Just recently, I was asked to watch American Psycho by a friend. I had heard of the movie, but I had no idea what it was about. To tell you the truth, I still have no idea what it’s about. However, I can tell you about some interesting parallels I found to the Picture of Dorian Gray. The movie starts off by introducing Patrick Bateman, a wealthy businessman who is obsessed with his appearance and the ways that others perceive him. If you haven’t already guessed, he’s a narcissist. Can you see the parallel to young Dorian? Both are vain, shallow young men. They’re paranoid of people around them, and often feel threatened. The only difference between Bateman and Dorian is that Bateman finds pleasure in murdering people, while Dorian finds pleasure in using his pleasure to ruin other people’s lives. Both Bateman and Dorian kill the one person they feel threatened by. For Bateman it was Paul Allen, and for Dorian it was Basil Hallward.
One could argue that Bateman is an example of a double/doppelgänger in film. He’s just a bit more complex than past examples. He does, however, have the traditional “private-self vs public self.” When he’s in the public he’s known as the wealthy, classy businessman Patrick Bateman, but behind close doors he looses his cool composure to his dark pleasures. The reason I say that Bateman is more complex than other examples is because he’s revealed to have multiple personalities in the end. The main idea, however, is that his public self does not act the same way as his private self. Most of the time. When he does seem to lose it in public it’s either a figment of his imagination or just a snap in his patience, at which he quickly compasses himself. Would you say Patrick Bateman is an example of doubles/doppelgängers in film?