Analyzing The Film 'American Beauty'

Dana Sheets-Nichols

Wells 7

December 31, 2014

Essay #3: Film Analysis

The film "American Beauty" is more than a biting satire on suburban life, it is a somewhat contrived story is meant to be an allegory that begs the question: what is beauty? American Beauty presents a cast of peculiar, almost cartoon-like characters and feels more like an assemblage of metaphors rather than the stories of real-life people, that the audience can actually relate to. "Look closer," the film's tag-line tells us. Look closer at the beautiful things we yearn for and spend our life chasing. The characters in "American Beauty" are yearning to fulfill a dream that they think will somehow get them out of their miserable life:

•For Lester Burnham, it is an overwhelming

Only seconds into the film, is the audience flying above suburban America as the shot slowly pans onto a tree-lined street; Lester narrates out of the picture. Lester’s first establishes what will be the key motifs of the film -- a plot of betrayal, insecurity, prejudice, disguise, unconformity, anger, laughter, depression, love, violence, and above all else, beauty. “My name is Lester Burnham, this is my neighborhood, this is my street, this is my life. I’m 42 years old, in less than a year, I’ll be dead. Of course, I don’t know that yet. And in a way, I’m dead already.” During the film Lester is dealing with a mid life crisis, his marriage with Carolyn has slowly diminished and what relationship he has left with his daughter is tense and awkward. Lester makes it a point throughout the film to regain control over his life. Take for example a scene where Carolyn and Jane are impatiently waiting for him in the car. Carolyn honks the horn, as they are late for work. Rushing to the car, his briefcase suddenly springs open and his papers spill all over the driveway. He drops to his knees and smiles sheepishly. Narrating the scene, Lester explains “Both my wife and daughter think I’m this gigantic loser, and… they’re right, I have lost something. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but I know I didn’t always feel this…sedated. But

When showing Jane the video of “the most beautiful thing he ever saw,” a close-up picture of "beauty" captured on film (a discarded plastic bag dancing in the wind). Ricky says “that’s the day I realized that there’s this entire life behind things…and this incredibly benevolent force that wanted me to know that there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Video’s a poor excuse, I know, but this helps me remember, I need to remember.” Throughout the film it is shown that Ricky can find beauty in just about anything -- his first reaction upon discovering Lester Burnham shot dead is to watch with passionless fascination the blood slowly ooze from the fresh wound in his head. Ricky’s version of American Beauty is completely disconnected from the reality of the people and real life that surround