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The Patty Winters Show: a reflection of Bateman's mental state

One of Patrick Bateman's most consistent references, other than his favourite brand names, is his documentation of the topic on The Patty Winters Show. While the topics seems unrelated to Bateman, it is unusual for him to be so invested in this show, considering that the topics in the beginning of the novel seem unlike for him to be engaged about. As the novel progresses, it is clear that the show represents Bateman's mental degradation.

In the beginning of the novel, the topics were innocent and normal: autism, the President, etc. Then, the topics become more unusual: toddler murderers, a cheerio that sat in a small chair and was interviewed for an hour, a boy who fell in love with a bar of soap, a man who lit his daughter on fire while she was giving birth, etc. In the last third of the novel, especially, The Patty Winters Show becomes a more direct reflection of Bateman's decreased sense of reality. Near the end of the book, Bateman's perfect persona that he obsessively maintains in the beginning of the novel is replaced by a version of himself that smears human meat over the walls of his apartment, that eats his victims' brains, and that communicates with inanimate objects that tell him to do Bad Things. His engagement with reality subsides to the point where real life does not seem real anymore, where nothing exciting in his life matters anymore. This is reflected when Bateman admits,
The Patty Winters Shows were all repeats. Life remained a blank canvas, a cliché, a soap opera. I felt lethal, on the verge of frenzy. My nightly bloodlust overflowed into my days and I had to leave the city. My mask of sanity was a victim of impending slippage. This was the bone season for me and I needed a vacation (Easton Ellis, 279)
Clearly, the fact that the show is only showing repeats reflects how dull his life feels at this point in the novel.
Image result for the patty winters show


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