Talk:American Psycho/archive

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Perhaps it would be interesting to include a comparison of Hannah Arendt's concept of the "banality of evil" to Bateman's homocidal approach. The sheer amount of violence, excess, cruelty, and sexual torture in American Psycho at first shocks the reader (or at least me) and then desensitizes the reader rendering Bateman's acts less horific than they actually are. Of course, the violence in American Psycho and Arendt's "banality of evil" are not completely superimposable, but it might be interesting.

  • I thought this was a great quick summary and analysis of the book/characters

Why don't you complete the comparison on the article? You obviously know about it.

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As a second footnote, I would like to thank the authors of this well-reasoned article. I found the section on hypereality very interesting. This would also explain the way that in the movie Patrick looks at his gun in amazement after two police cars explode after just a couple of bullets.

"It should be noted that at one point he is captured by a cab driver who recognises Bateman as the murderer of a fellow cabbie, but this character resorts to robbery as compensation only."

I don't seem to be able to find that passage anywhere in the novel. Could you give me some idea where to look for it? <KF> 14:17, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC)

  • Yes, it's near the end of the book. An Iranian cabdriver recognizes Bateman from a picture at the taxi depot, as the guy who killed another cabdriver. He takes Bateman's wallet and watch at gunpoint. - goatasaur 18:21, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

"Some chapters are exclusively dedicated to analyses of the careers of pop groups and singers such as Genesis, Whitney Houston, and Huey Lewis and the News.

What is often missed by reviewers and critics of the book is that while the sections on the respective groups begin accurately, they veer away to wildly innaccurate statements by the end, thus mirroring the innacurate assignations of groups with songs sprinkled liberally throughout the entire book."

Can someone provide examples of this? At the very least this is badly worded, because I have a decent knowledge about the music being discussed and the only inaccuracy I recall is near the end of the book, but it's made obvious it's deliberate... Bateman is going crazy.

But as far as the essay-type chapters on the bands mentioned, they all seem to be accurate. Am I missing something? - goatasaur 18:21, 24 July 2005 (UTC)