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ChairmanUzamaoki OP t1_j66gf3j wrote

Reply to comment by OutWithCamera in What is the meaning of the depth Patrick Bateman goes into about music in American Psycho? by ChairmanUzamaoki

You are correct, but imo the book highlights the music way more than the rest of it. Like it isn't uncommon for a dozen brand names to be mentioned on every page, but when it comes to music the author has multiple chapters that are literally only about the music and what Bateman thinks about it. It's similar but imo not the same vein as he sees the rest of consumer America.

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sybil_vain t1_j66jdko wrote

To my memory, and it's been a while since I read it, it almost felt like him trying to be deeper than he really is? Like the things he talks about sound like they're directly pulled from reviews or magazine articles or interviews, and as mentioned, they're almost always talking about the most "commercial" album of whatever artist he's talking about. It's like he knows there's supposed to be something there, and it's something he's supposed to feel deeply, but all he can do is parrot what he's heard about the least challenging music available.

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ChairmanUzamaoki OP t1_j66jzlc wrote

That makes a lot of sense him trying to be deeper, but i wonder why he honed in on music to make him seem deeper? I would have assumed his obsession with consumer products would have been most important to be knowledgeable on, other than ending the apartheid ofc.

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sybil_vain t1_j66lwdi wrote

I kind of figured it might be because he knows it's normal to have some kind of connection to music? Like he's got the clothes and consumer goods as a way to show off on material level, and then he can use the art he displays in his apartment and the music he seems to know a lot about to make himself seem cultured, but in a way that doesn't really take any reflection or real emotional connection on his part.

Or maybe he just does love commercial pop music and he goes on and on about it because it's the only thing he feels a connection to?

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DandaDan t1_j67qqv6 wrote

Worth knowing that Bret Easton Ellis has a podcast in which he mainly talks about and reviews movies, but music and books also feature. It's a real pleasure listening to someone as eloquent and knowledgable on pop culture as BEE.

So I think one reason he chose pop music is simply because it is something he is super familiar with and can easily write and talk about.

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OutWithCamera t1_j66h7by wrote

Understood, I think I started to read the book an eon ago but my recollection is that the endless detailed analysis of pop music made it unreadable for me, I simply could not deal with pages of discussion about a Huey Lewis and the News tune. I think one of the things about the movie that struck me was the way scenes of his home were annotated like an IKEA catalog.

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Cultural_Election118 t1_j66q05g wrote

> scenes of his home were annotated like an IKEA catalog.

Wasn't that Fight Club?

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OutWithCamera t1_j66qnts wrote

Haha entirely probable! Oops

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OutWithCamera t1_j69kfff wrote

I have conflated this aspect of both these movies before, I think I first watched both about the same time and the obsession with the material world in each is kind of striking to me, combined with the way the movies concluded that left the viewer (in my case anyway) wondering what was real and what was only in the MC's heads.

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tundrapanic t1_j67qxly wrote

Maybe commercial pop music will ultimately turn you into a psychopath?

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