After watching this film late at night, I felt like I had just entered a dark world of a patient with a severe narcissism complex. At the same time of deep fear and amazement, he seemed to witness the process of this patient being trapped in the quagmire little by little.
Back to the film.
At the beginning of the film, an exquisite meal enters our sight: noble, high-class, class, which is the most direct feeling to people. Followed by nightclubs, and then to bateman's home, this long series of scene changes, all show that bateman is living a very different life from most Americans. The most noticeable thing on the male lead's dressing table is the large amount of skin care products, which is even more excessive than a female dressing table.
At the same time, consumption makes bateman very concerned about the difference between himself and others, and the concept of consumption affects his consumer brand preferences. The hero reflects in every detail that he is different from ordinary people. He needs specific products in the rain, and he needs to wear high-quality clothes. The materials, the materials used for meals, the music from unpopular singers, and even the owner of the laundry downstairs had to show that he was a Wall Street executive, which gave him enough satisfaction. It is the most real reality, but also the most illusory dream.
Compared with these, people have a deeper memory of the "business card" link, and this is also the most obvious fragment of the symbolic value of the product. As the name suggests, a business card is used to express a person's identity, and in the film they compare and envy each other from the texture and printing technology of the business card, making the most common commodity "business card" a symbol of a person's class status. The business card is no longer a business card, but a "luxury" that represents the difference between oneself and others, and the abnormal consumption psychology is also reflected in this detail.
Consumption makes people greedy and arrogant. In the film, they compare each other, because they have no intention of killing others because they can't book a restaurant. This is the face after the escalation of jealousy. The deformed consumption concept begins to affect people's choice of consumption places and consumption methods. The top high-end restaurant is this acknowledgment of their identity
However, when we go back to the beginning of the film and carefully understand the behavior and language of these four "gentlemen", we find that they care about everyone's expenses for the meal. Does the upper class care so much about the meal money, does it mean that these four people are still "bottom people" in essence?
It is worth noting that there are always three men in the film who go to and from high-end restaurants with him during the day, talk about politics and life, and linger in dirty and dim bars at night, go to prostitutes, and take drugs. I think in fact these three men are also himself. One of the important details is the best proof, that is, the comparison of business cards. Except for the name, address, phone number, and position on the business card that each of them took out were the same. Echoing the beginning, when he took off the mask after the shower, he said that he did not belong to this place, which also proved from the side that this was actually a fantasy in his heart.
Looking at our daily life, we are actually symbolized by various commodities. We get self-satisfaction in consumption and get the pleasure brought by Nike and Adidas. For us, what we can understand the most is the consumption habits of young people around us. When we go out shopping with friends, we start walking towards expensive name brand stores. When we choose a pen in a stationery store, what we gradually care about is not the quality and quality of the pen, but the appearance of the pen. At this time, the commodity is no longer a simple product, but is injected into the consumer's thinking, which is a manifestation of values.
View more about American Psycho reviews
