Anti-essentialism and the American Psycho

The word "identity" has been a subject of discourse among thinkers in the popular culture field. Chris Barker the author of Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice explores the idea of identiy and what it entails. Essentially Barker defines identity as a question of how we see ourselves and how others see us. In this debate there are those in the essentialist camp who argue that we all have an essence and that inner essence is our identity. Proponents of essentialism believe that all humans have "an underlying identity" and that identity is in actuality something real. In the other camp there are the anti-essentialists who argue that there is no such thing as identity. Anti-essentialists argue that we are not born with this essence or identity that defines us but rather that identity is something socially constructed. Your "identity" depends on numerous variables that shape you and is constantly shifting and changing over time. During our class discussion the question arose as to how we can know who we are. The answer we arrived at was that the only way to know and express who we are is through language. It is through language that we communicate to others who we think we are. An anti-essentialist would argue however that language is simply the way through which we create an identity rather than express an identity. As Barker puts it language is not a means for us to find our identity but rather our way of making an identity (Barker, 217). This way of seeing things is clearly seen in the film American Psycho.  From the short clip we watched in class I was able to see Patrick Bateman as the embodiment of the anti-essentialist argument. As Bateman is going through his extensive morning routine he goes into excruciating detail about every aspect of his routine. When he gets to his facial routine he applies a facial mask and as he is letting it harden he makes the statement "There is no real me, just an illusion...I simply am not there..." Bateman is supporting the anti-essentialist notion that we have no identies and that which we call our identity is simply a construction that we create and attempt to maintain. Bateman is asserting that he has no identity. He is a socially constructed being and all that others see is the hollow frame that he inhabits.