"an almost periodically literal interpretation of a monster created by consumer culture."
Notes to Self are longer journal entries from Seven Yrs Ago. I was 21 in early 2014.
American Psycho: The Musical (2013)
Music by Duncan Sheik. This is a real thing.
“Patrick Bateman’s consumption of what he views as nothing more than a piece of meat is an almost periodically literal interpretation of a monster created by consumer culture. This, combined with sex, violence, drugs, and other desires of the id, is how Bateman realizes his base urges in a superficial world.”
* conspicuous consumption—spending of $ on and the acquiring of luxury goods and services to publicly display econ power (EP). EP as a means of attaining or of maintaining a given social status
* invidious consumption—above plus deliberate consumption in order to inspire envy
"All of his friends look alike to him, to the point that he often confuses one for another, and they often confuse him for other people.”
“The one woman (and possibly the one person) in his life he has anything approaching feelings for is his secretary, Jean. He just cannot bring himself to seduce, rape or kill her, perhaps because she is the only person in his life who is not completely shallow. Every time he mentions Jean throughout the novel, he casually acknowledges her as ‘Jean, my secretary who is in love with me’ and introduces her in the narration as someone when he ‘will probably end up married to someday.’”
Baron Münchausen (1700s)—recounter of tall tales
Münchausen Syndrome—feigning disease
* unreliable narrator e.g. narrator makes plainly fake or delusional claim
admission of severe mental illness
twist ending that gives the audience pause for reconsideration
For commentary seven years later, go here.