Elusive beauty

Introduction
The American Beauty is a movie for those who are tired of the similar melodramas that dominate the screens. Released in 1999, the movie is designed to shock the audience. The movie is a powerful, tragic comedy that questions the basis of American family life ideal
. The creator, Sam Mendes, explores the usual topic of midlife crisis but with a twist. He takes the audience deeper with the help of a brilliant cast that includes Annette Benning (Caroline Burnham), Kevin Spacey (Lester Burnham), Thora Birch (Jane Burnham), and Mena Suvari (Angela Hayes). The movie reveals a hidden conflict within every individual because of the limits of living a normal life. It also highlights the many tools society employs to ensure members behave in the correct way. There are many themes in the American Beauty. The themes are conveyed through characterization, plot, and cinematography. The movie is successful in conveying some of the themes, which include materialism, beauty (objective and subjective), reality vs. appearance, and chaos vs. control. Other minor themes in the movie include denial, change, and loneliness. Each character plays a role that conveys one or more of the themes. The movie reveals the internal conflict that plagues a seemingly ideal life of the many who have achieved the American dream.
Summary
The Burnhams are on the outside living a perfect life. They live in a perfect house that is located in a perfect neighborhood. This is just the tip of the iceberg, inside, Lester is slipping into a hopeless depression, their daughter Jane is increasingly rebellious, and Carolyn is a workaholic who is infatuated by a shy boy next door. Ricky, the shy boy next door deals marijuana and lives with a homophobic father who is latently a homosexual. Angela, Carolyns friend, keeps bragging about her sexual exploits, which captures Lesters attention. Lester starts working out in an attempt to catch Angelas attention. Life changes for the Burnhams, however, the change is not what they need in their lives at the time (Mendes).
Analysis
Most the themes in American Beauty are relevant to contemporary American life. These include homophobia, beauty of life, adultery, teenage problem, and midlife crises. Others include the American predisposition to material possessions, physical beauty, and youthfulness. Many of the scenes in the movie are about normal life as is evident in Lesters monologue and the conversation between Ricky and Jane. As the movie progresses, ultimately to reveal how Lesters life ends, Lester increasingly becomes self-aware and makes several changes in his life. Some of the things he does to change his life include quitting his job and selling his car to buy his dream car. He also starts to work out after he overhears Angela telling Jane that she would find him more attractive if he improved his physique. This is an example of power in the movie (Mendes). Angela has power of Lester because Lester loves her. Lester has power over his wife because of her love of material possessions. When Carolyn threatens to divorce him, he tells her that it means they would have to share her possessions equally, something that Carolyn cannot imagine.
There are many examples of love in the movie; however, most of them are twisted in one way or the other. The best example of love in the movie is when Lester picks up a family photo of him and his family during happier times moments before his death. Other scenes that reveal love include when Carolyn discovers Lester is dead. Although they are not in good terms for the better part of the movie, she cries because she cannot imagine a life without her husband. Carolyn is the most materialistic character in the movie. One good example of materialism in the movie is when Lester and Carolyn are sitting on a coach and are about to kiss. From the side of her eyes, Carolyn discovers that Lester is about to spill beer on the couch. Carolyn ends the romance because of the issue and Lester tells her, its just a couch. Carolyn replies, This is a four thousand dollar sofa upholstered in Italian silk. This is not just a couch. They argue for a moment before Carolyn leaving the room sad because her husband does not find the couch important (Mendes).
Critique
The characters in the movie are easy to relate to in some way. One easy character to relate to in the movie is Lester. In one of the conversations between Lester and Ricky, he narrates how he worked hard just to get by. Ricky replies, That sucks, to which Lester replies that it was great for him because he had his entire life ahead of him. The theme of youthfulness is clear in this conversation because Lester considers nothing more important as youthfulness. He appreciates that time is an arrow that goes only in one direction, the future. It is easy to relate the characters in the movie with people in real life familiar to the audience because the situations they go through are realistic. Events going on in the movie that occur in everyday life include the affairs, homophobia, corrupt marriages, and the hardships the teenagers in the movie face. The creator of the movie uses humor to keep the viewers glued to the screen (Mendes). The drama is not apparent to the inexperienced viewer, especially after watching the movie ones. After watching the movie for a second or third time, it becomes apparent that the movie is not a comedy, but a drama that has comedy to keep the viewers interested.
The movie is not overly complicated; however, it is complex enough to allow for an in-depth analysis by the viewer. It is also makes the viewers think outside the box. For example, it is obvious after watching the movie that Frank kills Lester, however, it is not apparent whether Carolyn was planning the same thing. The plot of the movie is original and mostly unpredictable. The director skillfully uses the lighting, shots, and music to set the perfect mode for the story and drive the story. For example, in one screen Carolyn walks into the house crying. The room dark and her figure is a dark shadow against the gray lighting in the background. Sad music is playing in the background and there is a thunderstorm visible through the window. The scene implies that Carolyn wishes to kill her husband. Carolyn is for the most part a sad person obsessed with controlling people. She seems to wear the pants in the family because she controls everything in the house including the music the family listens to during dinner (Mendes). Unlike Carolyn, Lester has a different idea of control, he reverts to his youthful habit of smoking pot and buys his sport dream car that he drives fast listening to seventies rock music.
The main character in the movie are heterosexual, however, the movie has too many homoerotic scenes. The issue is not that the movie contains homosexuality as a theme rather; it is the manner it to superficial ideas about homosexuality. The conservative Frank is in many scenes uttering homophobic slurs, especially when his son who admits being homosexual to make him mad confronts him. Frank turns out to be a closet homosexual, which seems to confirm the simplistic view that heterosexuals who express homosexual sentiments are introverted homosexuals. This simplistic view reveals little about what motivates this type of discrimination. Franks behavior at the end of the film is inconsistent with his established character. When Frank meets Lester in his garage, they engage in a short conversation after which Frank tries to Kiss Lester. Lester rejects his advances and frank leaves the garage heartbroken. This is unrealistic for the character Frank because it is unlikely for someone as sexually repressed as frank to make such as outright sexual advance (Mendes).
Lesters fantasies about Angela, a teenage girl, come across as a bit silly and strange. They fail to penetrate the male imagination of his age because it is clear Lester lust for Angela, however, in the fantasies rose petals always seem to get in the way of his fantasies. Despite the main characters in the movie being heterosexual, female nudity takes a back seat with male bodies becoming the real preoccupation. These include the gay neighbors whom Lester jogs with to learn a bit about working out. While some may argue that Carolyn cries at the end of the movie after discovering her husbands body because she loved him, their interactions throughout the movie do not reveal otherwise. Throughout the movie, Carolyn is constantly screening at her husband and sleeping with another man. It makes no sense why she would react the way she did considering she was considering killing Lester. The theatrics are unnecessary because the only reason she remains married to Lester is his threats and her love for material possessions (Mendes).
The Burnhams are unlikable and selfish characters for the better part of the movie. Carolyn only cares about her material possessions and other peoples opinions, Lester only cares about his youthful dreams, and Jane is preoccupied with her life and increasingly withdrawn from her friend Angela. Their self-indulgence limits the audience from sympathizing with their plight. The director of the film may have developed the character Lester for the audience to sympathize with through his monologue narration in the background. However, he comes across as equally selfish and unwilling to consider others, including his family in his decisions, such as quitting his job (Mendes).
Conclusion
The technical aspects of the movie are excellent. The plot and characters cooperate to develop the storyline that reveals the internal conflict within average Americans living in a suburb. The movie portrays the materialistic predisposition of many Americans and dispenses the notion that wealth results in happiness. Lester, a seemingly happy man, is internally disturbed because he reveals at the beginning of the movie that he feels dead when alive. This is inconsistent with the notion other people have of him. The homosexuality theme in the movie is a bit off because the main characters in the movie are heterosexual. The movie also covers the issue in a shallow manner and has many stereotypes. Lester fantasies are strange for a man his age. Considering that he lust for the teenage girl, fantasies of a sexual nature fit the context better. Despite the shortcomings, the movie maintains a viewers attention and is good in demonstrating the power of film.

 Works cited
American Beauty. Dir. Sam Mendes. Perf. Kevin Spacey and Annette Beninga. 1999. Internet (http://moviestream.flickrfotos.com/play/12878).