Patrick Bateman is on TikTok. The Dorsia-fanatic, business-card-trading, Huey-Lewis-and-the-Information loving pastiche of 80s yuppie tradition – and extra usually – is all around the app’s chaotic For You Web page: a sequence of grinning profile photos, lip-synced impressions and response movies. It’s the logical vacation spot of a personality who has bounced across the web in boards and on platforms for years. He’s a persona to signify masculinity, capitalism, and the perfect male, usually with various levels of consciousness across the satirical nature of the novel Bateman calls dwelling, American Psycho.
However even when borne in satire, the tacky smile of Christian Bale and his morning routine of a thousand crunches is simply one other instance of the way in which anybody born this facet of the century offers with cult characters.
Ought to it matter {that a} bunch of 14-year-olds on TikTok aren’t in on the Bateman joke? How will you even inform? Identical to any co-opted pattern or meme or hand gesture that’s taken on by trolls and tailored to turn into one thing vicious, for those who say one thing hateful sufficient occasions, even whereas pointing at it with a smile, the hate turns into the purpose. And to disregard the origins of the aesthetic – tied closely to the rise-and-grind “sigma male” id beforehand related to male courting coaches and wannabe funding bankers – could be silly. To a technology of males on-line, American Psycho was greater than a satirical tackle extra – it was a bible for true improvement. And now, as a contemporary viewers tackles the character with an arsenal of latest platforms and groupthink, Bateman’s illusory gaze is all over the place.
In January, Günseli Yalcinkaya documented the rise of the “sigma bro” in DAZED, riffing out a laundry checklist of Instagram accounts like @billionairebullclub and @entrepreneurshipfacts. These accounts have flourished by capturing the sigma male aesthetic – one thing initially devised by a far-right activist to explain “an introverted alpha male who likes to play by his personal guidelines” – and centered it in on itself. It’s content material parodying itself for these within the know, and provoking idolisation for many who aren’t. Patrick Bateman’s voice, picture, and values are simply as equally used to mock a model of male archetype we’ve seen an excessive amount of of as they’re used to encourage that very same, previous, drained visage to a technology of younger individuals who may not be in on the joke.
Writing something in regards to the American Psycho phenomena virtually looks as if enjoying the sport. However the stranglehold Patrick Bateman has had on components of the web because it grew from boards to messenger to newsfeeds and video, is clear.
In some ways, Bateman feels at dwelling on TikTok – an app that focuses on a chaotic stream of infinite content material – the place aesthetics, curation, and perspective are crucial. Bateman’s infinite, multi-step skincare routine is the stuff of legend, his morning routine a kind of lauded after benchmark for health by bodybuilder bros, and his misogyny a straightforward calling card of any teenage boy nonetheless making an attempt to argue that it’s humorous, really. And the Bateman aesthetic has lengthy been idolised. Within the early to mid 00s, on-line areas just like the bodybuilding.com boards racked up numerous pages on reaching the Patrick Bateman physique.
“I might completely love trying like he did in that film, however I need to confess my top is a bit above 3 inches decrease so do not suppose that is doable…” asks one person in 2011. “Work out what drug stack to take, ignore coaching, simply do no matter within the health club, and concentrate on the medicine,” says one other.”THAT is how he achieved that physique, not onerous work.” On 4chan, Bateman’s picture grew to become synonymous with inside jokes about publish numbers, and his tone of voice grew to become mimicable – even in textual content – used to riff on critiques of Kanye West albums or burn different poster’s feedback.
It was simply one other solution to signify a sure form of man with a sure form of perspective. It seems the judgemental Wall Avenue yuppie voice performs nicely on-line. For a lot of the decade, Bateman was lumped into the bucket of Battle Membership’s Tyler Durden, later joined by Jaoquin Phoenix’s Joker and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort: a group of misplaced toys that younger males – in age or expertise – use as watermarks for id.
Since then, Instagram, Vine (rip), and TikTok have taken over. Even on Spotify, playlists abound making an attempt to copy trendy variations of “Patrick Bateman’s Walkman”, as if to set off the infinite soundtrack of American Psycho’s essence. It’s the place Phil Collins, Whitney Houston, and Huey Lewis rub shoulders with MGMT, Crystal Castles, and Kanye West. There’s a “Patrick Bateman Core” playlist, alongside “Patrick Bateman’s Sigma Grindset”, and “Feminine Patrick Bateman”, too (Fiona Apple, Phoebe Bridgers, Grimes). The cultural curation and lyonization of the character isn’t new – ask virtually any man who has been a youngster because the movie was launched in 2000 – however the way in which Bateman is being catalogued is.
However to be merciless is to be Bateman – which is probably probably the most floor degree studying of the character. And it’s this studying that has impressed numerous impersonations and reactions on TikTok, riffing off of random Am I The Asshole? Reddit posts or throwaway 4chan boards. A handful of younger creators eagerly learn out statements, pulling again their lips, smiling broadly, taking over Christian Bale’s acquainted timbre.
“How do I inform my 13 12 months previous daughter that she doesn’t have physique dysmorphia and she or he is simply fats and ugly,” reads one, whereas one other recreates Bateman’s iconic Huey Lewis and the Information scene by breaking down Tame Impala’s “Currents”.
And that is simply the height of all of it. Elsewhere, compilations of Bateman strolling by corridors, smoking a cigar post-axe homicide, or working from the pink and blue lights of police personify “Patrick Bateman Aesthetic” movies. It’s the fashionable model of the lookbook, a kind of MTV-meets-Vine strategy to curation.
In 2016, Bateman’s creator, Bret Easton Ellis, stated Bateman could be a troll if he was written for the twenty first Century. However I feel he’d be a lot nearer to what we have already got loads of: the rising tide of narcissism as id – not as ego, however as a counter to the self-improvement obsessed 2010s web. It’s not a lot that there isn’t un-ironic admiration of Bateman all over, however there may be an equal takedown of the whole thought as one thing nearer to slapstick gag than black comedy. The through-line to satire is wire-thin at finest, and illusory at its worst.
For a technology of creators, there’s no higher solution to exhibit a sure form of feeling. And with a always rising quantity of platforms arriving, designed to assist individuals categorical themselves in new or extra user-friendly methods, Bateman is the right foil.
A number of years in the past, Easton Ellis ended up promoting posters of Bateman with “Make America Nice Once more” scribbled on them. That’s a bit on the nostril for me – however individuals nonetheless purchase it.
Brad Esposito is the Head of Editorial at VICE Australia. Comply with him on Twitter and Instagram.