The human experience consists of two fundamental, inarguable commonalities- those of language and self-consciousness. These are the foundations that contribute to the shaping of our identities. Humans may not be the fastest or strongest creatures on this planet, but it is our cunning social interactions that have elevated our status of dominance. (Well, that and opposable thumbs.) Without the intricate cooperation of analytical ideas we would not have been able to construct the vast civilizations we inhabit today. Language has also given humans the ability to construct the ethics and morals upon which our continued survival rely. According to Chris Barker of Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice, "...without language the very concept of personhood and identity would be unintelligible to us." (pg 218.) But the level of self-awareness that humanity has been gifted with has led to a long-standing and complicated investigation into exactly how we come to construct our interpretation of the self we were born with. When using language, whatever region it is born from, what do we mean when we say "I"? What is the contribution that "I" am making to "myself"? "Am "I" in control of "my" characteristics and values, or is it the civilization and culture "I" was born into that builds "me", without "my" permission?
Barker acknowledges that we have subjectivity in building our self-identities, but the implications are that we would have no basis for creating our selves without comparisons to the society we were born into. This argument is supported by many cultural scientists, including Stuart Hall. Stuart Hall is recognized for his article on 'The Fracturing of Identity', in which he argues that "The subject assumes different identities at different times, identities which are not unified around a coherent 'self'. Within us are contradictory identities, pulling in different directions..." (pg. 220) His arguments go on to suggest that we construct different identities depending on the different aspects of culture offered to us.
There is no better fictional example of these concepts than the character of Patrick Bateman in the novel/film, American Psycho. The film, directed by Mary Harron, based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis, slices through American culture in the 1980's and provokes essential arguments in regards to its treatment of personal identity during this era. Patrick Bateman, as portrayed by Christian Bale, is a vain and materialistic Wall Street player. He also happens to be an imaginative fantasizer, constructing sexually violent and intricate daydreams in his day-to-day life.
The film opens at lunch time, where he sits with his contemporaries defending Jewish people against their low-spoken insults. With this scene, the film intentionally leads us to believe he has a confident self-identity that he is unafraid to express, even when his "friends" make fun of him for it. When we enter his home, we see it is largely white, blank. As he performs a series of rituals using a myriad of products to preserve an outer image, we begin to get a sense of mere superficiality. He explains that he uses a specific aftershave "...Because alcohol dries your face out, and makes you look older". He says this as though repeating a sales pitch. Even though he has justification for his purchase, it is an echo of the society that sold it to him. When faced with himself in reflections, he begins to be honest about his lack of self. "There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me- only an entity, something illusory. and though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable, I simply am not there."
I (sic) believe the meaning of the book and film are to focus not on Bateman's identity as a Psycho, but as an American. Western civilization, and especially American civilization, places an immense amount of importance on our ability to define a self-identity. Individuality and free will are the forefront of American ideals. It is this pressure that Bateman is responding to. Because he feels he has no personal identity to speak of, that he is in fact an empty shell, he was forced to create a construction of a self that would be accepted by the individualistic society that surrounds him. If Patrick Bateman is merely a reflection, as the imagery of the film suggests through mirrors, then it is also his psychotic tendencies that were born of 80s American culture.
American media is commonly criticized for being exceptionally violent. The vastness of the pornography industry in America is mind-boggling. When paired with the philosophy of the "me" decade, is it a coincidence that some of the most notorious serial killers were born of the late 70's and early 80's, and almost exclusively American? John Wayne Gacy, Henry Lee Lucas, Richard Ramirez, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Ted Bundy were all active during this era, all were diagnosed as sociopaths, and all expressed the same sentiment of feeling empty, without identity. If the philosophies of Hall and Barker hold water, then the combination of violent and sexual media with an era of selfishness has evidently dangerous consequences.
Stuart Hall's 'fragmentary' argument that we are constructed from various reflections of our society construes 'American Psycho' as a cautionary tale for Western culture. Maybe we are placing so much importance on the individual to create a 'self' that we are neglecting the importance of the community we are drawing our 'selves' from. And although Barker comments that Western culture "is centrally concerned with questions of individual responsibility" (pg. 219), it could be that this is at the expense of a societal responsibility. With all these individuals running around, attempting to create a personal well-being, perhaps we have lost our sense of maintaining the greater good.
Below I have posted excerpts from the final interview of Ted Bundy and the sociological response to his comments. Although they focus more on how media impacts a persons' behavior, I found them relevant to highlight when discussing how the society we are born into shape the identities we create, and act upon.
In the following interview, Richard Ramirez directly responds to the questions posed in 'American Psycho', including "who are you?" and "do you have emotions?"
No comments:
Post a Comment