American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes and The Virgin Suicides, directed by Sofia Coppola

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Recommended: Society and beauty

Reality. Merriam Webster’s Online Dictionary defines reality as “something that is neither derivative nor dependent but exists necessarily.” But what is real by today’s standards? Does what appears to be normal equal reality? By looking at two different films it seems that the old cliche stands correct. Things aren’t as they appear. American Beauty and The Virgin Suicides give classic examples of how “normal” and “happy” suburban life is anything but. American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes (1999) and The Virgin Suicides, directed by Sofia Coppola (2000), share many of the same themes even though the plots are contrasted. Underneath the layers of white picket fences, beautiful houses, and safe neighborhoods, lies a truth. A truth so dark that it leads to the destruction of many characters in both of these movies.

The first element that must be looked at is the imprisonment of the characters in both films. The main character of American Beauty, Lester Burnham, is the man whom feels the burden of imprisonment the most. He is in an ongoing marriage that should be coming up to the red light. He is also stuck in a job where he feels under appreciated and not well respected. He has been at this job for fourteen years. That is fourteen years of being in jail. It is quite evident that he is not happy. Who would be when you know that your wife and you daughter think that you are a “gigantic loser” (American Beauty)?

Lester is not the only character who suffers from this. His wife Carolyn and daughter Jane both know what it is like to feel trapped in an unhappy life. Carolyn is imprisoned by image. She has the notion that she cannot be happy unless everything appears as perfect. And Jane, feeling the weight of her parents, wants to break off from her prison, her home life. She like most teens views her parents as weird and wants out of that life.

In The Virgin Suicides the characters that are the most imprisoned are the five Lisbon sisters. After the youngest sister plunged to her death during the first party they were allowed to have, and Lux came home late after the homecoming dance, their parents literally turned their home into a prison. “For most children, mothers and fathers set boundaries; for the Lisbon’s, it’s iron bars” (Berardinelli). They were not allowed out, had the tree cut down that was near their window, and even had actual bars put on the window...

... middle of paper ...

... ‘You’re not even old enough to know how hard life gets,’ he tells her. ‘Obviously, doctor,’ she says, ‘you’ve never been a 13-year-old girl.’ No, but his profession and every adult life is to some degree a search for the happiness she does not even know she has.” (Ebert).

Bibliography

Berardinelli, James, Review: American Beauty, http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/a/american_beauty.html, 1999

Berardinelli, James, Review: The Virgin Suicides, http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/v/sirgin_sucides.html, 2000

Bowman, James, Suffering Poses, American Spectator, Jun 2000, Vol 33, Issue 5, p. 66

Ebert, Roger, American Beauty, Chicago Sun-Times, http://www.suntimes.com/cgi-bin/print.cgi

Ebert, Roger, The Virgin Suicides, Chicago Sun-Times, http://www.suntimes.com/cgi-bin/print.cgi , May 5, 2000

McKittrick, Casey, Shaping Pedophilic Discourse around American Beauty Happiness. Velvet Light Trap, Spring 2001, Issue 47, p 3-12.

Scott, A.O., Film Review; Evanescent Trees and Sisters In an Enchanted 1970’s Suburb, The New York Times, http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/review.html

Viner, Russel, The Virgin Suicides, Student BMJ, Jul 2000, Vol. 8, p 254

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