An Important Movie: You Will Love it or Hate it

Rating: Null/10 (9 June 2002)

SPOILERS, SO BEWARE ======================> American Beauty is an incredible journey into the psyche of normal middle-class suburban Americans. Each character portrayed in this film appears to have a normal life, but as we soon discover each character is dysfunctional in their own way, with their own point of view on the society in which they live, and their accepted moral values. It is a social comment on the contemporary state of suburban America. This film dares to explore many important, and vastly complex modern issues.
Firstly, it explores the inter-personal relationships between husband and wife, parent and child, schoolyard social interaction, and the employer / employee relationship. The main characters clash with each other constantly as they meet common situations with vastly different points of view. Lester Burnham clashes with his wife Carolyn constantly on issues of capitalism, and the portrayal of her shallow self image. Carolyn clashes with Lester about his lack of respect for the rules, the law, success, and his self image. Jane (the disturbed teenage daughter) clashes with her father Lester over his lack of attention towards her, the (perceived) lack of love for her, and of course his crush on her beautiful school-friend, Angela Hayes. She perceives that her father loves Angela more than he loves her. Ricky Fitts clashes with his schoolyard collegue Angela, as their different approaches to life make them poles apart. Ricky's past history with the mental hospital only agrovates this situation. Ricky also clashes with his father, Colonel Frank Fitts of the US Marine Corps, who wholeheartedly believes in the discipline that he learnt from the Corps. He is constantly disappointed that his son does not fit his mold, and is deathly afraid of his son's involvement with homosexuals.
Secondly, it deals with homophobia in a very daring way. Colonel Frank Fitz is portrayed as a very conflicted character, deathly fearful of homosexuals, steadfastly opposed to their way of life, and yet displays a great deal of repressed love for his son, which he is unable to convey, and which leads to frustration. There is a telling scene toward the end of the film where the Colonel kisses Lester, which indicates his own repressed homosexual impulses, which may have finally offended his homophobic nature so much that it caused him to crack.
Thirdly, it deals with beauty. Although it is not beauty in the conventional sense, as shown by the fall from grace of the very attractive and beautiful Angela Hayes. As Ricky Fitts points out, under the surface Angela is ordinary. It delves into the unseen beauty that can be found in ordinary everyday things, beauty that is most often overlooked by people who are too busy to slow down and appreciate it. Beauty it seems, can be discovered by delving below the surface, and exploring that which you cannot see with your eyes, but with your mind. It is definately mocking a society driven by surface beauty (glitzy advertising, super-models, luxury cars, and the 'surface image' of success). It mentions discovering beauty in the most unexpected places, and for a brief moment, this is like looking into the eyes of God.
Four, it deals with perception versus reality. Scattered all throughout the film, are examples of perception (or image) being more important than reality. Carolyn and the King have taken this to extremes, with his telling comment, "In order to be successful, one must portray an image of success at all times". Carolyn tells Lester to "act happy tonight" when they go out to a function. Her obsession with appearance also reaches home, with her Italian silk sofa, her beautiful Mercedes, her beautiful garden, the way her garden shears match her clogs! Angela Hayes is also afflicted with this modern disease, she is very attractive, and often discusses her willingness to have sex, or use sexual attractiveness to realise her dreams of becoming a model. Again, this is an image that she is projecting (as Lester finds out in the pre-sex scene where he finds out she is really a virgin).
Most importantly, it deals with life, and how to live it. "Above all else, be true to thyself". This is the lesson that Lester slowly begins to learn, with the help of Ricky Fitz. He stops believing in the lie, and living the lie that just makes us better consumers. He learns to love again. He learns the meaning of passion, and the persuit of passion (Carolyn pulls up in the driveway to find Lester's new Pontiac Firebird!). He learns to speak his mind when faced with adversity or injustice, and not just roll over and accept his fate (the classic scene where he blackmails his boss, by speaking out about his boss blowing $50,000 on hookers, and the hypocrisy of his being fired). He struggles to deal with his wife, and her capitalistic approach to life - the accumulation of 'things' and 'stuff', as a benchmark of their success. Her devotion to 'Me' centered living, and the surface image or portrayal of success at all costs, even at the expense of (it seems) her own dignity. He begins to lose respect for his wife, as he pulls away from her ideals and returns to his own. The final straw is evident in the discovery of his wife cheating on him with Buddy Kane, the King of Real Estate, in the fast food drive thru. "You don't get to tell me what to do - ever again!". This lack of respect is also evident later on, when Colonel Fitts questions him, "Your wife is out fooling around with another man, and you don't care?".
There is a lot to learn from this film. If you've only seen it once, do yourself a favour and see it again. It took several watchings for me to truely get the point, and I believe there are still things I have missed. And don't be put off by the disturbing content.
I'm still not entirely sure about the closing statement from the Narrator, but there is an important message here. "[the beauty...] Try not to hold on to it. Let it go, and it will flow through you like rain, and you will feel nothing but gratitude." I guess this is a throw-back to Ricky Fitz and his video camera, desperately trying to record and hang onto his moments of true beauty so that he can remember them. Let them go, Ricky ! [10/10]