eyes, the film doesnt give you that.

maybe but not that much better. i dont know, long time since i read it.

i do feel the movie has quite as bit going for it as far as visually the 80's (houses, clothing, club scene, the music etc)

[funk51]

I live in a Trailer Park 1 mile west of the Florida Turnpike. My name is Shizzo. I'm 37 years old. I am total slob, with a diet of hot pockets and a lack of rigorous exercise. In the morning, my face is as usual a little puffy from drinking too much and posting the night before, so I'll put on an ice pack while doing my stomach crunches. I can do about five now. After I remove the ice pack, I have a couple of shots of Vodka. In the shower, I use hand soap I stole from a local garage washroom.Then I scrub the nicotine stains off my fingers with the same brush I use to brush my tooth. And then I apply the vagisal to my sore anus. After my shower I log onto GetBig for the first time of many today while I prepare the rest of my routine which will consist of drinking, posting, and pestering Ron to make me a mod.I frown and panic as I notice I only got one response and 8 views to my latest thread complaining about Gimmicks. There is an idea of a Shizzo, as some kind of joke, but there is no real Shizzo. Only an online persona, something illusory, no matter how hard and pathetically I try. And though I can hide my lack of a life beyond GetBig, and you can alter my posts, and  feel pity that I will go to any lengths to get attention even sucking a cock and maybe you can even sense relief our life styles are probably Not comparable, I simply am not all there.

                                                 that's what i'm talking about.

[Taffin]

anyone else have an opinion as to the story?

I have not read the book, but I do agree that he didn't kill anyone. He wanted to kill them, but it was only a wishful desire. He didn't actually do it.

I'm not even sure if Patrick Bateman's name was actually Patrick Bateman. I noticed that people were confusing Patrick with other people... calling him by a different name.

The film seems pretty clear that he didn't, but the book had me not so sure at one point.  I was always puzzled as to why the taxi-driver holding him up would mention someone he'd killed?  Unless of course the hold-up (or the accompanying conversation) was imagined??

I think that (from the book) the closest he came to killing someone in reality was when he went to the Hamptons with his girlfriend...

And just to add, apart from a couple of appalling incidents, I found the book really funny - hope I wasn't the only one!  

[Simple Simon]

The film seems pretty clear that he didn't, but the book had me not so sure at one point.  I was always puzzled as to why the taxi-driver holding him up would mention someone he'd killed?  Unless of course the hold-up (or the accompanying conversation) was imagined??

I think that (from the book) the closest he came to killing someone in reality was when he went to the Hamptons with his girlfriend...

And just to add, apart from a couple of appalling incidents, I found the book really funny - hope I wasn't the only one!  

the thing I like about the book is the abstinence and his dedication to looking good.
Funniest part for me is the U2 concert when Bono reached out to him from the stage and he waved him away...

[Coffeed]

But when you state "The book was magnitudes better than the movie" it sets you apart.

You are different.

[Vince G, CSN MFT]

book is 10 times the film ever was....

QFT.

[Simple Simon]

But when you state "The book was magnitudes better than the movie" it sets you apart.

You are different.

have you read the book, if so what did you think?

[SF1900]

Heres your answer right from the "horses mouth" regarding the movie version.

Screenplay writer Guinevere Turner fleshed out what they meant to do with the movie:

    “It’s ambiguous in the novel whether or not it’s real, or how much of it is real, and we decided, right off the bat, first conversation about the book, that we hate movies, books, stories that ended and ‘it was all a dream’ or ‘it was all in his head’. Like Boxing Helena, there’s just a lot of stuff like that. And so we really set out, and we failed, and we’ve acknowledged this to each other, we really set out to make it really clear that he was really killing these people, that this was really happening. What’s funny is that I’ve had endless conversations with people who know that I wrote this script saying ‘So, me and my friends were arguing, cause I know it was all a dream’, or ‘I know it really happened’. And I always tell them, in our minds it really happened.”

    “What starts to happen as the movie progresses is that what you’re seeing is what’s going on in his head. So when he shoots a car and it explodes, even he for a second is like ‘Huh?’ because even he is starting to believe that his perception of reality cannot be right. As he goes more crazy, what you actually see becomes more distorted and harder to figure out, but it’s meant to be that he is really killing all these people, it’s just that he’s probably not as nicely dressed, it probably didn’t go as smoothly as he is perceiving it to go, the hookers probably weren’t as hot etc etc etc It’s just Bateman’s fantasy world. And I’ve turned to Mary many times and said ;We’ve failed, we didn’t write the script that we intended to write.'”

[Simple Simon]

Heres your answer right from the "horses mouth" regarding the movie version.

Screenplay writer Guinevere Turner fleshed out what they meant to do with the movie:

    “It’s ambiguous in the novel whether or not it’s real, or how much of it is real, and we decided, right off the bat, first conversation about the book, that we hate movies, books, stories that ended and ‘it was all a dream’ or ‘it was all in his head’. Like Boxing Helena, there’s just a lot of stuff like that. And so we really set out, and we failed, and we’ve acknowledged this to each other, we really set out to make it really clear that he was really killing these people, that this was really happening. What’s funny is that I’ve had endless conversations with people who know that I wrote this script saying ‘So, me and my friends were arguing, cause I know it was all a dream’, or ‘I know it really happened’. And I always tell them, in our minds it really happened.”

    “What starts to happen as the movie progresses is that what you’re seeing is what’s going on in his head. So when he shoots a car and it explodes, even he for a second is like ‘Huh?’ because even he is starting to believe that his perception of reality cannot be right. As he goes more crazy, what you actually see becomes more distorted and harder to figure out, but it’s meant to be that he is really killing all these people, it’s just that he’s probably not as nicely dressed, it probably didn’t go as smoothly as he is perceiving it to go, the hookers probably weren’t as hot etc etc etc It’s just Bateman’s fantasy world. And I’ve turned to Mary many times and said ;We’ve failed, we didn’t write the script that we intended to write.'”

Not one other person in the movie or the book could corroborate or confirm anything you saw through his eyes.

Hence none of it really happened.

[SF1900]

Not one other person in the movie or the book could corroborate or confirm anything you saw through his eyes.

Hence none of it really happened.

That may be the case, unfortunately, its not what the screen writer and director intended. I guess a major gaff on their part.

[NordicNerd]

I live in a Trailer Park 1 mile west of the Florida Turnpike. My name is Shizzo. I'm 37 years old. I am total slob, with a diet of hot pockets and a lack of rigorous exercise. In the morning, my face is as usual a little puffy from drinking too much and posting the night before, so I'll put on an ice pack while doing my stomach crunches. I can do about five now. After I remove the ice pack, I have a couple of shots of Vodka. In the shower, I use hand soap I stole from a local garage washroom.Then I scrub the nicotine stains off my fingers with the same brush I use to brush my tooth. And then I apply the vagisal to my sore anus. After my shower I log onto GetBig for the first time of many today while I prepare the rest of my routine which will consist of drinking, posting, and pestering Ron to make me a mod.I frown and panic as I notice I only got one response and 8 views to my latest thread complaining about Gimmicks. There is an idea of a Shizzo, as some kind of joke, but there is no real Shizzo. Only an online persona, something illusory, no matter how hard and pathetically I try. And though I can hide my lack of a life beyond GetBig, and you can alter my posts, and  feel pity that I will go to any lengths to get attention even sucking a cock and maybe you can even sense relief our life styles are probably Not comparable, I simply am not all there.

Pure art! The mystery of Getbig- morons and artists interacting...

NN

[NordicNerd]

the book is better than the movie, it allows you to get an understanding of Patricks world through his eyes, the film doesnt give you that.

Indeed- the book is great- the film is mediocre. The use of a narrative voice is always a last resort in almost any movie and in this case it doesn't even come close to the book.

NN

[Kahn.N.Singh]

Heres your answer right from the "horses mouth" regarding the movie version.

Screenplay writer Guinevere Turner fleshed out what they meant to do with the movie:

    “It’s ambiguous in the novel whether or not it’s real, or how much of it is real, and we decided, right off the bat, first conversation about the book, that we hate movies, books, stories that ended and ‘it was all a dream’ or ‘it was all in his head’. Like Boxing Helena, there’s just a lot of stuff like that. And so we really set out, and we failed, and we’ve acknowledged this to each other, we really set out to make it really clear that he was really killing these people, that this was really happening. What’s funny is that I’ve had endless conversations with people who know that I wrote this script saying ‘So, me and my friends were arguing, cause I know it was all a dream’, or ‘I know it really happened’. And I always tell them, in our minds it really happened.”

    “What starts to happen as the movie progresses is that what you’re seeing is what’s going on in his head. So when he shoots a car and it explodes, even he for a second is like ‘Huh?’ because even he is starting to believe that his perception of reality cannot be right. As he goes more crazy, what you actually see becomes more distorted and harder to figure out, but it’s meant to be that he is really killing all these people, it’s just that he’s probably not as nicely dressed, it probably didn’t go as smoothly as he is perceiving it to go, the hookers probably weren’t as hot etc etc etc It’s just Bateman’s fantasy world. And I’ve turned to Mary many times and said ;We’ve failed, we didn’t write the script that we intended to write.'”

It's a testament to the book/film that it's still being discussed.

Ellis, Bale, Herron -- here: "He goes from psychopath to psychotic,” brilliant insight from Bale (approx.: @10:34). Herron’s follow-up of the above soon follows: “[the film] makes it look like it was all in his head, but as far as I’m concerned it’s not."

Also ,

As _bruce_ suggests above with regard to its "cult" status among shallow, self-absorbed, neurotically scorekeeping professionals, yeah, it pretty much increases douchebag serotonin levels.

For others, the violence, narcissism, and psychosis of its charming and witty protagonist is alluring and amusing.

And for more literary types, it's a postmodern critique of consumer and corporate culture wherein you cannot trust any sort of identity and narrative; especially, as the novel's "end"* implies, self-identity and self-narrative** (of course, there are other interpretations).

* The novel ends, "THIS IS NOT AN EXIT."
** The film ends with Bateman reflecting that his "confession has meant nothing."

thats cause he never killed any one its all in his head  

That's one interpretation. Another is that he did kill people (and Paul Allen), but there's so much mistaken identity going on that few people actually know who is who. For example, note how some of his colleagues mistake who he (Patrick Bateman) is in the office "show me your card" scene. And also how Paul Allen has lunch with Bateman thinking he is Halberstram. The novel is set up this way. It's supposed to be ambiguous.  

Happy New Year, guys!

[Simple Simon]

It's a testament to the book/film that it's still being discussed.

Ellis, Bale, Herron -- here: "He goes from psychopath to psychotic,” brilliant insight from Bale (approx.: @10:34). Herron’s follow-up of the above soon follows: “[the film] makes it look like it was all in his head, but as far as I’m concerned it’s not."

Also ,

Happy New Year, guys!

and we should listen to his opinion because...?

[Spike]

The thread that dealt with this 5years ago, here

Handled this in a much better fashion as well as more intelligently

I don't have time to go archive

[Simple Simon]

The thread that dealt with this 5years ago, here

Handled this in a much better fashion as well as more intelligently

I don't have time to go archive

getbig has come a long way in 5 years, fuck you and your intelligent rationality.

[SF1900]

Be There is one of the more intelligent, bigger guys on this forum.

[Kahn.N.Singh]

and we should listen to his opinion because...?

Hey, Be There,

Herron's the director of the film. But, even here, you don't have to take her word for it. That's the thing about experiencing an artwork, your own response (e.g., reader-response criticism) is what matters because, ultimately, that's what will make the experience meaningful.

There are audiences that, whether for books or films, want some sort of closure or concrete view of what an artwork means (e.g., the authorial intent). Also, some works have to make sense and understanding requires completeness (e.g., as in a detective story, where the audience gets in on the whodunit at the end, which satisfies the mystery). However, there are artists and theorists who try to complicate this desire or requirement by leaving certain plot elements open-ended, which requires the reader/viewer to "complete" the work for themselves.

Examples of this mindset are found in Henry James's idea about skillful writers designing their works to entice their readers into taking part on the task of its completion, and Roland Barthes's notion that the birth of the reader comes at the expense of the death of the author. The idea of the Intentional Fallacy is also at play.

There is no question that Ellis and Herron are employing these (and other) post-modern tropes.

However, as far as having a last word on the subject, you can take it or leave it.

Be Well, Be There.  

[funk51]

both were good. book was just a little more descriptive and strange.

[smoothasf]

I live in a Trailer Park 1 mile west of the Florida Turnpike. My name is Shizzo. I'm 37 years old. I am total slob, with a diet of hot pockets and a lack of rigorous exercise. In the morning, my face is as usual a little puffy from drinking too much and posting the night before, so I'll put on an ice pack while doing my stomach crunches. I can do about five now. After I remove the ice pack, I have a couple of shots of Vodka. In the shower, I use hand soap I stole from a local garage washroom.Then I scrub the nicotine stains off my fingers with the same brush I use to brush my tooth. And then I apply the vagisal to my sore anus. After my shower I log onto GetBig for the first time of many today while I prepare the rest of my routine which will consist of drinking, posting, and pestering Ron to make me a mod.I frown and panic as I notice I only got one response and 8 views to my latest thread complaining about Gimmicks. There is an idea of a Shizzo, as some kind of joke, but there is no real Shizzo. Only an online persona, something illusory, no matter how hard and pathetically I try. And though I can hide my lack of a life beyond GetBig, and you can alter my posts, and  feel pity that I will go to any lengths to get attention even sucking a cock and maybe you can even sense relief our life styles are probably Not comparable, I simply am not all there.

That's so good I read it to my wife in bed, she loved it too.

[hardgainerj]

I decided to end 2016 the right way. I watched the classic film that parallels GetBig in many ways. Insecurity, jealousy, fitness, obsession with image, drug usage, confusion, materialism, view of women, humor, deception, living in an alternate reality,  pretending to be somebody else, night clubs, obsession with diet, delusions of violent behavior, ect...

all within 2 hours

audio book>

[smoothasf]

I've read the book but that audio book would have saved me so much time.

[ESFitness]

Still have 👎 idea what I just read.