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American Beauty

            "American Beauty" starts off from a video camera point of view showing a girl lying down on a bed, as the movie goes on you find out later that it's the main character's daughter Jane. She is talking about how her dad acts around her friends and how she is embarrassed of the way he looks at them. She mentions how she would like her dad to be dead and then a man's voice asks Jane if she would like him to kill her father. She says yes. The next scene is an overview of a normal suburban neighborhood. The narrator of the story introduces himself as Lester Burnham, an average guy in suburbia whose life has become completely unfulfilled. Director Sam Mendes shows insight into the main characters one at a time. The main character, played brilliantly by Kevin Spacey, is shown masturbating in the shower and comically adds that this moment is the high point of his day. Annette Bening plays Carolyn Burnham and is introduced to the viewer while tending to her impressive rose garden. Rounding out the picture perfect family is Jane, played by Thora Birch. Jane assumes the role of the insecure teenager when she is shown reading a web site detailing breast augmentation procedures. The film attempts to unearth the numerous inadequacies that have risen within the conventional family unit. The overbearing nature of Carolyn, the boredom driven fantasies of Lester and the constant anxiety of Jane. The actors chosen for these particular roles were perfect for the film. Kevin Spacey captures the main characters" midlife crisis with the utmost precision. He ranges from playing the self described comatose husband to the pot smoking parent who is reborn when he realizes he still has the ability to surprise himself. Bening plays the suburban wife well with moments of greatness that show how strong yet also how weak her character can be. The teenage tag team of Thora Birch and Mena Suvari, who plays Birch's best friend, seem like an odd couple at times but succeed in playing their respective roles.


Essays Related to American Beauty

1. American Beauty

... . While she cleans the dark and shadowy house, she is backlit with brightly colored walls. The color red symbolized the true personalities and feelings of two characters in American Beauty. All the characters in American Beauty have an unmistakable sincerity about them. They all manage to appear as painfully real individuals. Throughout the film their emotions fluctuate, and so does our understanding of what ... find out their true identities. There are countless individuals in society who feel it is necessary to be someone they are not, in order to fit in. American Beauty proves the the...

  • Word Count: 2253
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

2. American Beauty/Leave It To Beaver

... " of an era and its tensions, conflicts, fears, and fantasies. Films refract social discourse and content into specifically cinematic forms which engage audiences in an active process of constructing meaning." American Beauty is a powerful film because the majority of society can relate to the Burnhams. "It is a comedy because we laugh at the absurdity of the hero's problems. This film is a ... such as "homosexuality, drug abuse, adultery, blatant sexuality, and most importantly, the disintegration of the family" (Berardinelli, 1999: 1) were never displayed in episodes of Leave It To Bea...

  • Word Count: 2528
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Has Bibliography

3. American Beauty

... house, she is backlit with brightly colored walls. The color red symbolized the true personalities and feelings of two characters in American Beauty. All the characters in American Beauty have an unmistakable sincerity about them. They all manage to appear as painfully real individuals. Throughout the film their emotions fluctuate ... There are countless individuals in society who feel it is necessary to be someone they are not, in order to fit in. American Beauty proves the theme of appearance versus reality. Through their actions and emotions, various characters are seen concealing thei...

  • Word Count: 2385
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

4. American Beauty

... the world -and you just have to remember to relax and not try to hold onto it. And then it passes through me, like rain." American Beauty is a startling and sensitive film with the rare ability to reach out to people, touch them, and open their eyes. Director Sam Mendes has created a complex tale of human emotion, ... looking for every perverse detail of their fragile lives, every flash of red, every cruel thorn, and every wilting innocent, as we watch them through rose-tinted glasses. American Beauty is just that, a film about beauty - the beauty of freedom, the beauty of change, and ...

  • Word Count: 1983
  • Approx Pages: 8

5. American Beauty- an essay of symbolism

... opens a new realm of understanding and photographs are no longer snapshots of times once lived, but windows into the inner workings of family dysfunction. American Beauty captures its viewer in a world of symbolism and representation, which enhance not only the understanding of the film, but life itself. Roses have ... been associated with love for centuries, and the film American Beauty has maintained this traditional symbolism. American Beauty uses roses to symbolise love in scenes where love is present, but in contrast it also uses roses in scenes where ... or better things existed....

  • Word Count: 2086
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. American Beauty

... recalls, "That's the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid. Ever" (American Beauty movie). Sometimes children of dysfunctional families are saner and more mature than their parents. At the end of the picture, Jane and Ricky are set to run off together to ... Hayes. The title of the movie stems from the perfectly manicured roses blooming along the Burnhams' white picket fence. It also refers to Jane's best friend, Angela, a supermodel in training. American Beauty tells the story o...

  • Word Count: 3509
  • Approx Pages: 14
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Food And The Image of Beauty

... In Pigott's case, she faced just another conditioning when she was back in Canada. The problem lays in the image somebody associate with body beauty. When she started her aerobic exercises, Pigott "pictured Gambian women pounding millet and dancing in a circle with their arms raised high", the verb ... starvation". She focuses on college women and points the alternative solutions ranging from group to family therapy. Let's consider the Beauty Myth standard of the "perfect" weight in the North American culture: If I watch a movie made before 1970 I will see that women and girls shown in t...

  • Word Count: 1647
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Has Bibliography

8. African American Literature - Freedom and Sexuality

... black dialect, he advises a young woman to go and seduce white men. At first it may appear that Hughes is insinuating that promiscuity is the only option for beautiful African American women, especially when he writes, "Ain't nohin' to do for you, nohow/Round this town,-/You's too pretty " (lines 5-7). Through a closer reading, it is understandable that he sees sexuality as ... . Along with Jacobs, Langston Hughes sees sexuality as a threat as well. Unfortunately for women, their options for a beautiful African American is limited to promiscuity, hence making their sexuality a burden and...

  • Word Count: 2535
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Has Bibliography

9. American Beauty

... it's okay to be herself and be happy with who she is. Although Angela is the stereotypical American beauty: blonde haired and blue eyed, by using his camera, Ricky can see the real beauty - Jane. Through his camera, Ricky can "look closer" into a so-called "perfect" American family and uncover a web of deceit and lies in the Burnham household. The marriage of Lester and ... of success. Our modern society us constructed around the fact that true happiness is found through material success: a lucrative big money job, a nice hose in a quiet neighbourhood, fancy cars, etc. American Beauty d...

  • Word Count: 1966
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

10. American Beauty

... many times humorous. They all seem to go against the grain of what is considered to be expected of a normal family. Therefore it seems ironic that the title should be, American Beauty, when the lives of the people are anything but beautiful. The movie itself is narrated by the main character, Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), a character who repeatedly finds himself fantasizing about ... his daughter's best friend. So where is the beauty within American Beauty? The plastic bag which captivates Ricky Fitz (Wes Bentley) seems like such a mundane expression of beauty, yet is the perfect examp...

  • Word Count: 285
  • Approx Pages: 1

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