American Beauty By Sam Mendes

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

After closely analyzing Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13th, my eyes were opened as to how black people feel vs. the way white people may feel about the criminal justice system and the unfair treatment of African Americans. I was honestly disappointed with both sides because of the way the race card is used to justify our actions towards one another.

No family is perfect. Although from the outside looking in, some families may be depicted as perfect, they are far from it. The theme of unhappy families being portrayed as perfect is shown in the movies American Beauty directed by Sam Mendes and Pleasantville directed by Gary Ross. American Beauty depicts the Burnham’s as being the perfect 1990’s suburb family. Lester, the father, has an office job and Carolyn, the mother, works as a realtor. They have a teenaged daughter named Jane, who is in high school. They live in a single house surrounded by a white fence and perfect shrubbery. In the movie Pleasantville, the Parkers are illustrated as the perfect 1950’s family in the sitcom named Pleasantville. Betty Parker is a stay at home mom whereas

Although happiness is a more evident theme in American Beauty, the idea of liberty is substantial; specifically, because free will is difficult to find, not to mention, exceedingly rare. One of the uniting personality traits in the movie is that so many of the characters appear trapped: trapped by their fears, their existences, and their occupations. Several characters such as Colonel Fitts and his wife, Barbara Fitts conclude the film just as entombed as they were when the movie began. Additionally, character’s such as Carolyn Burnham, merely begin to free themselves from the events that bind them in the substantial moments just before the film

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

American Beauty is a film about dysfunctional suburbia. Which is why it is not very surprising when the movie reveals how utterly toxic familial relationships can be, as seen with Ricky and Colonel Frank Fitts. Ricky's home-life is a nightmare: an emotionally absent mother and a controlling, abusive father. There is a

“American Beauty”, the 1999 film, is a motion picture that more or less shows a different side of the average suburban family. Although all of the characters have significant issues, I have chosen to take a closer look at Lester Burnham. Lester Burnham is a 42-year-old businessman who is married to the career-obsessed Carolyn and they have one daughter, a teenager named Jane. One of the first scenes of the movie explains how the family works: Carolyn is driving, just like she “drives” the family, Jane is sitting right next to her in the front seat, and Lester is slouched in the backseat, visually becoming more miserable by the second.

A child’s life has many milestones such as learning to walk, learning to talk and their first day at school. Throughout all these stages parents are obliged to provide guidance, safety and support for their children as they learn to interpreate the world for themselves. Christine Jeffs’ visual text, Rain explores the story of thirteen year old, Janey whose parents are so caught up in self-absorption, they neglect their parental roles to both Janey and her younger brother Jim.This up-bringing of Janey and Jim leave the audience pondering, Does the abandonment of morale parents roles shape a childs transition into adolescence? The consequences of neglecting Janey through her first steps into womanhood, ricochet on Janey's parents, and damage

Humans have strived for perfection in every aspect of society, yet it has never been attained. There is a thin line between perfection and disaster and the result is ultimately based upon decisions made by people in authority. The film Minority Report, directed by Steven Spielberg, is set in Washington D.C. in 2054, where police utilize a psychic technology to arrest and convict murderers before they commit their crime. Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury published in 1953. The novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed and "firemen" burn any books that are found.

Colours cannot only serve as visually separating or connecting elements in a frame but also represent symbolic components inside a frame. Having already written papers on character constellation and notions of beauty in American Beauty, colour was another aspect that attracted my attention when watching the film for the very first time. Although one can detect numerous similarities in terms of framing between American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, and Shame, the importance of colour in all three films appears even more striking to me and was one of my main motivations to compare these films. Especially the colour red in American Beauty catched my eye and reminded me of Pleasantville, a film that deliberately utilises colour to support and convey

I utilize two scenes from the movie American Beauty, the two office scenes including Lester (Kevin Spacey) and Brad (Barry Del Sherman).The cinematic techniques are identified with mise-en-scene, which is the term used to portray everything 'put into the scene'. I concentrate on decor, lighting and props, costumes, body language (e.g., posture, gestures and facial expressions) and composition. I additionally take a gander at how these components are confined as far as camera stature, camera point and camera separate, all of which fall under the class of cinematography. The scene seems right off the bat the movie. Toward the start of American Beauty, the hero, Lester Burnham is disappointed with his life. At home he and his materialistic, aspiring

“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.

In the Film The Pianist directed by Roman Polanski. We witness a scene where Szpilman is injured, filthy and starving he rummages around looking for anything to sustain himself. He finds a can of gherkins which he struggles to open he finds some fire stoking equipment and begins opening the can however due to the state of Szpilman he drops the can and the contents falls and drains at the soldier 's feet. In the Hosenfeld scene Points which will be covered are the visual aspects, the aural elements, the mise en scene aspects and post production elements and how all these elements relate to the “big Idea” of having something or someone to hold onto can make you stay focussed and not give up.

Amy Dunne at first expression is a nice, cool, stylish female who would be an ideal daughter and wife. She is her parents’ inspiration for a children’s book series called “Amazing Amy”, which was about a perfect girl who overcomes all obstacles that come her way. To her husband Nick Dunne, she is a dedicated wife, who loves him dearly, and struggles to make her marriage work. Okay now let’s give you the real Amy, analyzing her throughout the book it seems she should be diagnosed with Borderline personality disorders.

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