Motifs In American Beauty

In Goffman's theory life is ensured as a stage, there is a front and back stage also known as the front and back region, there is a character and a performer. The front stage is where everyone understands everything that is going on. The front stage is normally where the performer, you, chooses which character they are going to play. In American Beauty, Caroline chooses to act the part of a successful relator, so she acts like everything is going well even if it isn't and give the impression that she is successful and happy just like any other successful business woman. The back region is where you keep all of the things that you don't want everyone to know about, for example, in Caroline's back region she hides her failing marriage, unhappy family, and her frustration with her career and herself. In one of the scenes where Caroline is trying to sell a house she is in the front region so she acts as the professional, happy, successful business woman but when everyone leaves she is in the back region so she lets her guard down and lets her frustration and anger show until she forces herself back into being her front region

Immediately as the speech begins, Henry’s tone manifests itself and remains unwavering. Henry begins, “It is natural for a man to indulge in the illustration of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth” (1). This sheds insight on his message and portrays him as a well versed individual. He then strengthens his tone when he says

The camera follows the elders of the block, Da’ Mayor and Mother Sister, as they talk in her bedroom. For a rare moment in the film Da’ Mayor’s and Mother Sister’s eyes are at exactly the same level, showing that as different as the two may have seemed, they are very much the same. Then the camera slowly pulls out as the two stand and sluggishly walk down a hallway toward a window. Now, where a director would typically have to cut and setup a new shot, Lee pulls the camera straight out of the window as Mother Sister and Da’ Mayor survey the block. The audience would expect to see next exactly what Da’ Mayor and Mother Sister are looking at, but instead Lee quickly pans over in the opposite direction to reveal Mookie standing in the street bellow. By doing this Lee makes a connection that both the elders and Mookie are, in the words of Mother Sister, “still standing.” The shot is not particularly tight but still has a cramped feel due to the clutter of things in the background, the heavy shadowing, and the red tint on the lighting. The red lighting gives sense of volatility to the shot, which is contrasted by the slow camera and character movements. These slow movements are analogous to the block as, regardless of how slowly, it too will go on and life will continue. This shot is in the tradition of mise en scene advocates like Bazin in that,

One example is during the dance, when Henry and Rafas, a member of the Downey Gang, get into a fight, Henry eventually gains the upper hand and Rafas is at his mercy, however, instead of harming him, Henry just tells him to leave. Then, Bertha, Henry’s old girlfriend says “The old Hank would have slit Rafas’ belly like a fat pig.” (Valdez 47). This shows that Henry used to be much more ruthless than he was in the play. This is because he realizes that any violence that he does, no matter how small, will come up again, and could stop him from joining the military or from getting a decent job after the war. Because he realized this, he began to think about what effect his actions may have on his future. Another example is when Henry decided to back out of the appeal (Valdez 70). Instead of fighting the racist and corrupt justice system that put him in jail, Henry thought that, by accepting the punishment, he would be viewed as more American, and perhaps he would get out of jail early for good behavior. When Henry decided that he was going to join the navy he was thinking about his future as well. In the play Henry says, “I was all set to come back a hero, see? Me la rayo. For the first time in my life I really thought Hank Reyna was going someplace.” (Valdez 30). Henry knew that the only way he could gain respect from the police and the white Americans was by

The parlour scene also moves to subtly illustrate ideas of the distribution of power — another common characteristic of the thriller genre — through the use of low angled shots of Bates. This gives the audience the impression that he is controlling over Marion and once more foreshadows his predatory

Part three of In Cold Blood uses foreshadowing and strong, pathos diction to create a sense of finality in the chase for the elusive murders. Dewey displays a foil exemplifying relief and finality when he tells his boy, “Pauly, you remember those two fellows we've been looking for? Well, now we know where they are, and Daddy's going to go get them and bring them here to Garden City.” In these two sentences the diction he uses is light-hearted and jovial, letting the audience exhale in this moment of final relief. Dewey is also the center of a foil when in his dream of the two men in the diner he saw the two murderers in a café, ‘‘Sharing the table were two young men, and Dewey, recognizing them, nudged Agent Duntz. ‘Look.’ ‘Where?’ ‘The corner.’

1. Crane’s approach was written in third person, but the reader knows what Henry is thinking and feeling.

Henry starts out having an extreme amount of self doubt and wanting to have more courage. He has a traditional view of courage, believing that he wants others to view him as courageous and get praise from them. Henry does not want to gain courage for himself, but for others to think he is strong. He is very conflicted and struggles with his emotions, worrying that he does not want others to view him as weak and a coward, when he should be focusing on just doing his job and believing in himself.

When Andy plays music we see the prisoners shown form a bird's eye view, this is another camera angle used to display the prisoners as small and insignificant. The camera angles used by Darabont allow the audience to see the status of the characters. As the audience we get an instant look into who is a in control and who isn't.

This once again focuses on Charlie’s constant and ruthless deception. Charlie Dillon acts as if he can do whatever he wants and not face the consequences. A clear example of this is present in the scene

Lester's intension is to reveal the character's motives and justify the reason they have done something, so the reader will understand. Also the feelings of the character's feelings are explained. "Iwanted to say I needed you too. Amd Gid knows I did." By saying, "I wanted to..." Lester tells the audience that Francia felt it and therefore did not incluse it in the dialogue sectionand is a close examination of how the character feels at this piont in the play. Lester does not include this in the diaglogue section becauseit is a revalation of the character.

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 very beginning of the movie one of the main characters Lester is giving a brief introduction to his life. He states how he feels dead inside and that basically he’s unhappy with his life. Throughout the film Lester, Jane and

images as constructions that we created around ourselves as a means of hiding our true selves. Mendes is able to implicate us in the construction and make us active viewers by exploiting our voyeuristic nature. In American Beauty Mendes uses the voyeuristic tendencies of the spectator to acknowledge the permeating constructed images. Mendes, through the use of narration, the mise en scene and cinematic techniques implicates the spectator in to using their voyeuristic tendencies to deconstruct