American Beauty: Appearance Versus Reality

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

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.

American Beauty at first glance may seem to be a snuff film or even a movie that simply dwells on sexual desire but, it is actually a commentary on the monotony of life and the will and means to break out of said monotony. It can also be a tale of the dangers of desires and the downfall that obsessive natures can lead to. This is true for the main character’s wife, Carolyn Burnham, who appears to have both Borderline Personality Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. While the movie is mainly focused on Lester Burnham and his eventual desire to break free from his conformities, there is a focus on how Carolyn focuses mainly on her work, conformity, and order to the point where she puts her family life on the back burner. These

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

What makes someone beautiful? This striking question has always had a complex answer rather than simple. Society makes their interpretation of beauty with many standards that qualify for the “most beautiful people” in the world. America's picture of the perfect lady is extremely thin however full figured. America’s picture of the perfect gentleman is also thin, yet very fit. It’s always one thing or the other, never one choice. The public has their own particular rendition of what beauty looks like, yet american beauty happens to have a stance amongst the most startling standards. These standards of beauty that women see each day impact their confidence and self-esteem negatively only to push them to discover ways to fit into these unrealistic beauty criterias. Beauty standards in America are ever-changing, but society has yet to absolutely accept the average, everyday woman.

“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.

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.

Beauty standards are portrayed everywhere: on magazines, social media, ads, commercials, and even flaunted among peers. While the ideals are supposed to promote health awareness, fitness motivation, and self love, it unfortunately results in many unfavorable consequences. Women are constantly “penalized for not being beautiful and at the same time are stigmatized, even pathologized, for not feeling beautiful, for having low self-esteem, for engaging in behaviors like dieting and excessive exercising, or for having eating disorders” (Johnston and Taylor 954). Beauty standards are unrealistic and unhealthy to pursue, and misinforms the public on what true beauty is. While not all beauty image ideals promote negative feelings and dissatisfaction, many believe that the negative effects far outweighs any positive effects.

Everywhere you look we have billboards, posters, ads, and magazines with images of beautiful people on them. It is these pictures that capture not only their physical perfection, but their delightful lives; the majority of them portraying females. Women full of happiness and sheer bliss including their super brilliant white teeth, long luscious hair, and sexy curves sending a message that if we can posses these attributes then we, too can have a satisfactory life. Beyoncé recently addressed the issue of unattainable beauty standards, as well as the struggle for true happiness in her new song and music video “Pretty Hurts” where she depicts how obsessively hurtful it is to want to be perfect or the epitome of beauty. Surgeries becoming

“Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does” - DOVE Campaign for Real Beauty

The opening scene of American Beauty shows a teenage girl lying in a bed, venting her feelings towards her father. In this, the audience sees her in dull clothing and colours, minimal make-up and has greasy-looking hair. As she sits up, her hair falls around her face and she stares directly into the camera, giving a sense of unease to the audience.

Beauty has been a controversial idea for thousands of years. It has been defined as a scientific equation of symmetry, evolutionarily pleasing traits for reproduction, a charming personality, and so on. However, one quote seems to have answered this question most sufficiently, “Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.” Unfortunately, this answer isn’t good enough for American society. No one on this earth is exactly alike in physical appearance or personality and yet this culture does all it can to conform to unrealistic ideals of beauty. For that reason, a woman is judged when she does not fit into that cookie cutter mold.

Beauty standards have been a major issue for many years now and women have been willing to change their bodies over and over to please themselves and others. Beauty standards are often defined in terms of hairstyles, skin color, and body size. The measures involved in having to live up to these standards are often risky in nature. For decades, what is seen as beautiful is centered around a women’s weight and size. Today, that standard is often defined as being thin. Women often resort to drastic means to attain that ideal image. However, achieving these standards can be expensive, can lower self-esteem and can be a threat to a woman’s health and life.

“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.

With the media being a very popular way of communication and self expression in today’s culture, it influences the way of younger generations to be more involved in today’s technology, and to allow them to influence the world by the press of a button. But one of the topics that is very controversial is that in today’s society is the high expectations of what they think a girl has to look like, from girls not having stretch marks or scars, to magazines and photographers using photoshop to convince readers that the model looks like that. With all of these being factors that there is pressure is high for many girls around the world, this has to resolved.