America the Beautiful/America the Violent

Rating: 8/10 (26 May 2005)

American Beauty shows the contrast between the two faces of America.
American Beauty extends the idea that nothing is ever perfect. It is set in a small suburb; it shows the contrast between American the beautiful and America the violent. American Beauty shows this idea with Jane Burnham. At the begging of the film she is unhappy with her body while she is looking at best augmentation on the Internet before school. Jane's appearance is a dark gloomy feel, but as the film progresses and Jane has a relationship Ricky Fits. Jane becomes progressively better looking and more appealing to the audience. She becomes an almost natural beauty in the film much more so than Angela who everyone thinks is a goddess. The real message of the movie is that there is no such thing as beauty, but everyone espiers to be beautiful. In the very begging of the film there is a shot of a rose. As you might know a rose looks beautiful but it does have thorns beneath it just like all of the characters in American Beauty they all have something to hide.
American Beauty shows the shady underside of suburban life, or having a mysterious neighbor and a not so perfect marriage. It gets the message across that nothing is ever perfect and there is no such thing as beauty.