Gildersleeve, Matthew (2016) American Psycho [Film review]. Philosophy Now, 113. pp. 48-49. ISSN 0961-5970
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Abstract
Jacques Lacan (1901-1981) was a French psychoanalytical philosopher. I would like to apply some of his ideas to Mary Harron’s film American Psycho (2000) in order to understand the psychotic behaviour of its protagonist, ‘Patrick Bateman’. My hope is that understanding the film in these terms will contribute to a better understanding of psychosis. Specifically, I want to show that we can understand ‘Bateman’s’ psychotic behaviour in Lacanian terms, since his behaviour at the end of this movie demonstrates the lived experience of psychosis, where, as Lacan says, 'That which has not seen the light of day in the symbolic appears in the real.' All will be revealed.
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