American Psycho Explained

Analysis: The meaning of American Psycho is that in a world where everyone is the same, no one really matters.

Examples that support this analysis:

References to a loss of identity

– The facial mask scene in the beginning
– The name mix-ups, especially Patrick Bateman’s
– Almost everyone has slicked-back hair
– The assigned names of the prostitutes
– In the final scene, everyone looks alike

References to objects that make everyone similar

– The popular music of the day
– The credit cards
– The business cards
– Toward the end, the apartment buildings appear to have the exact same lobby, and the doorman in the wrong building still acknowledges Bateman

References to Patrick’s detachment from everyone else

– His fantasies about telling people off
– The murders
– Wearing the headphones
– The commentary on “Hip to be Square” in terms of the “pleasures of conformity”
– “I want to fit in”
– Bateman hates Paul Allen because Paul is a little bit different from everyone else, and so Paul “matters”

The final scene

– Everyone looks the same, dressed alike and mingling
– After Bateman realizes that it was all in his head, this still doesn’t change him because he sees that he is still one of them
– The overall point is that in the United States, the “every man for himself” attitude means that people do not come together for a greater good but are instead are focused on themselves, and this in turn makes a world where everyone is the same and no one really matters