"Faceless" Reality: Representation of the Disintegrating Middle-Class Executive Identity in American Psycho, its Film Adaptation and Imperial Bedrooms

Szabó, Diána Terézia (2018) "Faceless" Reality: Representation of the Disintegrating Middle-Class Executive Identity in American Psycho, its Film Adaptation and Imperial Bedrooms. Masters, Szegedi Tudományegyetem.

PDF 2018_Szabó_Diána_Terézia_N7P1K5_SZ.pdf Hozzáférés joga: SZTE designated computers only Download (1MB)

Abstract

The appearance and disappearance of faces and defacement is an ever present theme and pattern in Bret Easton Ellis’s novels and oeuvre. This thesis explores how the appearance and disappearance of faces and defacement interrelates with and thematizes the disintegration of the middle-class executive identity in American Psycho (a mainstream minimalist novel published in 1991), the film adaptation of American Psycho (released in 2000) and Imperial Bedrooms (a generic novel from 2010). My interpretation is based on the four aspects of the politics of form, developed by László Sári B. in his book entitled I am Joe’s Grinding Teeth: A Sketch of American Minimalist Prose, i.e. the “institutional practice of creative writing”; “intermediality of contemporary minimalist prose”, “literary transgression” and the “current identity politics”, and aims to outline the differences in how face motifs appear in the three works. My thesis demonstrates these differences, reflected in the form of representation: while American Psycho reveals the disappearance of faces in a violent, stomach-turning form, in the film adaptation the relevant subversive content was tamed for financial reasons (to be R rated to attract more viewers). 9/11 brought important changes in the editorial attitude in the book publishing industry: the book market became more conservative, and subversive content and forms found ways for expression in generic prose such as noir which has its marks on Imperial Bedrooms.

Institution

Szegedi Tudományegyetem

Faculty

Faculty of Arts

Department

Angol Tanszék

Discipline

Humanities

Institute

Angol-Amerikai Intézet

Specialization

angol

Supervisor(s)

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	06. Humanities
Depositing User:	szerkesztő BTK
Date Deposited:	2019. Apr. 30. 13:35
Last Modified:	2019. May. 02. 07:07
URI:	https://diploma.bibl.u-szeged.hu/id/eprint/74760

Actions (login required)

View Item