American Psycho Was a Warning

So, I rewatched American Psycho for the first time in a couple years the other day, and oh my god, this video is not going to be like a movie bro analysis, and I'm also not about to idolize a serial killer. But what I realized re-watching this movie is that a lot of the traits that made Patrick Baitman a psychopath when this movie came out 25 years ago are now considered normal. Like, are now considered traits that quote successful people have.

It's actually kind of scary like how well this movie represents our world today. And it's also scary how low-key I found myself kind of relating to Patrick Baitman. The first thing right away you notice when you rewatch this movie, this guy was looks maxing before looks maxing was a thing.

Right in the beginning of the movie, they show his morning skin routine. And back in 2000 when this dropped, that probably had people in the theater laughing at how much time and effort he puts into skinincare as a dude, right? But now there's probably dudes who will watch this movie and be like, "Bro forgot to dump his face in the ice water.

Bro didn't even put his red light mask on. " Skin routines for men is like no longer a joke. You know what I mean?

Like between dating apps and social media, it is now normalized to put this much energy into things like uh skin routine. And I can't just sit here and say I don't understand it all because that would be hypocritical. Because, you know, I put effort into my appearance, like wearing nice clothes, hairstyle, teeth, you know, all that [ __ ] You know, I understand why dudes feel the need to spend so much time on that now because in some ways in today's world, especially the internet world, you kind of have to.

Like, let's be real. Patrick Baitman would crush on dating apps. That's another thing that came into my head when I was watching this movie.

like he has all the superficial traits that seem to be, you know, rewarded by the internet. You know, he's got the high-paying finance job. He's got the sick apartment, the designer clothes, all the superficial success that we crave right now.

Like, do you guys remember that annoying ass song a few years ago on Tik Tok? >> I'm looking for a man in finance fun. It's like, okay, so you're looking for Patrick Baitman.

The surface level that we've become so obsessed with, this dude has it all. But part of his misery in life is that he's constantly comparing what he has to the people around him. It's never enough.

And it's like, damn. Like, if that isn't the exact mindset that is cooking so many people today, I don't know what is. His obsession and the time he puts into his appearance makes him a psycho in this movie.

But if you think about it, what are we all doing with social media? We're all obsessing over tiny details of other people's [ __ ] You know what I mean? It's totally normal now to do that.

And it's part of the reason I [clears throat] feel great when I just delete all that [ __ ] Like there's times where I would see someone's Instagram post and it would like piss me off. It's like rage bait in real life. Like rage bait from somebody that you know.

It's weird. But the way that he freaks out over the business cards in the movie, like, can you imagine the pure rage that this dude would have if one of his boys had more Instagram followers than he did? You know what I mean?

Or more LinkedIn connections. Like Patrick Baitman's Instagram would have gone crazy. [snorts] And that's the problem.

It's like in this world where we're so obsessed with aura, this dude has mad aura. But the problem with that obsession and and culture right now is that if you looked at his profile, you'd be like, "Damn, this dude is winning. " Meanwhile, he's like literally spiraling out of control, losing his mind, throwing chainsaws at chicks, like just couldn't be more of a nut job.

Yet, in the movie, he fits into this social scene of New York City. He's like rewarded for being a psychopath. And today, he would be rewarded, too.

But he would be rewarded on social media. You know, he would have a blue check mark for sure, mad followers. He'd be portraying this perfect life.

Back when this movie came out, his obsession with keeping up an image of of perfection was like what made it funny. But now, that's not even uh being a psychopath anymore. It's being an influencer.

He would have been the perfect influencer, dude. Like, can you just imagine him like this is the day in the life of my nineto-ive job in finance? It's like I can see it.

I feel like I've seen it before. And another thing that freaked me out while I was re-watching this movie is that in a sick way, Patrick Baitman is now low-key relatable. And not in like this sigma male murdering women way.

I'm going to get to that. But in a way, I sympathize with him. Like, this guy doesn't actually know who he is.

His personality is non-existent. You know, his apartment's all white. He wears expensive [ __ ] because society tells him to.

He goes to certain restaurants or, you know, tries to go to certain restaurants because they're exclusive. He does things that people perceive as cool, but he's totally dissociated from it all. He doesn't think any of it's cool.

You know what I mean? So, you fast forward to today, these aren't the traits of a serial killer who's completely different than everyone else. These are the traits of me.

Like, this is what the author of the book, you know, which was the movie is based on a book if you didn't know. And this is what the author said. He goes, "He's really infused with my own pain and what I was going through as a guy in my 20s trying to fit into a society that he doesn't necessarily want to fit into, but doesn't really know what the other options are.

" And it's like, [ __ ] I can relate to that, especially as someone, you know, in the process of figuring out who I am. I look around sometimes, I'm like, what even is this world that we live in? Everyone's on their phone all the time recording every moment, you know, drowning out their thoughts with someone else's thoughts.

And I started kind of bugging myself out here because it's like in a way that human behavior didn't make sense to Patrick Baitman. It doesn't really totally make sense to me either, like where I fit into all this. You know, in the movie, he's constantly listening to music and I think it's because he's trying to understand human emotion and um like [laughter] I don't know.

It's like I feel like that's that's like me scrolling Twitter. The truth is I don't understand why people do what they do in a lot of situations and I'm constantly reminded of this. Like I genuinely, for example, I cannot get over the waiting in line thing.

Like it drives me nuts. I've talked about it before. The other day I'm in Midtown, which I usually avoid, but I had to go there.

So I was there and I'm walking around. I see this line across like around an entire block for bagels. And you know, this place has no seating, so it's freezing outside.

Keep that in mind. People are eating bagels in the cold after just waiting for an hour for those bagels. They're sitting there taking pictures, you know, of their cream cheese and [ __ ] And like when I see something like this, it's when like that inner dialogue that he has throughout the movie, it's like I feel like I have that too where I'm like, I don't understand what these people are doing.

He's like trying to figure it out. You know, there's a bagel place right next door with no line and a bunch of empty tables where you can eat your bagel and it's the same bagel. You know what I mean?

Uh, but one place had a Tik Tok made about it. So, it's just this is the things that I don't understand. And I know Patrick Baitman's ass wouldn't understand it either, you know, even though he'd probably pay someone to wait in line and get him that bagel.

Not because he actually wants the bagel, but because everyone else does. And it was funny. The same time I'm looking at these bagel bozos, a bunch of kids come flooding off the trains, you know, entering the city for Santa Con.

And this is another reason I just don't go to Midtown. Like for those of you who are blessed enough not to know what Santa Con is, it's basically when a bunch of kids from, you know, New Jersey and Long Island, they come into the city, they get dressed up as Santa, and they get trashed, right? And look, even though you wouldn't catch me dead >> doing something like that, um, you know, drinking in the cold in a Santa suit at 11:00 a.

m. , I don't think it's, you know, actually a bad thing. Like, at least they're outside having fun.

But I'm looking at these huge groups of kids chugging these beers on the street in it's not even, you know, uh, 11:30. You know, they're already bar hopping and [ __ ] And a good 50% of them looked miserable. And I'm not hating.

If anything, it's like I see my old self in some of these kids. Like there was all this [ __ ] I did in college and high school, events and parties that I didn't enjoy. The only reason I was doing them was because it's what everyone else was doing, right?

And even as an adult man, like there's there's societal gaslighting just like in American Psycho. It's like we all need to be getting dinner at Dorsia because that's the restaurant to be going to, right? And um you know when he gets laughed at when he tries to make a res at Dorsia that is so good because it's literally happened to me before.

The movie does a great job of capturing exclusivity. You know just this summer I went up to this hostess outside. I'm like is there any way we can get a reservation tonight?

She dead laughed in my face and she was like no maybe try next week. And um a lot of times people will come visit New York. They'll be like yo have you been to you know Kasa this or Kasa that.

It's always Kasa some [ __ ] right? The new popping restaurant. And it's like, no, >> I said we are totally booked.

>> Two at 9 perfect. >> Is because every time you try to go somewhere cool, go to one of these spots, it's either one, impossible, right? Or two, you have to be cool with bad service, overpriced food, you know, waiting for your table for 30 minutes even though you have a reservation, [ __ ] like that, just because it's the spot to be at, just because everyone else is going there, you know?

So things like this make visiting New York and living in New York two different worlds, you know? I just prefer running the same rotation of restaurants that aren't Tik Tok restaurants that aren't popping, but the food is good and I can get a table there. You know what I mean?

It's like I don't know. Another example of this is this societal gaslighting is [clears throat] like something like Thanksgiving Eve, >> blackout Wednesday. >> I can't tell you how many Thanksgivings I just ruined cuz I was deathly hung over because it was like that's what you're supposed to do the night before Thanksgiving.

you're supposed to get trashed with your friends from high school. And uh this year I'm I didn't even do it. I'm like I'm 25 years old and I'm not doing it right.

And uh Thanksgiving was a vibe cuz I wasn't on the verge of death. I was able to actually enjoy it. I mean society has always shaped human behavior and no one's really above it.

Like this is something that will always be applicable. It was a 100 years ago. It is going to be in 10 years, right?

It's part of being a human, you You know, it's like in American Psycho, all the dudes had the same hairstyle, the same glasses. Same [ __ ] today. All these dudes are rocking Tik Tok mullets and the mustaches.

That's like the new thing. Actually, an even better example would be like the birth of the performative male, someone whose entire personality is based off what they think women will like. So, like the matcha, the tote bags, the feminist literature.

There's a line in the movie where he's at dinner. He's like, "We have to provide food and shelter for the homeless. We have to oppose racial.

" Like, he just starts going off. He's like, "We need to promote civil rights while also promoting equal work rights for women. " It's like, he's saying this with a smile on his face because he obviously means none of it, but he knows that that's what women will want to hear in that particular situation.

And I swear I've seen this tweet bar forbar at some point on Twitter a couple years ago. But if you think about it, there's no difference between a performative male and the American psycho. It's easier to create a personality based off perception than it is to figure out your own.

You know what I mean? Um, so one of my favorite parts of this movie was the fact that not once do we see this guy do a second of work. Like his job is just another part of his appearance.

And if this didn't age well, then nothing did. Like back in uh the year 2000 when this dropped, I'm sure people were already starting to realize that a lot of corporate jobs are like adult daycarees. But 25 years later, it's like wow.

And not all corporate jobs obviously, but looking at a corporate job not as a job that accomplishes something, but as something that holds up an appearance, like that is so good. Um, and him being a highle investment banker is also funny because, you know, I never was in finance and honestly if anyone actually slaves away at work these days, it's those dudes. Um, but I did witness firsthand the type of people who strive in the corporate world.

It's the people who don't have feelings. Like, if you have no regard for anyone but yourself, you will climb that corporate ladder quickly. When I got slimed out by my manager, I really thought someone would care.

You know what I mean? Like that maybe even she would figure out what she did was wrong, you know, eventually come to terms with it. Some type of karma would come around or something.

But no, none of that. You know, I talked to my friend who still works there. She actually got promoted.

So, uh, it's been this way in business since the beginning of time, I'm pretty sure. You know, back then you could just dump a bunch of money into something like Big Tobacco or booze. that was the meta.

Or even earlier, it's like you could just slime out the Native Americans and steal their land and sell it. Like, if you were cool with that, you would be successful in business. A cold heart seems to get you the furthest in business.

But in the 25 years since this movie dropped, it's like, we don't even try to hide this fact anymore. If you're cool with promoting a shitty meme coin or some type of online casino with CSGO skins and promoting that to kids, you will run up a big bag. And by the way, when I was 14 years old, my ass was gambling with Counter-Strike skins, and that was wrong.

You know, random tangent, but uh that's chicken [ __ ] when you look at what's happening on a bigger scale. Like, it was bad enough that I can't watch sports anymore without looking at gambling odds everywhere and predictions. But now with prediction markets, it's like, bro, I open up Robin Hood and I can bet on the nicks on Robin Hood.

I can gamble on this investment app. Uh, cold hearts, deep pockets. It's always been that way.

Like I said, the only difference is that now they don't even bother hiding it. So, another thing that's really funny to me about this movie is at the time, Baitman was supposed to be this perfect example of everything wrong with chasing uh materialistic [ __ ] right? But now we've gotten so materialistic just as a culture that kids online who've probably never even seen the movie are fantasizing about being him.

There's kids who right now are trying their best to achieve the lifestyle of a murderous psychopath. And uh it's how he became, you know, the Sigma male logo, which I don't know much about it. I just it's honestly kind of funny, but I feel like there's probably some darker [ __ ] going on there.

I don't even want to get into that. Um, but again, this is a result of what our society values. Like these kids don't know any better.

How could they? They, like I said, they probably haven't even seen the movie, but they just know that if they look smack and if they get as rich as possible and chase nothing but a bag, they're going to get rewarded from it. You know what I mean?

Whether that's with a woman or with power or just money, respect. And in a way, like if we're being honest, they aren't fully wrong because they will be rewarded. You know, greed gets rewarded and they'll also have a soul crushing empty life.

But some people don't care, right? They just want to flex on the gram. And you can't flex inner peace and gratitude on Instagram, you know?

So, if you worship money, you worship power. I'm not saying it's wrong to to make money to want to get your bread up, right? it's want to make something of yourself, that's not wrong.

But if you worship these things, which seems to be happening now more than ever, you know, because the internet is making everyone feel broke and ugly, what makes you different than the American psycho, you know, like the gym, getting in good shape. It's another example. I made a whole video about how people are taking it too far, and I did myself.

It's like selfobsession is so easy to fall into right now. It's like narcissistic behavior over and over. We see it get rewarded.

And again, maybe this is a story as old as time, but it just feels like it's a lot more convincing now than it was when it came out. Um, so, you know, moral of the story, I think, is uh that it's clipped for us that, you know, society has turned us all into a bunch of psychopaths and you can become one or get fried. Um, no.

Obviously, I don't think that. I think the good news is that we aren't psychopaths. Well, someone watching this video actually might be statistically, so you're cooked.

I'm sorry. Um, but the rest of us that have emotions, it's possible to detach from it all, right? Detach from the obsession to fit in the obsession to have more than somebody else.

It's not easy. Like I said, it's encouraged to go the other way, but it's possible. You got to look inwards at what you do have.

You know what I mean? Um, you know, I hate to bring this up in every video, but like you got to meditate. I wish I could have put Patrick Baitman onto the Wimhof method and just see how that would have gone down.

See what would have happened, you know? Um, you start to understand these emotions that you're trying to numb with [ __ ] like like money, social media, short-term gratification, drugs, all this [ __ ] Um, it's encouraged. So, I don't know.

I'm not going to get I don't know what I'm even saying here to be honest with you, but uh I just think you got to keep asking yourself why. Why am I doing this? You know, spend less time on the internet because ask yourself why are you doing it in the first place?

Don't view someone as inferior or superior. Just view them as a person. Like it's not all about you, bro.

It's not all about me. Like this is a reminder for myself. What I love about this channel is like it's one thing to sit here and say something, but then it's another thing to listen to it.

And um so it's like a reminder for myself to do this [ __ ] too because anyone can regurgitate [ __ ] on the internet, but actually practicing what you preach, that's something else. And uh it's another reason I love this channel. And I love all you guys for watching.

To be honest, like I cannot believe that I have 34th I think we're at 34,000 subscribers. Um, it doesn't feel real, but at the same time, it's like lighting. It's like a fire has been lit, dude.

Like, you guys got get me going. Um, so I'm I got much more [ __ ] coming. Um, I hope you guys enjoy the videos, the the comments that you guys leave.

Like, holy [ __ ] I'm not even going to get too emotional. But, thank you so much for watching. You know, I hope everyone's having a good holiday season, chilling with the fam, and I'll talk to you later.

Peace.