The American Dream

Rating: 7/10 (2 May 2010)

It may take a few viewings to extract them, but the American Beauty explores many themes, the central of which is true happiness. More specifically, the movie deals with the ideal of true happiness and how that happiness is often lost during and due to the American style conception and pursuit of it.
American Beauty is centered around Lester Burnham (played by Kevin Spacey,) a seemingly typical post mid-life suburbanite stuck in a demeaning job and married to a rather cold, unfaithful and superficial wife Carolyn (played by Annette Bening.) The couple have a daughter, Jane, who is in the throes of a full out rebellion- particularly against Lester, whose passivity only seems to aggravate her. Jane brings home a 15 year old friend, Angela (played by Mena Suvari) whom Lester develops a deep infatuation for. Jane also befriends their next door neighbor, Ricky Fits (Wes Bentley) who has an abusive repressed homosexual for a father and a mother who has all but completely withdrawn into herself mentally. Lester's infatuation with Angela causes him to act out in a grown up temper tantrum; he quits his job, starts recreational drug use, starts working out to impress Angela and begins to assert himself at home. Lester also befriends Ricky, which leads Ricky's dad to suspect they are having a sexual relationship. In the movie's climax, Lester attempts to seduce Angela, but stops his advances when he learns she's a virgin. Ricky's dad, who had attempted to kiss Lester during a misunderstanding, comes to the house and shoots Lester in the head, killing him.
Lester's infatuation with Angela is expressed in the film through rather artistic slow motion cutaways of Angela, naked and surrounded by red rose petals. Roses are prevalent throughout the movie and is the movie's central symbol.
American Beauty seems to be an indictment of the stereotypical American dream: finding happiness through tangible, traditional successes and categories. To me the movie specifically targets (whether intentionally or unintentionally) the Baby Boomer generation, one of the first generations to have the world handed to them on a silver platter. It is a temper tantrum in and of itself, the views of a generation that wants to flaunt the rules, party hard and prey on their young to maintain a lifestyle forever. A generation that views the establishment and those who "follow the rules" as repressed deviants. Ultimately, it's a "follow your dreams" story about flaunting responsibility and finding true happiness in the superficialities.