Film analysis

Film Analysis

The American Beauty , the Oscar-winning movie featuring Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening , is a passionate tale of a mid-life crisis in the life of a wealthy suburban family . The characters existing all in their separate , isolated worlds remind the viewer of broader social context against which the action revolves

The Burnham family consists of three individuals living lives independent of the rest of the family . Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey works for a magazine , finding himself in a career that is really going to bring him nowhere . His wife , Carolyn Burnham

(Annette Bening ) is on the surface a prospering realtor who finds herself obsessed with career success . She sleeps with `Real Estate King ' Buddy Kane in to win credits at work . Their daughter , Jane Burnham (Thora Birch ) is going through a full-blown adolescent crisis , striving for beauty she expects to achieve through breast surgery

Lester moves out of his state of quiet desperation when he falls in love with Angela , the school friend of his daughter . The pretty and cheeky girl inspires him to take to muscle training in an effort to regain his sexy and youthful look , and he keeps dreaming about her in sexual terms At the end of the movie , however , Lester stops short of making love to Angela when he learns that she is a virgin

In the meantime , Jane starts an affair with Ricky Fitts , a guy from a neighboring family , viewed by the school society as a freak like herself . His obsession with beauty for small things accounts for his passion at constant videotaping , and his lucrative drug-dealing business can be a form of protest against the strict rules of his father , Colonel Frank Fitts who had already intimidated his mother into a state of permanent shock

The main focus of the movie is how suburban life makes people isolated Suburban alienation is a well-known phenomenon pervasive in communities where people live in their separate houses , enclosing themselves in their separate worlds that can be just a few feet away from the neighbour , but Another reason for suburban alienation is the distance between these communities and downtowns that imposes certain constraints on travel The Burnham family does not seem to have difficulties in getting to work and school , but its members are really enshrined in their separate lives , sharing only physical space . Lester , Carolyn and Jane all go their separate ways , masking under pretence of a `normal ' family hatred suspicion and contempt for each other . There is even less connection between the members of the Fitts family where father and son both have distorted views of each other and have little sympathy for each other 's ideals and desires

Another feature of suburban lifestyle is the need conform to certain ideals , including of a successful career path , certain level of material wealth and `normal ' personal qualities . Suburbanites are constantly balancing between the willingness to get accepted in their prestigious set and desire to break from the demands of this society that is...