One 2024 movie made a perfect commentary on women and their love of ‘American Psycho’
There is nothing like a movie making a cultural commentary to me. Especially one as niche as my favorite call out of the year. I am referring to how one of my favorite movies of 2024 called me out because of my love of a certain fictional serial killer.
I am someone who loves the property American Psycho. It doesn’t matter what it is. The movie, the musical, the novel; all of it. Patrick Bateman’s decent into his murderous madness is something that I think has endless possibilities to explore and we do keep coming back to it. For now, we’re in a bit of a boom with the story. Director Luca Guadagnino is in talks to direct a version of American Psycho from writer Scott Z. Burns and fans of the musical have been talking about it once again.
But what I do love most of all out of this boom is a commentary that the Richard Linklater and Glen Powell film Hit Man makes about American Psycho fans. I’ve talked in the past about Powell’s take on the character and how brilliant his impression of Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman is. But the more I think about the scene, the more I love it.
What really works in it for me is the fact that he isn’t creating this hit man persona for a man. Instead, he is playing X (who is labeled as a Patrick Bateman type in the actual screenplay) for a woman. And that’s brilliant. If there is anyone who understands the appeal and the nuance to Bateman as a character, it is women. And I think that choice is a subtle nod at those who really do understand the satire in American Psycho.
Women love Patrick Bateman for the right reasons.
I have a saying: Anyone but cis straight men can love American Psycho without me questioning them. There is a reason for it. Patrick Bateman as a character is not someone to idolize. He is a man who benefits heavily from being a white, rich, cis, straight male who is conventionally attractive. There are some men in our world who miss the point of a character like him and idolize him as another fictional murder á la Michael Meyers or Jason Voorhees. Bateman’s story and character runs deeper than that.
We’re watching in real time as Bateman gets away with literal murder because of his status as the beacon of the patriarchy. Whether you believe he actually committed the murders or not, the point is that Bateman thinks he can murder and walk away from it all because of his status in society.
Women in particular (as that is the demographic I can speak to) are drawn to Patrick Bateman as a character because he is the epitome of that Wall Street archetype. But he also contains strange multitudes to him. Whether it be his music taste or connection to musicals or even his obsession with fonts, those “quirks” draw you in and allow you to unpack the darkness of the character in a palatable way.
All this to say that Hit Man making a little nod to a woman getting X as her hit man that Gary Johnson (Powell) designed for her just really is hilarious to me. Look, I am well aware of the fact that X would be my guy and I am okay with that.
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