Am I Really Human? : The Dissection of the American Businessman

         The American business man, an image of clean, crisp suits, perfectly trimmed hair, and a wallet full of bills. An image of honor, integrity, hard work; an image that represents American values and aspirations. However, how "clean" and perfected is the actual American businessman? For years you've heard of
 corruption on Wall Street, financial scandals, swindling money, and just down right cheating people.

         Bret Easton Ellis, the author, and Mary Harron, the director, produced a satire of the American businessman, American Psycho, illustrating in extremes the corrupt nature of Americas working elite. American Psycho, produced in 2004, is a film in which Patrick Bateman, the main character, takes over his fathers business as an investment banking executive. Bateman is OCD, and obsessed with success, fashion, style, and image. He is also a serial killer who murders and rapes random strangers and people who he is in close proximity to. As the movie develops, the viewer gets an inside look at Bateman's obsession with competition, and being the best. Ellis and Harron are critiquing the reality of an honest businessman, displaying their views that competition and material prosperity destroys any real honor or integrity a person may have had. American businessmen are fueled by their thirst for wealth and status which in turn destroys any desire to help benefit anyone other than oneself.

          In the above clip, Bateman feels the need to convince himself of his own worth by wearing Valentino suits, flaunting his reservation to Dorsia, a 5-star highly acclaimed restaurant, and by believing that his haircut is always slightly better than the rest. Bateman's obsession with beating out everybody on something as miniscule as a business card illustrates the importance of such minute material details in the business world. As displayed through the look of failure on his face, Bateman's sanity hangs on his ability to be one step above the rest. The world he has placed himself in has taught him that if he is not the best, he is a failure, and the pressure of such a situation drives him to corruption. However, Bateman's inability to curb his appetite for success lead him to search for it in all the wrong places. He feeds his competitive hunger by achieving dominance over others through murdering and destroying them. Such aspirations of the "American Businessman" lead to unrealistic, unachievable expectations leading to corruption and malpractice in order to achieve them. The hunger for material prosperity, physical beauty, and the use of conspicuous consumption to display ones wealth destroys true human connections and emotions.

         Bateman is used as a critique of the corrupt self-centered nature of the American Businessman. His relationships with the people around him emphasize the distance and disruption that social competition causes. American Psycho satirizes such people and projects such disconnections. Bateman often confesses his sins and discrepancies to his coworkers and acquaintances only to be completely ignored due to the self obsession his companions have. A blind eye is turned  to everyone's actions unless it is beneficial to the individual. The destruction of the human is pinpointed to the desire to connect with others only to be able to hear oneself talk, and such self absorbtion destroys compassion corrupting ones influences and driving factors.
         David Mamet's play Glengarry Glen Ross links the same ideas about loss of human connection and the corruption of values through competition as American Psycho. One of Mamet's main characters, Moss, says "the pressure's just too great...'I got to  close this fucker, or I don't eat lunch,' 'or I don't win the Cadillac...' we fuckin' work too hard" (30). Mamet is illustrating the pressure put on success, how it is chief in importance and comes before all else, including the well being of oneself. The characters in Mamet's play work non-stop, competing to win the Cadillac, the symbol of success.                                                          

 This constant competition wears on their ability to connect and make friendships. Mamet uses a technique called faux dialogue where each character is not really talking to each other, but is having a conversation with themselves and using each other as a tool to benefit their own desires. This illuminates his understanding of the corruption of such men.  These men have been programmed to look at a person not for who they are, but for how they can benefit oneself. Moss and Aaronow, two characters from Mamet's play, refer to certain customers as "Polacks and deadbeats". Moss says:

       How you goan'a get on the board sell'n a Polack? And I'll tell you, I'll tell you what else. You      listening? I'll tell you what else: don't every try to sell an Indian...They like to talk to salesmen. They're lonely, something... Never bought a fucking thing. (29).

 These men have been trained to discriminate in order to assure their own personal gain. Instead of looking at each human being as an individual, they are looked at as profit. Mamet suggests that the American Businessman has been trained to dehumanize themselves to their surroundings, clumping individuals into groups of worth just as Moss does by glazing over Indian leads, claiming they never amount to anything. Such perceptions destroy basic interactions such as how Bateman cannot have basic interactions without critiquing himself. Even as Levene is being accused of fraud and theft, Roma cannot let go of his desire for the best leads and tries to take advantage of Levene's situation, yelling "I GET HIS ACTION. My stuff is mine, whatever he gets for himself, I'm talking half. You put me in with him" (107). Roma's obsession with success impacts his ability to realize when it's time to forget about money and work and focus on the issue at hand. Although American Psycho is taken to new extremes, both Patrick Bateman and Roma lose their sense of honor and conscience to the race for material wealth.