The 2000 film American Psycho, adapted from Bret Easton Ellis’ controversial 1991 book, examines the life of Patrick Bateman. Played by Christian Bale, Bateman is, as he admits in the film, “utterly insane.”
American Psycho is about how money, looks, and entitlement can corrupt. These elements mask Batemen’s descent into madness as he later becomes a serial killer. Rewatched today, Bale played Bateman as a perfect caricature of ’90s greed. (And some of that might have gone into his Batman performance.)
The film, directed by Mary Harron, still holds up as an indictment of wealth and the “elite,” especially the iconic business card scene. But online, it’s earned a while new reputation through memes. Here are some of the most popular American Psycho memes.
Headphones meme
The headphones meme or Patrick Bateman walking meme is based on a scene from the film where Bateman wordlessly walks into work, listening to “Walking on Sunshine.”
According to Know Your Meme, in 2020 other music was added to the scene on the meme platform iFunny. Bateman was also inserted into video game worlds in another trend.
It eventually spread to TikTok, where edits of this scene and others in American Psycho are popular. The meme also evolved into the “Me walking in public”/My headphones” trend.
@realryangoslingong #CapCut #starwars #myheadphones #patrickbateman ♬ original sound – Ryan Gosling ✓
In the film, Bateman is quite the music buff. Another headphones scene in which he listens to music with his eyes closed also became a meme.
Business card meme and other examples
Another popular American Psycho meme comes from the infamous business card scene.
Bateman shows off his new business card, only to be upstaged by his co-workers’ cards, sending him into a quiet rage. There have been parodies of the scene for years, and more recently, creators have altered the cards to create modern versions.
The Patrick Bateman “Ooh” face, taken from a scene with his nemesis Paul Allen (Jared Leto), also became a meme in the 2010s. And a sex scene was turned into a meme template that shows Bateman looking at a TV screen or some other inanimate object.
