American Beauty (1999) Summary and Analysis

Ameri brush off Beauty (1999) compendium and AnalysisAmeri gage Beauty tells the story of one mans search for happiness. The strike introduces the listening to Lester Burnham, an ordinary- looking married man and let in his forties. Lester is in a loveless marriage. Lesters wife, Carolyn, is so wrapped-up in her real estate passage that Lester often claims that Carolyn doesnt even acknowledge him. Furthermore, Lesters miss, Jane, is completely distant, often claiming how pathetic she thinks her father is. More over, Lester has dedicated fourteen years to his occupation, and suddenly, he is in danger of losing his ruminate due to downsizing. All of these factors dramatic eachy effect Lester and culminate into feelings of desperation and pic for him. Lester is in that locationfore in search of an scarper and a rebirth. He is desire the s leisurelyest possibility of happiness. passim the story Lester is consistently reminiscing on his knightly need he could have it bindin g. In the beginning portions of the story, Lester, as the narrator, states that it is never as well as late to regain your past. The catalyst to this order of thought is Janes friend, Angela. Lester feels excited by the thought that a teen-age girl thinks he is hot. Lester over perceives Angela state that she would have sex activity with him if Lester would start working-out and build-up his body. This drives Lester to change himself completely. Lester, in desperate search of happiness , finds an escape in Angela. Much desire a hormone-driven teenage boy, Lester thinks that if he end score with a bombs stone pit like Angela, then he get out be reborn. Lesters missionary post for happiness and escape is further perpetuated by his cardinal year old neighbor, Ricky. In Ricky, Lester sees his model for rebirth.Lester calls Ricky his hero and is in idolatry of Rickys confidence. Lester, then begins a transformation tolerate to his stereotypical understanding of what a teenager is. Lester begins to work-out, smoke pot, and drink beer. Much like a teen, he rebels against responsibility by quitting his job and at that placefore, bypassing his duties as a provider to his daughter and wife. Furthermore, Lester spontaneously, trades in his Mercedes automobile for a 1970s cherry-red Trans Am sports car. In addition, Lester pursues a job with the least count of responsibility. He finds that job in a fast food restaurant. All of these actions ar deemed necessary to Lester because this is the commission to escape and thus achieving happiness. The firstborn ikon where the interview is introduced to Lesters transformation turn is when he first spots Angela. Lester and Carolyn decided to come and support Jane at a school basketball game where she is to perform a dance at half-time. This motion-picture shew is significant because it shows how Angelas sexuality motivated Lester to rebel against who he is. Furthermore, this sight exemplifies Lesters characteri stics as a hormone-crazed male in search of sex. This carcass of thought is associated more with teens than with men in their forties. The first twain technical foul elements utilise to exemplify this shaft argon com military capability and photographic television camera movement. The stroke begins with Lester and Carolyn already in the stands with the crowd. Angela, Jane, and the other cheerleaders enter the picture with serious to unexpended over(p) movement assisted by a panning camera ray of right to left. This foreshadows the unordinary actions that argon approximately to occur. Almost immediately, into the dance snatch, Angela is given up an up(a) position in the frame elevated with dynamic musical theme. It is dynamic composition because there is movement (Angela dancing) within a fixed frame. By giving Angela an upward position within the frame this suggest Lester is first nonicing her. As the cyclorama continues, and Angela has Lesters full forethought, Angela is shown moving towards the camera in other dynamic composition shot complemented by the camera zooming in on her. This gives the listening an judgement as to the degree of attention that Lester is giving to Angela due to her sexuality.It too enhances her presence. The mental picture continues with a static composition shot of Lester. It is static composition because there is no movement within the frame. The camera then begins to zoom in on Lester. As the camera zooms, the crowd is eliminated and only Lester is shown in the frame. Furthermore, the camera focuses on Lesters eye and makes them appear bigger than they actually be. This makes Lester look like an animal drooling at the mouth over some thing he desires. At this point, the camera performs a point of visual modality shot show what Lesters eyes are fixated on, and focuses on Angela. This, once again, displays the degree of enchantment that Angela has placed over Lester. Angela is also shown solely in the fram e. This shows that in Lesters mind, only Angela and himself exist at this moment. not even his daughter is of any relevance. The scene concludes with the camera then performing a shot-reverse-shot of Angela then Lester. This allows the audience to see that in Lesters fantasy, Angela is dancing erotically just for him and is paying as much attention to him as he is paying to her. It is important to note that Angela and Lester are never shown in the resembling frame in this scene. This suggest that there is some barrier that is surrounded by them such as the fact that Lester is desiring a girl that is his daughters age. tinder is another technical element that adds to the effectiveness of this scene. When the camera performs a point of view shot from Lesters perspective to show the audience that he is fixated on Angela Angela is shown by herself in the frame. As stated above, this is to show that Angela is the only object of Lesters attention.Lighting adds to this effect. Lighting is used to focus the audience on Lesters eyes and to show that he is being enchanted by what he sees. As Angela is shown alone in the frame, the background in the shot forces completely b neglect. There is a bright light light on Angela. The source of the light is not clear, and is coming from above Angela. The lighting in the scene is high direct contrast and low key. It is high contrast because the difference between light and sinfulness is clear. It is low key lighting because Angelas shadow can be seen buns her and shadows can be seen on the rest of Lesters face, excluding his eyes.. The contri andions that the lighting effect has in this scene are many. First of all, the light shining solely on Angela adds to the audience understanding that Angela is the object of Lesters attention. Secondly, light is usually affiliated with sizable and darkness with bad. The light compliments Angelas characteristics because she is a virgin. Since the source of the light cannot be seen, t here can be speculation that the light is one from Heaven, shining down on her to show her innocence. At the akin time, Angela is trying to be somebody that she is not. She consistently claims throughout the movie that she is sexually experienced. The darkness in the background of the shot can be the foreshadowing of things to come if she continues on this path of lies. Even though she may be a virgin, inadvertently to Lester Lester views her and is thinking bad thoughts. He is fixated with her sexuality, as shown through the dance routine his fantasy has Angela perform. Lesters thoughts which represent darkness, are shown as surrounding Angela and her innocence. Editing complements this scene by adding more definition to the relationship-to-be between Angela and Lester. The entire scene uses decoupage.It is decoupage because the abscission is fast paced which suggests an almost disorganized and imbalance perspective to the audience and at the same time it shows that the thought s that are passing game through Lesters head are not ordinary, instead they are chaotic. Also, decoupage has a tendency to use close-ups. This scene has plenty of zoom shots of Angela and Lester. Furthermore, it is important to note that Angela and Lester are never shot together in the scene. They are individually shot in a shot-reverse-shot fashion. This suggest a disunity between the both of them. Again, something is separating the both of them, such as the age gap. Not including the absence of decoupage and ellipsis is important in this scene. absence seizure of decoupage requires a decelerated pace. A slower pace would take away from the chaotic sensation that decoupage brings and therefore, would not reflect well on the relationship-to-be between Angela and Lester. apply ellipsis would require fast-paced trimming that would compare and contrast the actions occurring in this scene with another scene. This would disturb the scene and take away its effectiveness. By showing the degree of passion between Angela and Lester in his fantasy the audience learns much about Lesters intentions and transformation. The usage of sound adds to the effectiveness of both Angelas moves and Lesters thoughts in this scene. The scene begins with Jane, Angela, and the other cheerleaders dancing to a wordless version of On Broadway. This is parallel diegetic sound because it relates to what can be seen on screen. The usage of this birdbirdsong is important to the theme of this movie. Lester is about to embark on a mission to be free. Lester is going to pursue happiness. In the same way, On Broadway is about pursuing a new experience. On Broadway speaks about coming to refreshful York and being taken aback by all the lights and attractiveness of the city. In the same manner, Lester is about to be taken aback by an American beauty, Angela. Further in the scene, through shot-reverse-shot fashion, only Angela and Lester are in the frame (they are shown separately) the song On Br oadway and the crowd cannot be heard. This is an event of polyphonic sound.Contrapuntal sound involves muting sound beyond what one would normally hear if he/she were in that scene. Using this devise adds to the audience understanding the amount of attention that Lester is giving Angela. Lester, in his fantasy, is so infatuated with Angela that it appears that he can zone-out all the other tremendous noise occurring during a basketball game. During Lesters fantasy, as Angela is dancing in an extremely erotic manner, touching her body all over, a slow and erotic song begins to play. The song has a amatory and Latin beat to it that intensifies the mood from the audiences perspective providing clues as to what Lesters intentions are with Angela. This is an example of non-diegetic sound. It is sound that does not have its source in the image. The second scene of interest occurs when Lesters erotic dreams are about to become reality. Lester and Angela are in his house. Lester has confe ssed to Angela that he wanted her since the first time he laid eyes upon her. The scene begins with Lester laying Angela down on a couch so he could have sex with her. This scene is essential because Angela and her virginity is for the taking, but Lester comes to a actualisation and refuses to have sex. Lester transforms once again, from the teenage rebel he had become, back to the man he was. He came to understand, as most boys do when they become mature men, that sex is not the key element to happiness. Lester did want his past back. However, he wanted back the past that included the family he had lost. base and camera movement are used in this scene. As the scene begins, Lester has Angela and is laying her down on the couch. This is a dynamic shot with downward(prenominal) movement. It is dynamic because there is movement within a fixed frame. The downward movement implies an action that is not positive, such as Lester having sex with a teenager. Furthermore, the downward mov ement implies something lost, such as Angelas virginity and innocence. If they have sex, both of those impart be lost forever.This shot is also a canted shot. It is a canted shot because Angela appears at a 45 degree burden in the frame. This suggest that things are bizarre and that Angelas point of view is slanted. A bizarre sex act is about to occur, and Angela is inexperienced, and doesnt know the first thing about why she should be having sex. As the scene continues, the camera pans from left to right and right to left following Lesters work force as they go up and down Angelas body. The camera movement intensifies the erotic feeling in the audience. The camera then moves to a dynamic crane shot , showing Lesters hands unbuttoning Angelas blouse. That shot is then followed by shot-reverse shot of Angela and Lester looking at one another. Angela, is given the low angle, looking-up at Lester, which implies that Lester is in control. This complements the idea that auberge cons iders it a macho action for the man to be in control. quench thinking under the mentality of a hormone-crazed teen, Lester feels good. It is important to note that Lester and Angela are not shown in the same shot during these actions. This implies disunity and an ironic separation because they are about to engage in the most intimate activity two humans can share with one another. It is also important to note, that during the crane shots, Angela is consistently given the higher position in the frame. This implies that she is pure and free because usually good elements are given the higher position over bad elements (such as heaven being in the sky and hell down under). As Lester is prepared to begin the sex act, Angela reveals that she is a virgin.It is at this point that Lester realizes what he is doing and stops. This shot is a dynamic shot with a crane. It is as if, by some divine intervention, Lester came to realize the error of his ship canal sooner it was too late. The scen e concludes with a dynamic shot of Lester apologizing to Angela and, for the first time in this scene, they are scene in the same frame. This time, Lester is given the higher position in the frame. This symbolizes that he has come to a realization and is wise. The usage of lighting in this scene implies many symbolic meanings. passim the entire scene Angela is shot with light. For example, when the scene begins, Angela is laid down by Lester on a couch. Angela is wearing a white blouse, the couch she is deceitfulness on is white, and the light from outside is dimly shining on her, emphasize the fact that she is wearing white. The light and the color white represent rectitude Angela is a virgin. On the other hand, Lester is shown with even less light. As the camera follows his hands erotically going up and down Angelas body Lesters hands are given the least amount light possible in order to emphasize the impurity aspect of what he is doing. The lighting in this scene is low contr ast and low key. It is low contrast because the light used was dim and was rather gray. This implies a sense of mystery because the audience knows that Carolyn is on the way to the house to kill Lester. Also, the audience is unsure if Lester is going to go through with having sex with Angela.It is low key because both Angelas and Lesters shadows can be seen. Editing is very significant in this scene. Decoupage is used throughout this scene. Decoupage implies that there will be fast-paced cutting. This is absolutely necessary in this scene in order to add to the excitement of the scene. Angela and Lester are at the point of no return. It is not clear what is going to happen. Fast paced cutting accelerates the speed of the scene, as almost to provide the audience with excitement. In this case, the patient of of excitement that a teenage boy, or Lester, in this case, would feel before having sex. However, unlike the previous scene, this scene uses an ellipsis. This takes place when Le ster is rubbing his hands around Angelas thighs. The scene cuts to Jane and Ricky. Both of them are about to run away to sensitive York. The ellipsis occurs to show the audience what has caused Jane to do this. Lester never paid attention to Jane. Instead, he focused on her friend. All Jane wanted was attention from her dad, but Lester was preoccupied with being irresponsible and chasing a girl.The scene then switches back to Angela and Lester. It is important to note that Angela and Lester are never shot in the same frame while sex is still a possibility between the both of them. Instead, they are shot in a shot-reverse-shot fashion. When Lester realizes the error he has made, both of them are shot in the same frame as a two-shot showing unity and resolution over the dilemma. Sound is used heavily in this scene. As the scene begins non-diegetic sound is used. This sound has no source in the image. The sound is music played by a piano and chimes. The music gives the audience a sen se of the erotica that is occurring on the screen between Angela and Lester. It also serves a connector to Lesters fantasies. Whenever, Lester fantasizes, an erotic song is used. This time, his fantasy is about to come true. The music comes to an abrupt end when Angela reveals that she is a virgin. Suddenly, Lester realizes that he cannot have sex with a teenager. The ending of the music symbolized the finish of that fantasy as well as marked his return to manhood. Throughout this scene, it was raining outside. If you were in the scene you would be able to hear raindrops. moreover not in this case. This exemplifies the usage of contrapuntal sound. The raindrops were not heard during this scene. This gives the audience an idea of the amount of concentration that Lester was, once again, giving Angela. While Angela was around, zippo else mattered to Lester. Lesters inability to deal with difficult situations, combined with his need for freedom and lack for responsibility, appear to have been too much. Unfortunately, he realized that too late.