Why Isn't It Possible? Why Not?

About

Why Isn't It Possible? Why Not? is a scene from the 2000 film American Psycho in which the protagonist Patrick Bateman (played by Christian Bale) unsuccessfully attempts to confess his crimes to his lawyer, who refuses to believe him. Starting in November 2021, the image saw use as source material for memes, primarily video captions and edits.

Origin

On April 14th, 2000, the American satire thriller film American Psycho premiered.^[1] In one of the final scenes of the film, protagonist Patrick Bateman, portrayed by Christian Bale, attempts to confess his crimes to his lawyer, who refuses to believe him (scene shown below).

- That's simply not possible. And I don't find this funny anymore.
- It never was supposed to be. Why isn't it possible?
- It's just not.
- Why not, you stupid bastard?
- Because I had dinner with Paul Allen twice in London just ten days ago.

The scene gained virality in memes following the major rise in online popularity of American Psycho in 2021. While the exact first instance of its use is unknown, on November 15th, 2021, YouTube^[2] user rai posted a green screen template of the scene, with the video gaining over 1.1 million views in five months (shown below, left). On the same day, rai posted^[3] Pokemon edit based on the scene that gained over 1,900 views in five months (shown below, right).

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On November 17th, 2021, TikToker^[4] @true.sigma posted the first viral TikTok based on the scene, captioning it, "me asking a homeless guy why he can't just buy a house." The TikTok (shown below, left) received over 1.4 million views and 174,500 likes in five months, also inspiring lip-sync videos^[5][6] using the dialogue (examples shown below, center and right). On November 17th, iFunny^[7] user frut reposted @true.sigma's video, with the post gaining over 25,700 smiles on the app in five months.

The format saw further use on Reddit, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube in the following months. For example, on January 14th, 2022, Instagram^[8] account jazzmemes_ posted a video caption that received over 73,800 views and 5,800 likes in three months.

The format maintained its popularity in early 2022 along with other American Psycho video caption formats.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References