Analyzing Ricky Fitts 'American Beauty'

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

Anything different that came around tempted them and teased them, until they could finally let themselves give in. “They seek to mitigate or change their circumstances through drives, values, and impulses acquired from the cultural complexes they seek to escape” (Smith). This is similar to the story of Adam and Eve because in both cases the parties feel that acquiring the drugs, the girl, the fruit, the man, whatever it may be, will open up a whole new life for them. They were able to see a future they wouldn’t have otherwise seen for themselves, and as their desire grows stronger so does the temptation. Both feel that the change in themselves that they want can be found in their temptations. By giving into their temptations just as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden, the characters on American Beauty learn that there is certain holiness to beauty, making it desirable, yet

Music is part of everyday life and serves as the center of many cultures across the world. Music brings out the best parts of a movie, a car ride, or even a special event. The purpose of music varies from artist to artist and different cultures. Every piece of music carries a unique message, but a song, in particular, carries meaning. “Runaway Love” by Ludacris, featuring Mary J. Blige, exploits the struggles of young girls by using rhetorical techniques, such as pathos, ethos, logos, tone, and visual rhetoric throughout the music video to raise national awareness about youth runaways.

What insights into the American Dream are offered through the novella Of Mice and Men and the film American Beauty? In your essay you must consider the influences of context and the importance of techniques in shaping meaning.

Through the comparative study of “Of Mice and Men” written by John Steinbeck in 1937 and “American Beauty” directed by Sam Mendes in 1999, it is apparent that the concept of the American Dream is timeless and enduring. Mendes and Steinbeck use language techniques such as dramatic foreshadowing and filmic techniques to define the American Dream’s spiritual and materialistic aspects. However, from the context of the Great Depression explored in “Of Mice and Men” to the economic boom of 1999 which provides the backdrop to “American Beauty”, society has greatly evolved. Hence, as the context changes, so does our understanding of the American Dream and its perceived values.

One of the most apparent themes in both The Great Gatsby and American beauty is that of the empty promises of materialism, where it is perceived that wealth equals success and is expressed through the acquisition of material goods. In American Beauty, this is mainly portrayed through the characterisation of Carolyn. Carolyn highly believes in this philosophy, proudly exhibiting her possessions to others, knowing that their judgments on the appearance of these will associate her and her family will a high status, power and wealth. An example is portrayed as Carolyn obsessively maintains her garden full with immaculate red roses, an important motif in the film that particularly associating with the idea of exterior beauty and perfection. In this scene, the camera angle is first a close up on a beautiful red rose, and then pans out to show Carolyn Burnham snipping roses from her immaculate garden, demonstrating her dedication and desire to have this appearance. Another example of her materialistic self is the couch scene in which Carolyn and Lester are attempting to rekindle their love, however Carolyn stops this fearing Lester will spill the beer on her $4000 silk couch. Lester, frustrated, bluntly yells, "It's just a couch!". “This is just stuff and it’s become more important to you than living.” This sparks Lester to build himself a new reality in which he has freedom without responsibilities as the empty promise of a happy and fulfilled life drives Lester to rebel from his caged existence. The dysfunctional relationship between Carolyn and Lester demonstrates that materialism has an effect that can be entirely alienating and creates deep unhappiness.

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.

Though we may achieve some happiness there will always be something greater that follows. Yes, Gatsby may have achieved wealth and the words he so longed to hear form Daisy. And yes, the Joads were able to move as a family and travel to the Promised Land. These things are all true but as the reader looks back and evaluates these characters and their journeys throughout both novels we see the shift in their dreams. We see that once they gain a little bit of this dream that they once had it is altered to something greater. If your dream is constantly being altered it will never be achieved only enlarged thus meaning there is no such thing as the “American

Each character in the novel has their own interpretation of the ‘American Dream – the pursuit of happiness’ as they all lack happiness due to the

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

In Self Reliance, Emerson explains that our freedom to choose and our ability to think what we want to think define what America is. I believe it is characteristic of Americans to strive for what they think is right. In Poe’s the House of Usher, Usher decided to bury his sister alive. I think this story can relate to us today. Many people would say that America is known for persevering through rough times. I’d say the last few years have been a rough time for America, from 9/11 to now--the war in Iraq. Sometimes situations may seem unbeatable, like being trapped in a coffin, but if you fight hard enough, like we are against the terrorists and in Iraq, you can overcome anything. American’s can overcome anything. Usher’s sister was buried alive and finally broke from the coffin after a week of struggle. Also, many of the authors we have studied describe nature in riveting detail. To them and to me, our beautiful nature represents something more then just what you see with your eye—it represents America’s freedom. In Emerson’s Nature, Thorpe’s The Big Bear of Arkansas, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, Bryant’s Thanatopsis, and Edwards’ Shadows of Divine Things, we see an apparent love and lust of nature by the authors. The great aspects of nature represent the great aspects of America—freedom. The mountains and trees scatter in nature in pure harmony just like the American people live freely in America. The authors had a fascination

In Mythology, there are various standards of analyzation such as the Freudian, Jungian, and Rankian methods of analysis. In this essay, I will analyze the 1994 American film Forrest Gump by using three methods of analysis. In overview, the movie Forrest Gump tells a tale of a young Georgia country boy by the name of Forrest Gump. Forrest can be characterized as a special kid who had to wear leg braces because of his inability to walk straight. In addition, in the movie Forrest is seen having a low IQ when compared to other kids his age. Forrest soon finds himself being rejected by the other kids in the bus when he suddenly comes face to face with what would later be the love of his life, Jenny Currant. Growing up together, Jenny 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

“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.

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