American Psycho/Fridge

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Fridge Brilliance

  • I just realised why Patrick Bateman's name is significant. Bateman. Like Norman Bates from Psycho.
  • Bateman's lengthy descriptions of the outfits that people wear have a slightly sinister hidden purpose. After a bit, the reader stops bothering to read every little detail about how "Hamlin is wearing a suit by Lubiam, a great looking striped spread-collar cotton shirt from Burberry, a silk tie by Resikeio and a belt from Ralph Lauren," which occurs nearly every chapter. This causes the reader, much like the yuppies themselves, to not pay that close attention to what Bateman is saying, which can, in a few cases, much like his "friends," cause the reader to miss something horrific that Bateman might say mid narration, while simultaneously showing how the reader, who is supposedly actively "listening" to what Bateman has to say, begins to treat what he has to say about things with the same lack of care that the yuppies do.
  • Word of God said that he very deliberately chose what outfits that he was describing in any given scene, so that if you actually look up the clothing products, you'd realize how clownish and stupid they look together.
  • In the movie, Patrick's business card is colored "bone". Patrick's a Serial Killer.
  • In addition, the lettering is "Cillian Rail", a typeset that doesn't exist. Cillian is an Irish name and one of the meanings is strife, which is bitter disagreement and conflict. Rail can also be used as a verb to mean complaining, accusing or insulting. The business card scene, in Patrick's eyes at least, is a very serious conflict that actually leads to him killing another character over it.