American Beauty Essays

American Beauty By Lester Burnham Essay
"I have lost something...It's never too late to get it back," stated Lester Burnham, the main character
of American Beauty. American Beauty is a 1999 film that provides a look into the lives of a modern
married couple that is dealing with issues within their relationship. As the story progresses, it is
easily identifiable that the roles of the husband and wife are not what the viewers would expect. On
the other hand, the homosexual couple presented throughout the movie seems to be the normal pair.
Furthermore, society's definition of beauty and contentment is questioned. Throughout American
Beauty, the homosexual couple has a healthier relationship than the heterosexual couple and beauty
is falsely represented. The goal of this paper is to prove why the homosexual couple is more normal
than the heterosexual couple and why the definition of beauty is not accurate throughout the plot of
American Beauty by using the technique of gender criticism. My first step to achieving this goal
will be providing evidence about the main masculine and feminine roles and how they are reversed.
Afterwards, I will compare and contrast the relationship of the homosexual couple with that of the
heterosexual couple. In addition, I will describe how the movie depicts society's definition of beauty
by allowing the readers to sympathize with teenagers, Jane Burnham and Angela Hayes. To begin,
Lester Burnham is a middle–aged man who has grown weary concerning the daily routine of his life
and wife,
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Existentialism: American Beauty
Existentialism: American Beauty American Beauty is a movie that sets in suburban America. The
story is about Lester, whom is a middle–aged writer working in a magazine company. He was having
a midlife crisis where he felt lonely and numbed by continuous unchanging routine of his
everyday life. In the movie, his wife portrayed as a successful real estate agent, but she was also
going through her own midlife crisis in both her career and personal life. Lester's daughter, Jane
Bumham had alienated her parents and was going through puberty. They have a new neighbor
who is a U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Frank Fitts, and he has a son, Ricky Fitts, who is a drug dealer.
Lester was going to get fired from his company that he had worked for fourteen...show more
content...
Let me then address their pride. Let me speak of them of what is the most contemptible; but that
is the last man" (Soloman, 73). Lester also has similar characteristics of the "last man". Before his
transformation, he even confessed that he was living a life of a "dead man". Nietzsche saw the
"last man" among the middle class and he was afraid that they would be suffocated by the
dreadful office space. This greatly relates to Lester's working environment and the suburban area
where he lived. Everyday felt like yesterday, nothing changes. There is no creativity or passion in
Lester's life and Nietzsche believed that people should be pushed and encouraged to break the
cycle. Lester's transformation speaks of Nietzsche's existentialist theme: "we philosophers and
'free spirits' fell, when we hear the news that 'the old god is dead.' As if a new dawn shone on
us..." (68). The "new dawn" that Nietzsche mentions in his book have similar portrayal in the
movie, which is Lester's transformation of his new life. From a miserable and coward person,
Lester changed into a new courageous and free spirited individual. He was able to confront his
wife and make his own decisions without being afraid of her looking down on him: "It's a great
thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself. Makes you wonder what else
you can do that you've forgotten about"

Human Sexuality In American Beauty
American Beauty is a 1999 film directed by Sam Mendes to portray the life of Lester Burnham, a
sexually frustrated father who falls in love with his daughter's best friend, during his mid–life crisis.
American Beauty introduces many different concepts of human sexuality, such as sexual fantasy,
sexual orientation, and sexual arousal. The concept of sexual fantasy appears many times throughout
the movie, especially when Lester Burnham encounters Angela Hayes and fantasizes about sexual
behaviors involving her. American Beauty also introduces two of the main sexual orientations,
which are homosexuality and heterosexuality. Jim Olmeyer and Jim Berkley, the neighbors of
Burnham family, appear in the beginning of the film as homosexual lovers and Lester and Carolyn
Burnham appear as heterosexual married couple. Furthermore, Carolyn Burnham engages in an
affair with Buddy Kane because she is sexually aroused by his power and reputation. Lester
Burnham is also sexually aroused by the fantasies that he has with Angela Hayes. Even though there
are other concepts of human sexuality in American Beauty, sexual fantasy,sexual orientation, and
sexual arousal are the most relevant concepts that appears in the film.
Sexual fantasy is a form of sexual experience that emerges from people's imaginations in their minds,
real–life experiences, or stimulations from the Internet, books, drawings, pictures, films, and other
types of media (Crooks & Baur, 2015). In American Beauty, Lester Burnham goes to his daughter's
cheerleading performance and meets Angela Hayes for the first time. At the performance, he
fantasizes that Angela is trying to seduce him by dancing erotically and showing her breasts. Later
on, he also fantasizes naked Angela covered in rose petals and masturbates using this fantasy. Crooks
and Baur (2015) state that erotic fantasies are common during masturbation and that men focus more
on the body of a women when fantasizing. Lester's fantasy during masturbation illustrates this
because he is masturbating while fantasizing on Angela's naked body instead of her behaviors.
Moreover, Crooks and Baur (2015) also state that sexual fantasies can often be consisted of
"forbidden wishes." Lester Burnham's sexual fantasies

Symbolism In American Beauty
American Beauty
American Beauty, is a film about a man going through a midlife crisis with a family who considers
him to be a "chronic loser." He finds himself growing a high school crush on his daughter's
teammate/best friend, while his daughter starts falling in love with the new neighbor's son. The
central idea, or theme, that the director tried to portray is that people's lives aren't allows as they
seem. The front door of the family's house is symbolizes the untold truth because everything seems
perfect at first glance, but Lester said "It's just stuff, not life" (American Beauty, movie). What he
means is everything might be placed perfectly, or a certain way, but that doesn't mean life, itself, will
be as perfect. Caroline, the wife/mother,...show more content...
She cannot sell the house, and she breaks down. This reveals that she doesn't show her weakness
and always wants to be perfect. She believes if she has a successful image she will successful.
And finally, Ricky's dad is a veteran for the marines, he is very strict when it comes to parenting
Ricky. He comes off as a homophobic when he thinks Ricky and Lester are having a sexual
relationship. At one part of the movie he goes over to Lester in the night, crying. He kissed
Lester and Lester rejected him. This reveals that he was afraid of what he was, so he hid it by
accusing others. Later he then killed Lester because he was afraid he was going to tell others
what he was and that he rejected him. With all the symbols, motifs, and character personalities
within the film, this helps the audience to uncover the main message of people's lives are not
always are they seem. This is a strong message for the director to choose because it applies to real
life examples and experiences that everyone can relate to at least once in their

American Beauty Standards
"Beauty is subjective yet American society creates an objective facade of what beauty is and how
it looks and that is one does not fit in to it than they are not "attractive," superficially over substance,
Americans simply are uncomfortable being themselves" (Williams). The beauty standards for
women are shaped by society's ideas of beauty. When women try to fit these beauty standards to be
accepted into society, men think they have the right to objectify women and their bodies. Of course,
it's never the man's fault when he gets caught doing just that. Beauty standards for women are getting
to a point where they are almost unrealistic, and often leads to someone objectifying a women's
body, which of course, society says it's not the man's fault.

American Beauty: Appearance Versus Reality
American Beauty Things Aren't Always, As They Seem American beauty (1999, Sam Mendes) is a
very unique film with many different themes. The main characters in the film, Lester (Kevin
Spacey) and Carolyn Burnham (Annette Bening) prove that there is a big difference in appearance
versus reality. With the help of Colonel Frank Fitts, (Wes Bentley) we learn that people cannot just
be judged by their outer appearance, but rather by what's inside, because people are not always what
they seem. Lester Burnham serves as the films narrator. He is an almost middle–aged father,
husband and advertising executive. Obviously, his marriage with his uptight wife Carolyn is barely
hanging on. Their sixteen–year–old daughter Jane (Thora Bucch) is a...show more content...
His actions are so unexpected from what we as an audience would have thought. In one scene
Lester pulls up to a drive through line at Mr. Smileys and orders the big barn burger, smiley fries
and an orange soda. Besides orderly a rather childish meal, the odd thing was that when he pulled
up to the window he asked for a job application. The woman at the window responds with, "there's
no job for manager, it's just for counter," because based on Lester's appearance he doesn't seem
like the type to work at a fast food restaurant. While Lester is happily flipping burgers as an
employee at Mr. Smileys, he hears a voice of a couple customers over the intercom and realizes
that one of the voices is his wife Carolyn's, but he doesn't know who the mans is yet. In the car,
Carolyn says to Buddy, another real estate agent that she is clearly having an affair with, "I think
we deserve a little junk food after the workout we had this morning." Buddy leans over and kisses
Carolyn's neck just as they are pulling up to get their food. Lester says cheerfully, "Smile, you're at
Mr. Smiley's!" Carolyn is stunned and replies, "uh, buddy, this is my..." Lester interrupts with "Her
husband, we've met before, but something tells me you're going to remember me this time." This is
my favorite scene because Lester's reaction is so out of the ordinary. A person in his same situation
would have reacted by yelling, screaming or hitting, but Lester appears

American Beauty Analysis
The 1999 American film, American Beauty directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball, is a
story about a father who is sexually frustrated and has a mid–life crisis after falling in love with his
daughter's best friends. This is a movie where there are many hidden themes and symbols throughout
the movie by the use of cinematography techniques and colour. The director, Sam Mendes, is trying
to leave hidden messages and meanings to the audience without directly telling them by using
narrative elements. In American Beauty the focal point is the last few months of Lester Burnham's
(Kevin Spacey) life. Lester Burnham is in a struggling marriage with Carolyn Burnham (Annette
Betting). On the outside their marriage resembles the perfect...show more content...
How this scene has been presented is a creative way. When the camera is facing Lester we can see
his whole body, Mendes has used a wide shot to convey this. Lester is only a small proportion
compared to everything else in the frame. The shot is also a high angled shot where the camera is
looking down towards Lester making him look even smaller. The positioning of Lester leaves him
sitting in the middle of the room totally exposed. The room itself is an ugly room where there is
little objects apart from a dying plant and also a painting that is too small for the size of the wall. The
color of the scene is also very dim. These elements show that the company is a company that drains
the life out of it employees without actually mentioning this. But then there is the shot which is
aimed at Brad Dupree.
Dupree is the companies' efficiency expert. In the same scene when we are associated with Dupree,
brad is framed at a mid shot which shows him covering a large proportion of the frame. There is
also a low angled mid shot which presents the audience with the information that he is in a
high–powered position. Visually his frame is more appealing and he is presented as more
dominate, his posture is correct, he is dressed well and he is also younger than Lester. The items on
his desk like his nameplate, his pens and picture frames are straight, sharp and pointy, almost as if
they were threatening to Lester.
The visual elements in the scene work together to

American Beauty
The theme of beauty, and specifically American beauty, emerges through all of the main characters
in the movie. The American Beauty could be the sultry teen Angela, the epitome of blonde
American sex appeal. Carolyn's obsessive tending her rose garden is a pervasive and double–sided
symbol of beauty, as her flowers are a thin cover for the ugliness in her life. Perhaps the greatest
messenger of beauty in the film is Ricky Fitts, the eccentric pot–smoking teenager who through his
camera lens perceives beauty everywhere he looks, so much beauty that he feels his "heart is going
to cave in." Regardless, beauty is found everywhere in this film and is portrayed by various
characters, symbols, and scenes." Lester and Carolyn are bonds that no...show more content...
He begins exercising for a more youthful body. He sells his new car for a 1970 Pontiac Firebird. He
buys a remote control toy car. He begins listening to music he has forgotten long ago, music from
the 1970's. He decorates the garage in early 1970's dГ©cor and starts smoking marijuana. And he
quits his responsible job for the one he held as a teenager: a fast–food fry cook. [..] It can be argued
that this regressive state is spurned on and modeled after the influence of the Burnham's new
eighteen–year–old neighbor, Ricky Fitts; a boy that becomes a parallel character, Lester's
figurative "hero", and the one that give Lester a taste of his adolescence through marijuana. We see
this overtly when Ricky quits his job in front of Lester and Lester admits that he "just became my
personal hero". Also, a bit later in the film, Lester talks nostalgically with Ricky as he describes his
life as an eighteen–year–old: "When I was your age, I flipped burgers all summer just to be able to
buy an eight–track. . .. it was great. All I did was party and get laid. . . . I had my whole life ahead
of me." They have been fooled into thinking that the American Dream involves materialism and
status, and that these things will provide joy. Carolyn struggles mightily to seem –– and to try to
make herself be –– joyful, cheerful, even giddy. Since this is so utterly false, and requires so much
energy to do, when she is alone, she often gives way to tears, frustration,

Angela Haye American Beauty
In their film, American Beauty, writer Alan Ball and director Sam Mendes, they include a
character named Angela Hayes. Angela is a high school student, and the only blonde of the dance
team. In the beginning of the film when the dance team is performing the camera angles all make
her look like the center of attention. This is related to who she is as a person. She hates being
ordinary, at several points in the film she states that "being ordinary is the worst thing imaginable"
which shows that she really likes standing out. She wants to be a model, she likes people looking at
her and falling 'head over heels' over her.

Psychology in American Beauty Essay
Psychology in American Beauty
Have you ever seen a movie that just simply amazed you and almost disgusted you in a way. Well
over this weekend my family and I decided to rent the movie American Beauty. This movie recently
has won many awards for performances in acting and best role play. But that is not the reason we
choose to watch American Beauty. We choose to rent this movie pending on the fact for me to write
my final psychology paper on it. American Beauty struck me in very different ways some including
feelings of disgust, truth and reality, but mainly it was filled with many social psychology terms. If
you asked to pick a different movie to show and demonstrate the examples of certain psychology
terms I don't think I would...show more content...
Another scene is when she has some fund raiser for reality and she really likes The King of real
sate so she tells Lester to just be quiet and for once make himself useful to her.
Now we will turn to Lester for a little while our next subject. Lester is at a high school basketball
game to watch his daughter Janie who is on the cheerleader squad. Although he was not very
thrilled about going to the event once he notices the physical appearance (the way she looks
relates to her personality and intelligence) of his daughters friend who is also on the squad Lester
suddenly becomes very interested. Lester before he even introduces himself to Angela the friend of
his daughter, assumes because of her beauty that she is personable and precise. Another trait about
Lester is that every time he either sees Angela or even thinks about her something strange begins to
happen. Lester starts to see these roses and they appear to whatever he is thinking about. This to me
is an Attributing Factor ( The inference process people use to assign cause and effect to behavior)
So whenever Angela is on his mind these roses or pedal are attributed .
Cognitive Dissonance ( The tension produced when people act in a way that is inconsistent with
there attitudes, attitude change may occur as a result of attempting to reduce cognitive dissonance.
Lester

American Beauty By Sam Mendes
American Beauty (1999) is directed by Sam Mendes (also the director of Skyfall and Spectre)
and stars Kevin Spacey which examines the "ordinary" occurances of a family who live a desirable
life but are unhappy and stagnant. Kevin Spacey plays the role of Lester Burnham, a suburban
father and who is tired of his boring job and family. Within the film are many themes, the most
important of these being lust and beauty. The film applies many visual effects to demonstrate the
overall desired tone, and helps to implicitly present a false sense of the "american dream". American
Beauty demonstrates a clear presentation of longing within relationships or lifestyles, and uses
filming techniques to imply these hidden themes.
The main theme demonstrated throughout the film is seeming, and how it relates to true nature.
Each character within the film shows an awareness of the struggles seeming brings, and eventually
confronts it. Carolyn is the prime example, as constantly within the film she struggles to progress
within her career and attempts to be happy in doing so. This is shown in the scene where she
attempts to sell a house, fails to do so, and physically abuses herself as punishment. Colonel Fitts
(Ricky's father) also struggles with appearance, as he constantly tells Ricky homosexuality is
disgusting, and nearing the end of the film we find Fitts is homosexual himself. This challenges his
interpretation of masculinity and what he has believed his entire life. A huge element

"Beauty is subjective, yet American society creates an objective facade of what beauty is and how
it looks and that is one does not fit into it than they are not "attractive," superficially over substance,
Americans simply are uncomfortable being themselves" (Williams). The beauty standards for
women are shaped by society's ideas of beauty. When women try to fit these beauty standards to be
accepted, society thinks they have the right to objectify women and their bodies. The pressure can
lead to eating disorders or even depression. Beauty standards for women are getting to a point where
they are almost unrealistic, and often leads to someone objectifying a women's body, these habits
lead to things most people don't think about it. All women

The women in the 17th century were incorrectly accustomed to the necessity of becoming a
picture perfect person; which is a bad habit that only a handful of people are able to fathom.
Perfect is an expectation that you can't achieve in life until you realize to accept yourself for who
you are. The conjecture of beauty and our bodies is set at a level that is insurmountable. To fathom
this we can look at today's society, if we aren't what society wants we aren't accepted. Society's
idealistic view on beauty is something we should not tolerate because we should accept people for
who they are within themselves. In the dramatic monologues "Barbie Doll," "Cinderella," and
"Applicant," they are expected to either be something they aren't, or desiring someone who isn't even
real....show more content...
They're not supposed to please themselves, but they are vaguely expected "to live happily ever
after." Instead, they needed to please others with the way they looked and acted. These three stories
help today's society realize that if you attempt to be something you're not you will wear out "...like a
fan belt." The dramatic monologues itself uncovers the chauvinism of the male–dominated world.
While many fairy tales in the past have portrayed women as weak, submissive, and passive,
All three dramatic monologues use the image of a doll, because women had to become an ideal
person; the expectations were set too high. These stories should be correlated because they want to
achieve something that isn't humanly possible to attain. They mutilated their bodies, embodying the
idea of an impeccable person in order to live happily ever after with the dream that everyone wants
to marry a prince charming and to be so

American Beauty
American Beauty A Sociological Movie Review American Beauty, a film that was written by Allan
Ball and directed by Sam Mendes in 1999 is a unique piece that demonstrates many sociological
themes throughout the development of the plot. The characters strive to portray themselves as the
All American Family. They live in a nice house, drive nice cars and seem perfectly normal to the
general public, but the audience is allowed to view the deep set issues that plague the main
characters; Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), Carolyn Burnham (Annette Bening), Jane Burnham
(Thora Birch), and Jane's best friend Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari). As the plot develops there are
many obvious parallels relating the lives of the characters to Merton's Strain...show more content...
During the course of the film, Lester Burnham goes through a large change. When we first meet
Lester he is living his life as a ritualist. He goes to work every day because that is what he is
supposed to do, but he puts in little to no effort and he has little regard for the completion of his
goals. He has no motivation. His marriage is failing and he has an empty relationship with his
daughter. Lester says "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
thisВ…sedated. But you know what; it's never too late to get it back" (American Beauty). From
this statement we can see that there is going to be a change in Lester over the course of the
movie. When he meets Jane's friend Angela we can see an immediate change in Lester. He lusts
for her constantly and his life becomes consumed by trying to spend time with her and help her to
be attracted to him. He suddenly becomes more enthusiastic about life. He describes this as
feeling that he had been in a coma for twenty years and he is finally waking up. After this Lester
completely alters his lifestyle. He leaves his job, begins to work out everyday, buys his dream car
and starts smoking pot with Ricky Fitz. Before he met Angela, Carolyn was in charge of everything
that happened around the house and she made all of the

American Beauty Analysis
American Beauty: The Plastic Bag Blowing in The Wind American Beauty: The Plastic Bag
Blowing in The Wind The film American Beauty has so many different themes, but one of the
most important is freedom. Because for the most part, the characters of the movie were feeling
trapped in their life as a result of their concepts of success and beauty. Therefore, are somehow
trying to find a way to free themselves from the miserable life that they had. The image of a
plastic bag blowing in the wind shows precisely the freedom that the characters are looking. A
freedom that comes from finding happiness and beauty on the simplest things, but not all of them
could understand that. Ricky Fitts is the only character that seems to have found happiness and
understand the beauty of life since the beginning of the film. He is free from what other people
expect him to be and he's not afraid to be himself. Ricky comes from a background with a dark
childhood; he was disregarded by his father that abuses him physically and mentally and have a
distant mother. Even though he went through so much ugliness in his life, he didn't let it affect his
way to see beauty in the world. Because he doesn't live by the standards that are expected he found
his freedom and unconsciously inspired other characters like Jane and Lester to free themselves.
Jane Burnham felt trapped in trying to find her identity as a teenage girl that possess a body image
that doesn't fit the American definition of beauty. She

Essay On American Beauty
American Beauty is an iconic, memorable and enduring watch, directed flawlessly by Sam
Mendes. The film explores and somewhat criticizes and attacks the cherished societal beliefs and
institutions of the 'American Dream', depicting the obsessive nature of materialism and illustrating
the distortion of appearance versus reality. Many critics have scrutinized and developed further
these ideas, of which I have analysed two critical reviews from Brittany Deschler (1999) and
David Heuser. The critical analysis of American Beauty from Brittany Deschler explores the empty
promises of materialism and Carolyn's obsession with her image and possessions as well as probing
the theme of appearance versus reality and how each character confronts this at...show more content...
Carolyn has closed herself away from her family and fails to see any true beauty in life through
her materialistic values and appearance of success that is anything but, in stark contrast to Lester
who longs for a true connection with his family and discovers genuine beauty towards the end of
the film. The two reviews have shaped this understanding for me and particularly Heuser's
interpretation of the main characters have demonstrated the importance of 'looking closer', past
the false facades of others as nothing appears as it is first seen as first impressions often prove to
be false.This ideal of the 'American Dream' status is mainly broken down by Lester as he truly
reveals himself because an individual's facade can be deceiving to who they really are. The
'American Dream' stereotype is centered around the importance of showing off success through
accumulation of material items as the primary

American Beauty Research Paper
American Beauty Research Paper The film "American Beauty" was filmed by Sam Mendes in 1999
and received some awards. The movie's subject is a ordinary family in the United States, and it
shows the process how to conducts the road to destruction with American Dream. Most of the film,
the director tends to the main character who name is Lester Burnham and his family. American
Beauty is the simple film, and it interpret darkness faced by the current American society. It shows
middle class of ordinary American family, and they look perfectly normal for society and
neighborhood. This film's main theme is complicated family relationship and how to change the
protagonist, his family, and concerned people. American beauty uses Audience will be learned
how to make better family relationship and fit in the American society. Lester Burnham is this
film's main character who is sick and tired of the same old days over and over again and fell out of
place anywhere. He has a wife whose name is Carolyn. She always looks down on her husband and
gives him a shafting; however, she is weak though behaving courageously in reality....show more
content...
When he is almost dead, the main character remembers his family's good memories and that "life
is beautiful," He didn't get mad or upset the moment. Most of the time, this film tells the main
character's life and surrounding environment (Garry 819). Lester has completely changed his
actions and behaviors between the beginning and end. Before he passed way, he thought about his
wife and daughter. Carolyn and Jane was smiling in Lester's mind, and finally he noticed those
memories are the most important stuffs for his life. He tried to satisfy his desire and didn't care
about his family in the middle of the film. Most precious things are always nearby a person, but
when he or she is crazy about something concupiscence, they will be hard to identify really
important things in their

Hidden Themes in "American Beauty" Essay
In American movies there are many times basic plots, hidden themes and subliminal messages. Most
of the time the producer is trying to make a point that is not clear to the audience. American Beauty
is one such movie. The movie contains affection in two homosexual neighbors, a homophobic father,
and a mysterious relationship between an average man and his teen neighbor. American Beauty
focuses on the last year of Lester Burnham's life. Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is married to
Carolyn Burnham (Annette Betting), and their marriage is picture perfect on the outside, but the
perfection is only superficially. Their marriage is based on projecting one image– a picture perfect
suburbia lifestyle when it is in fact quite the opposite....show more content...
Then Ricky (Wes Bentley) says, "That's the whole thing dad, they don't feel that's anything to be
ashamed of." The colonel's idea of homosexuality is that it is something to be ashamed of and he
despises his son's open–mind ness toward homosexuality. The Colonel often takes his frustrations
out on his son. This could be because he doesn't want his son to suffer living a homosexual lifestyle
like he probably has.
Men fear humiliation or weakness because they always have to present everyone this image of being
though, dominant and dependent; men despise anything that goes against these traditional views of
masculinity. This traditional thoughts lead to homophobia. The media makes sure to portray men in
a violent or dominant way in the movies, TV shows, etc. Asians are almost always portrayed as
martial artist or violent criminals and Latinos as boxers, criminals or though guys in the barrio. Ever
since the
Colonel moved in he shows this extreme disgust towards homosexuals around his neighborhood. He
even shows this behavior towards his son Ricky when he becomes suspicious of his (Ricky's)
relationship with Lester. Probably when the Colonel was
CastaГ±eda 3 growing up, being gay was the worse and he tried to hide it from his parents and
thought the army might help straighten him out and got married to try to appear like a normal man.
Even though he hates this homosexual behavior, Frank still runs into the arms of his neighbor. Frank

American Beauty Identity
Sam Mendes's American Beauty is the study of several different individuals that are all enduring
some form of an identity crisis. The image of success, the wanting of love, and the struggle through a
midlife crisis are all factors that make up the depth of each character in the film. It's with these
qualities that help create the postmodern side of American Beauty. With the mixture of hyperreality,
utopian imagination, and the rejection of realistic conventions, we find a film that has its mind set
on examining what beauty really means to an individual. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a
42–year–old advertising executive who is in the throes of a midlife crisis when he becomes attracted
to his teenage daughter's best friend, Angela (Mena Suvari). Annette Bening co–stars as Lester's
materialistic wife, Carolyn, a woman who will stop at nothing to be the best real–estate agent in her
area. Thora Birch plays their insecure daughter, Jane, a teenage girl longing to be...show more
content...
Lester is immediately attracted to Angela, and this is where we experience most of the films
hyperreality. "Hyperreality, in which all is simulation and all experience is mediated through
images– particularly "simulacra," images that exist only in their own right, representing nothing in
reality." (Booker, xiv) Fantasy and reality are depicted within American Beauty, through the fantasy
scenes in which Lester has sexual visions with Angela, a 16–year–old. In these fantasy images, she is
mainly naked, and either rose petals are flowing out of her sweater or she is covered in rose petals
and bubbles in a bath tub. Eventually at the end of the movie Lester has an actual sexual encounter
with Angela, as Lester undresses the 16–year–old girl, the reality of being intimate with this young
girl was not as Lester had expected, as he finds out she is a virgin. Thus, Lester's hyperreality and
fantasy slowly fades as

Timeline of American Beauty Essay
Not long ago, a woman's success was measured by the success of her husband and her domestic
prowess. Today, a woman is presumed successful if she can emulate the standards of beauty
portrayed in the media. Unfortunately, this subliminally enforced standard is unattainable to some
women, regardless of the quality of their character. Let's examine how western women went from
being pioneering superheroes, to people who measure their worth against airbrushed photographs of
impossibly beautiful women.
Timeline of American Beauty
People have used women in print media to sell their products since the mid–19th century. The
women in the ads were portrayed with thin waists, large breasts and stylish clothing. As the roaring
1920's moved in,...show more content...
Some pin–ups were printed to advertise a product, while others were printed as calendars or
centerfolds for the soldiers serving in World War II. Pin up icons, such as Marilyn Monroe, began
their careers this way. As of 2010, these women still set the par for American beauty standards.
The 1950's introduced the American housewife. Women in print ads were portrayed in a wholesome,
Donna Reid, manner. They had the figures of a pin–up, but these figures were covered with dainty
house–dresses.
Health and Beauty
During the 19760's and 1970's, models, such as Twiggy, appeared everywhere. Women in print
looked thin to the point of being sick. The hippie movement, and the fashions that came with it, did
nothing to stop this standard. Hippies ate when they could, and were almost always thin. In the
early 1980's, AIDS reared its ugly head. The general population believed that if a person was thin,
he or she may have the virus. The media began looking for healthier women to use to sell products.
In the 1980's, the Wilhelmina Modeling Agency found Gia Carangi, the first supermodel. Gia sported
a healthy, yet sexy appearance. Sadly, Gia needed to use drugs to deal with the pressures of
maintaining perfection. Sadly, IV drug use led to her tragic death. On November 18, 1986, 26 year
old Gia died of AIDS related pneumonia.
Social Status
Today, print ads feature women with obvious social status. Veneers over teeth, name
–brand

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