“American Psycho” author Bret Easton Ellis reflects on how his classic novel applies today, how people relate to stories about being “trapped in a society they don’t believe in,” and why people can relate to art about even very unsavory characters. Ellis also discusses a wider backlash to art across the spectrum, which he thinks stems from people's superficial inability to appreciate metaphor, in this interview with MSNBC’s Ari Melber. Aired on 2/1/2021.
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'Psycho': Author Of The Book That Predicted Trump’s America Speaks Out | The Beat With Ari Melber
Welcome to Trump Casino. One way in, no way out. One free drink.
Kool aid?
Welcome to the Hotel Mar-a-Lago… Such a bedbug place… Such a bloated face…
and Weds. Night is Gropers Night….all Ladies get in FREE LOL
KOOLAID.
We can check out any time we like, but we can never leave.
I loved the book – disappointed in the movie.
I think the satirical elements of the film kinda fell flat, due to the overall subject matter being so dark and disturbing.
Americans took “greed is good” (Glengarry Glen Ross) as a mantra, and not a warning, so it’s no surprise that people would miss the point of American Psycho. The reality of it all is by far more offensive, and it got labeled as “The American Dream.” Trump represents American sickness and the broken system we have that continues to serve the corrupt.
That was Wall Street.
Absolutely, gains money and power at any cost, no remorse or responsibility!
Greed is good. But too much of anything is bad.
Fascists take Orwells 1984 as a training manual. I suspect there are certain Trumpian types who do the same with American Psycho.
Wrong movie there, bud…
As soon as Kanye was mentioned, I bailed on this video.
Well, you didn’t miss much as it was at the end of the video.
Exactly his point when you did that. Closed minded ..
Same here
I instantly had twitches
@Tyrone Valdéz-Krüger 😂 😂 😂
“That is happening now…” WTF?? Many sides expressed outrage when American Psycho came out. Criticism of vapid trust fund kid art from the right and left is nothing new. Sounds like Ellis has nothing to say and is trying to get invited onto Rogan’s podcast to return to relevance.
When it comes to Trump, I’ll take the word of Trump’s own sister, who has known him his entire life? She knows him better, and longer, than anyone alive today. And if she wouldn’t support him as president, why on earth should anyone else?
In the released audio of Trump’s sister Maryanne Trump Barry, she describes Trump as being among other things, unprepared, a brat, and cruel.
“It’s the phoniness of it all. It’s the phoniness and this cruelty. Donald is cruel,” Barry told her niece.
“He has no principles, None. None. And his base, I mean my God, if you were a religious person, you want to help people. Not do this.”
Trump’s sister was aghast at how he operated as president. “His god-d tweets and lying, oh my God,” she said. “I’m talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy s***. What they’re doing with kids at the border.”
Trump’s sister also explained how ”She didn’t know of anything Donald had ever accomplished on his own, but noted that “he has five bankruptcies” which he achieved all by himself.” “You CAN’T trust him,” she added.
She also made it clear that she was still upset by how Trump chose to celebrate himself at their father’s funeral in 1999.
“During that ceremony, Donald spoke more about his own accomplishments than his father’s life,” Maryanne said..
“Donald was the only one who didn’t speak about Dad,” she said. She told Mary that “I don’t want any of my siblings to speak at my funeral. And that’s all about Donald and what he did at Dad’s funeral. I don’t know. It was all about him.”
Sergeant Robert justin alford green at nellis AFB and renato Santiago Nelson where is naomi petteway my granddaughter.
O man Trump this and Trump that!!! Can we just talk about Joe Biden and how awesome he is?
@Alfredo Ramirez So you’ve just…given up?
And what crimes on the other side are we talking about here?
@bmbiz I didn’t say crimes! I said they rats and cockroaches!!
@bmbiz on the Republicans? Yes
@Alfredo Ramirez We are, apparently, not understanding each other very well. Best to just walk away from this dialog. Peace.
I’m guessing that Bret would hate Woody Guthrie’s guitar because it said “this machine kills fascist”.
Sometimes art needs to get political.
He would think Guthrie gauche. “Where is the ambiguity in that, Woody?”
I’d like to hear his perspective on art & aesthetics and cultural appropriation once the cultural and political playing fields have been leveled. That is, once his cultural artifacts have been used against him [e.g.- Black women losing jobs for wearing their natural hair in the workplace] then having those same artifacts commodified by the very folks who bludgeoned you with it [yawl remember Bo Derek and *her* cornrowed hair, right?].
Cultural appropriation is an abstraction for him. But it is very, very real to those of us who had to eat the chittlins’ for Thanksgiving instead of turkey or starve.
Actually Stephen King predicted Trumps presidency but we can have more than one prophet.
Greg Stillson. Sadly, I’m not sure how many would be offended by a politician using a child as a human shield these days.
Don’t agree. Art and artists need to tell the true even though fiction
Yes!
Agreed and it’s not always about aesthetics.
Just a note. Schindler’s List is from the book Schindler’s Ark by Australian author Tom Keneally.
“Psycho. How the Media Banged Their Heads on a Wall For Four Years With a Tin Foil Hat.”
There ya go.
There who goes? Is this supposed to be compelling? Provocative? What exactly? Because from here it looks like just another half-wit who has deluded themselves into thinking they’ve got it all figured out and they have knowledge most other people don’t have but is, ultimately, just a half-wit.
@bmbiz They literally said Trump was a secret Russian spy since the 80s and call half of America nazis. They make the case themselves better than I could.
@bmbiz And not some “secret knowledge”. It’s this awesome thing called the internet. People should use it.
@Ozark Yeoman he never said secret knowledge. Yea it’s quite clear you couldn’t be expected to “research” on the internet and come to any but a half arsed deduction……seeing how you are obviously a half wit and couldn’t critically think your way to an educated answer. 🙄🤮
Some people, like myself, like the movie not because we identify with the character but because we know someone who has a Malignant Narcissistic personality disorder like the main character.
How does a person look at real life aesthetically like they would art??
Real life is chaos.
How Ari resisted the urge to introduce him as Philip Seymour Hoffman, I’ll never know.
A real knee slapper
Except for the fact that Hoffman is dead, I agree completely.
Ikr.. 😂😂😂
4:57 I know he’s not burping, but it’s all I can hear it as. Also, I have always meant to read that book and I think I’ll go ahead and give it a go.
Greedy Psycho : The Story of the Man That Pulled the Greatest Ever Con in US History.
“ESPECIALLY on the Left”?! He’s joking, right? I agree with the aesthetics and metaphor argument, absolutely, but…I mean, let’s compare to the cult insanity of the Right…please. A tad (!) worse and infinitely more dangerous, wouldn’t one say?!!
And, then, praising Kanye (both of these guys are) for outrageous behavior fueled by mental illness? So, that’s ok? Hmm.
Ari, please.
‘K, well, this is just one guy with an opinion, which he has a right to.