2 for 1 sale on Bateman

PSYCHO 2000

" Bateman and his Wall Street set are unmitigated consumers and speak in appropriately informed language
about specific products, ranging from herb mint facial masks to Valentino Couture suits. Bateman is
particularly capable of parroting the language of marketing. ("Courtney, you're gonna have the peanut
butter soup with smoked duck and mashed squash. New York Matinee called it 'a playful but mysterious
little dish.'") Consumer narratives draw on the preexisting aesthetic pleasure of specific imagery,
oftentimes cinematic, such as the Marlboro Man's link to the beautiful planes and blazing sunsets of the
American Western."- David Robinson

I agree with this statement from Robinson's article. I think that Bateman's compulsions to torture and kill victim after victim, is a reflection of how commercial life kills the American. The film is directly speaking about society for the times of the 80s. All of the business men were late 20s and early 30s, and living a lux, plushy lifestyle. A person of that same age group now would probably be searching or still working toward that level of "success". However, the main point of my observation is the use of tangents through the dialogue.

As Robinson mentioned earlier the the dialogue between the colligues from the office often talk about material societal structure. This is idealized by the importance of an image. For example when Bateman pealed his face everyday, and did over a thousand crunches, he was keeping his image for his commercial gain- the kill- or as I argue the product. Bateman is his own product and the final sale is the kill.

Bateman's break down: Characterized by a phone call and a face to face. On the phone there is panic, chaos, and need for another human for the first time- in a consumer term this would be the product recall. The next is the face to face. The lawyer does a re-recall. The product is fine- just not the sales, the product is no longer marketed, that sale dies. Bateman- or who ever he might be- is another lost product on the shelf.