Thorstein Veblen was Right
America’s greatest economic mind of all time, Thorstein Veblen is unusually quotable for an economist. Thankfully, he was also a sociologist and philosopher. At any rate, one of Veblen’s most memorable quotes describes perfectly—if not necessarily exactly—the means by which Lou Bloom ends up on the road to great success rather than prison by the end of the movie:
“All business sagacity reduces itself in the last analysis to judicious use of sabotage.”
In other words, the successful business is shrewd enough to know when and how to sabotage his competitors. Bloom is a horrible person. A terrible person. And yet not only is he more successful and looking forward to a future even more promising by the time the credits roll, but many of his quotes can actually be found—without a trace of irony—on motivational websites.
The Racist Underbelly of Local News
It would be easy to just dismiss the film as a corrosively bitter indictment of television news media, but this is no latter-day Network seeking to make broadly satirical swipes at entire medium. The story is specifically about the creation of a local television newscast; an American institution for more than half a century that is eroding before our very eyes. In order to stay viable the age of internet “news” local television must be honest about their demographics and narrowcast their news to appeal to that segment of society. A segment that is mostly older, white, suburban and terrified of “urban crime” coming to them. And by “urban crime” is meant, of course, criminals who are minorities. When Nina compares her newscast to a woman running down the road with her throat cut what she really means is a white woman running and screaming in terror from the black man or immigrant chasing after her.
Not American Psycho
Inevitably, the less than stellar reviewers of the film will get around to comparing Lou Bloom to Travis Bickle or Patrick Bateman. But Lou is neither sociopathic taxi driver nor a psychopathic serial killer. He was not born the way he is; society shaped what was already there. The long, awkwardly out-of-place monologue that Lou delivers to the scrap yard worker is nothing but acquired buzzword drivel. And Lou isn’t even keen enough to know when it works and when it’s recognized as business-school babble. Lou has learned that success in America is transactional. If you have something to sell and can find a buyer, you will make money. Even more so than those who know how to make something to sell. And if you can’t find a buyer…that’s what you make.
