The Easter egg-filled commercial, which was made by the environmental PAC NRDC Action Votes, features the senator as the would-be serial killer from the cult classic movie from 2000.
With a new political ad that heavily references the 2000 cult classic movie American Psycho, Senator Ted Cruz has been given the Patrick Bateman treatment. The ad criticizes the senator’s infamous 2021 Cancun vacation, which was taken as Texas was plunged into chaos due to a massive power outage.
Cruz plays Bateman, the anti-hero of Mary Harron’s 2000 film version of Bret Easton Ellis’ 1980s-set satirical novel, which is currently in negotiations to be remade by director Luca Guadagnino, in the advertisement from the liberal environmental PAC NRDC Action Votes, which is affiliated with the Natural Resources Defense Council. The sinister internal monologue of the yuppie investment banker, who is infatuated with pop music and beauty, serves as a narrative device in both pieces as the potential serial killer navigates the realms of upper-class Manhattan culture and New York finance.
A classic scene from the movie’s narration, in which Bateman (Christian Bale) talks about how he feels “not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust” and that his “mask of sanity is about to slip” as he takes off a face mask in the bathroom of his condo, is reworked for NRDC Action Votes’ attack ad.
There is Ted Cruz’s idea. Abstraction of some sort. But there is no real me,” the narrator of the advertisement says as the headline, “Texans Struggle Through Unprecedented Power Outages After Storm,” appears on a wall-mounted TV as the camera moves over a stylish hotel room in what appears to be Cancun. You can feel my hand firmly grasping yours when you shake it. Perhaps you can even perceive how similar our lifestyles are.
As the tone of the advertisement changes, the voiceover says, “That is until the power grid collapses, and I flee to Cancun.” Families cuddle together in the bitter cold. I drink margaritas while the sun is shining. When you see me, you might assume that we are alike. But behind the images of me getting on a plane to return to Texas, the manufactured apologies, and the smile… I just don’t exist.
There are also several Easter eggs about Cruz throughout the advertisement. In reference to the satirical conspiracy theory that the senator was the enigmatic killer who terrorized the Bay Area and has never been apprehended, a police sketch of the Zodiac killer is displayed on the hotel wall. Additionally, a canister of “Big Boy Beard Cream” alludes to the facial hair Cruz has been sporting for a number of years, and in the medicine cabinet, there is some “Scent of a Human” cologne for the senator to use (that one speaks for itself).
According to their website, the declared goals of NRDC Action Votes are to prevent climate change, promote healthy individuals and communities, and preserve and safeguard wildlife and the environment. In a statement given to The Hollywood Reporter last week, Jocelyn Steinberg, the director of the PAC, linked the advertisement to the problem of climate change.
This is really a climate advertisement, and at NRDC Action Votes, we believe it is imperative that those who oppose climate change, like as Ted Cruz, be held responsible, she said. Denying that climate change will result in more extreme weather, such as stronger hurricanes, hotter heat waves, larger floods, and winter storms, and then escaping to Cancun when a storm causes a major grid failure while your constituents freeze, requires a unique type of indifference. We hope that this advertisement effectively conveys Cruz’s self-centered nature.
Cruz is running against Texas Representative Colin Allred for the Senate this election year. According to a poll released by Emerson College Polling on Wednesday, he and the Democratic opponent are in a near-death contest.
According to a statement from the PAC, the “Cruz Psycho” commercial will start running throughout the whole state of Texas this week on a number of streaming services.
