Mary Harron: Feminist Lens in American Cinema

Mary Harron, the writer and director of American Psycho, has gained a reputation as a high-ranking female director in the American film industry. This is in spite of the fact that she has directed and released only four movies in the span of fifteen years. She often points to her gender and discovery of feminism as the reason why she creates films that go beyond righting the wrongs done to women by society. Instead, through her casting and filming process, she strives to ensure that the audience has a clear understanding of the manner in which women are unable to handle themselves in an environment that does not have right skills and knowledge to deal with them (Kapica). For instance, in American Psycho, Harron sought to film characters who

First, does the film feature a minimum of two women? Since the film features numerous women, American Psycho passes the first question. The second and third questions asked in the Bechel test are: do these women speak to each other and do they talk about something other than a man? On one occasion, Elizabeth, who is Patrick's friend, asks a prostitute named Christie where she went to school and where she spent her summers but Christie did not reply. This is one of many instances where the women do not speak to each other thereby failing to answer the last two questions. Throughout the vast majority of the film, the women are not allowed to speak. Most of the conversation is instead done by Bateman. In one example, he changes the names of the prostitutes telling one that she will only respond to the name Christie, taking away her identity and making it about himself (Bastien). Bateman strives to get back the power he feels he has lost from women. When Bateman feels that he is not masculine enough, he feels that he has to prove himself as the most influential within his environment He releases these feelings of inadequacy by treating women the way he does. For instance, when Bateman’s colleague Luis Carruthers, professes that he is in love with Bateman, Bateman dismisses him. In his mind, people who are gay are feminine in nature and are by extension weak. As a way to make up for what he perceives as his loss of masculinity, he kills