Motifs In American Beauty

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.

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

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,

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

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.

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 use of camera angles was a clear way of defining a characters personality. The warden, Norton, is often seen from a low angles which highlights his high status in the prison and his authority.”Your arse belongs to me”. This effective way of showing Norton's position of power allows the audience to understand the significance of him. The prisoners, however are frequently shown from a high angle which

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

The disturbing description of the serial killer is recited without any waver whatsoever away from the intent only to divulge information. The narrator makes no personal comment and expresses no opinion about Howard. After the narrator has given the information to the listener, the narrator leads the train of thought right back to the work environment. The idea of a horrible mass murderer is interrupted by his typing ability. This continued contrast now goes past unstable and borders on psychotic.

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

“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.

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.

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

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