About this episode

The episode discusses the misunderstood nature of Mary Harron's American Psycho, exploring its themes of consumerism and satire while analyzing performances and cultural implications.

Welcome to the seventh stop on our tour of Identity movies, where we’re discussing the bone-white brilliance of Mary Harron’s American Psycho (2000). In this episode, we get into why this is one of the most misunderstood movies in cinema history. While certain corners of the manosphere, incels and the red pill community treat Patrick Bateman like a looksmaxxing icon, we’re here to remind the dweebs that they’re the butt of the joke. It’s consumerist satire so brazen that it literally starts with blood-red raspberry sauce, yet people still manage to miss the point. We explore the essential feminist touch that director Mary Harron and writer Guinevere Turner brought to the production, turning Bret Easton Ellis’s controversial source material into a sharp psychological horror comedy. We also discuss how Christian Bale delivered a performance for the ages, partly by channelling the unhinged energy of Nicolas Cage in Vampire’s Kiss (a film we’ve previously covered). Expect the usual Shoot the Hostage nonsense as we dog pile Jared Leto once again, try to understand why Justin Theroux’s dancing lives rent free in Dan’s middle-aged memory, and debate whether the potential Luca Guadagnino…

People in this episode

Host: Shoot The Hostage Podcast

Topics covered

• Identity movies
• Consumerist satire
• Psychological horror comedy
• Feminist perspective
• Film performance analysis
• Cultural commentary

Keywords

• American Psycho
• Mary Harron
• Patrick Bateman
• Christian Bale
• film analysis
• satire
• horror comedy
• Jared Leto
• Nicolas Cage

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: American Psycho, Vampire’s Kiss

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