The Fear of Freedom in Hyperreality and its Adverse Effect on Identity in Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho

Abstract

Neoliberal ideology immensely celebrated individual and collective freedom, yet fell short of realizing that freedom itself can sometimes be the cause of fear and anxiety. In seeking to “liberate” the processes of capital accumulation, neoliberalism essentially created a form of hypercapitalism: a relatively new form of capitalism marked by the advancement in technology, media, and virtual reality. This economic system lead to a fragmentation of social life by allowing commercial or business interests to penetrate every aspect of human experience, leading to, what Jean Baudrillard called, a hyperreal mode of existence. In Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho (1991), the notorious Wall Street banker, Patrick Bateman follows an apparent decline from a cynical misanthrope to a psychotic serial killer within the free-market hyperreal environment of the Reagan era. The novel portrays a nightmarish vision of freedom, the unbearable anxiety it creates, and individual’s psychological urge to flee from it. Through three socio-psychological mechanisms, Erich Fromm calls, automation conformity, authoritarianism, and destructiveness, Patrick attempts to flee from the freedom that brings anxiety with itself. Although these unconscious attempts are employed to sooth Patrick’s loneliness and alienation, they do not solve the underlying problem. The cost is a crisis of Patrick’s individuality, subsequently forfeiting all comprehension of his own selfhood and identity.