Well, here’s some good old heebie jeebie juice for you. Or, you know, brilliant marketing—depending on how you look at it. In the month leading up to the April 14, 2000 release of “American Psycho,” Patrick Bateman emailed fans eagerly awaiting the adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ book. That’s right, the homicidal, investment banking, psychopathic protagonist of Mary Harron’s film (played by Christian Bale) helped promote the movie by sharing his inner musings with anyone who wanted.
The emails were a unique, creative, and quite creepy strategy Lions Gate Films employed starting March 15th of that year. The correspondences, which were approved, but not written by Ellis, find Bateman sharing his thoughts in the then-present of 2000, a decade-plus later than when “American Psycho” takes place. And they run the gamut of topics. What does the Huey Lewis fan think of other musical acts?
Tue 4/4/00 1:21 PM
Subject: The Hills Are Alive
In spite of Rap Artists’ protests to the contrary, music today, for the most part, has lost it’s soul. Actually, “Killed” is a better word, for the call to violence that is such an integral part of today’s music betrays what music was meant to be. From the first caveman who noticed the haunting chant of the wind over an entrance to his cave, all the way to the most contemporary interpretations of techno-pop by artists such as Tangerine Dream, music is meant to glorify life—to be a treat for the soul, an exclamation point, an expression of hope, a celebration. Not an outlet for hate.
The mood and needs of a Society are best expressed by the work of the Artists of the day, who speak for a people better than any politician or pundit.
Bob Dylan expressed the need for self-evaluation during Vietnam. Cole Porter spun fantasies as the world faced depression. Elvis liberated the youth of America born during a time of War. The Beatles were perhaps the world’s first cultural happening, bringing together the children of the world across the boundaries of geography and culture.
Madonna doesn’t just sing about freedom for women. She IS freedom for women. It is fascinating that after the turn of the Millennium, the world has found a renewed appreciation for artists such as Burt Bacharach and Santana, comfort food for the ears.
Meatloaf, if you will, both literally and figuratively.
Virtually yours,
Patrick Bateman
Or, for example, what are the murderous Patrick Bateman’s thoughts and practices when it comes to child-rearing?
Fri 3/17/00 3:10 PM
Subject: Best AccessoryMy son P.B. Jr. was wise enough early in his life to dispense with any aspect of his physicality or character that I would find even the slightest bit objectionable. He looks as if he were sculpted out of ivory, all the more remarkable when you consider the mutt-like ancestry of his mother.As an infant, the only sounds he made were both pleasant and knowing. His ability to choose correctly was apparent long before he was able to speak. He preferred catalogues printed on the heaviest stock glossy paper to those books about that purple dinosaur that evolution should have rendered extinct by now. And, as far as anything involving a mouse was concerned, they were far too close to their biological relation, the rat, to amuse him in the slightest.It is impossible to ignore the obvious superiority of this child, and on more than one occasion the current cover of Vogue or star of the latest teen angst movie would stop me on the street and ask me where could she get one of those?Hermes, I’d reply, and head towards the Frick, which Jean always thought could possibly be for sale if I called enough people.Virtually yours,Patrick Bateman
That’s right, he had a son (P.B. naturally stands for Patrick Bateman, Jr.). Thanks to web developer and blogger Brian Kotek, “American Psycho” fans can read all of Bateman’s emails, even if they missed out on them 15 years ago. Kotek has compiled all the communications (including some images Bateman sent) on his site here. Happy reading! [via Dangerous Minds]
