History Characters / AmericanPsycho

** He dismisses Music/PeterGabriel's solo career as "lame" and informs us that a girl about to have his abortion doesn't deserve sympathy because she thinks Music/{{Sting}} is cool. He also dislikes PunkRock, describing LA's punk scene as "best forgotten" and believes that RapIsCrap.

Patrick's current girlfriend and/or fiance. Much like most of the cast she's vapid, airheaded, and seems to only for material things.

* ShadyRealEstateAgent: She seems perfectly aware that Patrick had murdered Paul, though she makes no attempt at incriminating him since the news that there was a murder in the apartment would be bad for business.

* CreativeSterility: A big part of Bateman's character is that he has no imagination to speak of. Much of the reason he fails to stand out from a crowd and resorts to murder to try to define himself is that the murder is (probably) the only thing he does that nobody in his social circle does; they all wear the same clothes, go to the same restaurants, watch the same movies, listen to the same music, and really seem to have no hobbies or ambitions apart from keeping up with the latest fad.
** This is exaggerated in the film where Patrick along with everyone else are comparing business cards, the cards in question are all completely identical save for their names (and even then they are typed out the exact same way, with the exact same spelling error to boot).

* TheMentallyDisturbed: Really? You think?

* KarmaHoudini: He escapes punishment for all his crimes, and boy is he upset about this status. See FateWorseThanDeath.

* HateSink: Of the ''worst'' kind. Apart from being a superficial yuppie prone to making bigoted remarks, what makes Bateman especially vile is his lack of any human feelings, and his horrific, perfected sadism, from murdering animals and children, to torturing women in ways that would be too harmful for the mind to even mention. He also never once shows any remotely sympathetic or kind moments, the end result is a truly inhuman, repulsive, loathsome scumbag you'll want to see dead.

->'''Played by:''' Creator/ChristianBale, Creator/MattSmith\\

->'''Played by:''' Creator/ChristianBale, Creator/MattSmith
->'''Dubbed by:''' Creator/JeanPierreMichael (European French)

The titular psycho. A wealthy Wall Street investment banker and stereotypical late 80's {{Yuppie}}, who [[UnreliableNarrator also might be]] a murdering psychopath.

* BorrowedCatchphrase: In part of the work's satire in shaping him as a product of 1980's American culture and values, as molded by its media and most prominent political figures, he appropriates other popular phrases of the era for himself. Most notably, Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No", and, more humorously while speaking on a telephone, UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush's "Read My Lips".

** The climatic police chase near the end of the book plays out like an over-the-top 1980's action movie, which momentarily switches to a third-person perspective and which Patrick remembers as "the chase scene" in a later chapter.

* CatchPhrase: "I have to return some videotapes."

* FateWorseThanDeath: Trapped in a shallow world of greed and hatred that he despises as much as he detests himself. [[spoiler: All while knowing that nothing he does will ''ever'' be of any consequence.]]

* {{Hallucinations}}: Caused by stress, and extremely bizarre, but he believes every one of them. They range from an [=ATM=] telling him to feed it a stray cat, to him becoming an action star and blowing up vehicles with single bullets.

*** In the book, as Bateman lays this all out, he even tries to openly support both sides of divisive social issues, such as stressing a need to "change abortion laws to protect the life of the unborn while also maintaining a woman's right to choose," which is further contradicted later in the book in separate scenes where Bateman forces women who he sleeps with to get abortions [[spoiler: even performing several of them himself against their will.]]

--> "''I have all the characteristics of a human being. Flesh, blood, skin, hair, but not a single clear identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust.''"

* PyrrhicVictory: By the end of both the book and the movie, it's clear that [[spoiler: all of Patrick's evil and depravity have afforded him nothing. He's still as lonely and miserable and empty as he was at the beginning, and no one gives a shit about him.]]

* SawStarWarsTwentySevenTimes: Patrick brings up that he has rented ''Film/BodyDouble'' 37 times at his video store as he seeks to rent it once more. In the book he mentions renting despite having just returned it the night before. [[spoiler: The book also explicitly says the main reason he watches it so much is because he masturbates to a scene in which a woman is killed by a power drill.]]

* StrawNihilist: He believes that ultimately, everything is meaningless. "Everything I have been taught: principles, distinctions, choices, morals, compromises, knowledge, unity, prayer -- all of it was wrong, without any final purpose. All it came down to was: die or adapt." [[{{Hypocrite}} Of course this doesn’t stop him from wanting to be known and cared about from his crimes]].

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* AssholeVictim: He’s just as much a victim of Bateman’s wrath as all of the prostitutes he [[spoiler: ([[UnreliableNarrator probably]])]] murders yet one would be hard pressed to feel bad for him given that he’s a self-absorbed and bigoted {{Yuppie}} {{Jerkass}} just like the rest of Bateman’s coworkers.

->'''Played by:''' Matt Ross
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* DeathByAdaptation: In the UK musical, Bateman winds up biting off a chunk of Luis's face and very likely killing him, unlike the novel and film where Luis comes out relatively unscathed. The Broadway version also has the biting, but Luis is fine in the end and they imply it was in Bateman's head.

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* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler: Near the end of the novel, Price shows back up with no real explanation as to where he was before. He then seamlessly integrates back with the rest of the group. In keeping with the book's themes, it's implied he has learned nothing and gained nothing from his experiences.]]
* DecoyProtagonist: In the first few pages of the book, it seems like Price will be the protagonist in a third-person narrated story, only for the narrator to reveal himself as Patrick Bateman and for Price to disappear [[spoiler: until near the end.]]

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->'''Played by:''' Creator/BillSage
->'''Dubbed by:''' Creator/BrunoChoel (European French)
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-> '''Played by:''' Cara Seymour
[[quoteright:285:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/christie_0.png]]

-> '''Played by:''' Stephen Bogaert

-> '''Played by:''' Patricia Gage

[[/folder]]

* OnlySaneMan: The only character who seems to not be selfish, bigoted, or awful to be around.

->'''Played by:''' Bill Sage

* EvilIsPetty: Almost all of his murders are motivated by people having nicer clothes or better apartments than he does.

* {{Jerkass}}: Downplayed. He's definitely not as bad as the rest of his social circle, but he's still self-absorbed and classist. Plus, there are a few times where he's fine with objectifying attractive men when he can get away with it, like waiters.
** One chapter reveals he strongly dislikes the Japanese for their influence in American culture.
* NiceGuy: A very downplayed example. He's a saint when compared to his co-workers and isn't as sexist or racist as they are, but he's still as shallow, self-absorbed and classist as everyone else he associates with.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: His very cold dumping of Evelyn was cruel, no doubt about that, but its difficult to imagine anyone wanting to commit to a lifetime of Evelyn's company.