Interestingly, instead of doing workshops and understanding serial killers, he took inspiration from an unlikely source – one of the biggest actors in Hollywood, Tom Cruise!
The first time we see Paul Allen — and then for the remaining time he's in the movie — he mistakenly refers to Patrick Bateman as Marcus Halberstram, who Patrick tells us also works at P&P doing the same exact thing he does. They also dress similarly and go to the same barber.
And Norman Bates is the type of character that has intrigued readers and viewers for years, just like Patrick Bateman. Perhaps you're familiar with the story of Norman, a lonely man who lives alone with his mother and manages the Bates Motel.
In American Psycho, the name Patrick Bateman is a reference to the popular character of Batman from DC comics. Also in Batman, if you look carefully you will notice Christian Bale wears a "bat" costume, which is a reference to Adam West's costume in the original Batman TV series.
American Psycho: The Complete History of Patrick Bateman | Horror History
Is Patrick Bateman schizophrenic?
This, combined with sex, violence, drugs, and other desires of the id, is how Bateman enacts his sociopathic violence in a superficial world. Bateman's episodes of schizophrenia also shows clear signs on how he copes with being an affluent person living in a superficial world, fashioned on consumerism.
Bateman even pretended to be Allen to use as an alibi after killing some prostitues. So, with this in mind, it's not far from the truth to assume that Bateman mistook someone as Allen, got them to his apartment, and killed him.
He usually hangs out with his coworkers at P&P but secretly hates most of them. Bateman kills men and women, the latter for sadistic sexual pleasure and the former because they anger him and make him feel inferior.
It's made clear there is no "top" to Bateman. There is only becoming more successful than the previous day. Therefore, Bateman would be a Sigma in that regard. In American Psycho's first act, Bateman makes it known to his fiancée that he wishes to conform to society as best he can, unlike his other roles.
In Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho, the protagonist, Patrick Bateman, is apparently simply a psychopath. However, Bateman can be diagnosed with other mental illnesses such as Asperger's syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, narcissism, and antisocial personality disorder.
'Feed Me A Stray Cat' Scene | American Psycho - YouTube. Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) attempts to murder a cat after following the instructions of an ATM, which leads to more killings.
Patrick Bateman in American Psycho (1991) is similar to the real-life serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, Jame Gumb in The Silence of the Lambs (1988) resembles Ed Gein. For a further account of the life of Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Gein and other real-life serial killers see Palacios (1998).
He displays a high functioning form of Asperger's syndrome, yet there are still symptoms present in Bateman of which even the highest functioning people with Asperger's syndrome cannot rid themselves. One of the key symptoms in Asperger's syndrome is the need for strict routine.
While it's true that Patrick is experiencing delusions and hallucinations, it doesn't mean that the murders are in his head. Turner blames the muddiness of the ending on the dichotomy between the fantasy world that Bateman is currently living in and the reality of the murderous situation at hand.
As journalist Shaurya Singh wrote in the newsletter The Digital Native, Bateman's main characteristics – his sexual insecurity, insensitivity, shallowness and obsession with money – connected with some of the obsessions of Generation Z (and plenty of other generations) during the pandemic.
Patrick Bateman satisfies all of these qualifications of problematic masculinity: he has money and displays of such wealth; he is physically fit and attractive to women; his career and lifestyle designate him as elite; and, most disturbingly, he describes himself as having “not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, ...
Patrick Bateman: I have all the characteristics of a human being: blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust.
Bateman resents Allen for his affluent lifestyle and ability to obtain reservations at Dorsia, a highly exclusive restaurant which Bateman cannot get into. He gets Allen drunk, lures him to his apartment and kills him with an axe while listening to Huey Lewis and the News and lecturing Allen on the merits of the band.
Throughout the film, Patrick Batemen's deranged thoughts and actions only get weirder and weirder until eventually reaching a true breaking point. But one theory believes that the mass murderer only killed one person, leaving his body count nothing more than a hallucination.
Hush appears in the Batman: Arkham Knight prequel comic. As it turns out, Hush impersonating Bruce Wayne was part of a plan that had taken the Arkham Knight years to put into action.
