Analyse af filmen 'American Beauty'

In “American Beauty” we meet a man called Lester Burnham. He is going trough a huge dispersion and says he is dead in side. He is a pathetic, indifferent loser, who has a destroyed relationship to his family. He is so far out, that his highpoint of the day is jerking of in the shower. His wife Carolyn is a dominating, sarcastic, insecure type, who has high expectations for Lester and who I think is really the reason for why their love life is as poor as it is. There is a scene, which describes her pretty well. Carolyn is a real-estate manager but she is not doing so well because of her later lover called Buddy Kane, so she try selling the house by telling her self she will sell it today looking strong and confident. By the end of the day she closes the door and the drapes carefully like nothing is troubling her, but then when no one can see her, she shows the real her by breaking down crying. But she gets it together and walks away like nothing has happened. Lester’s life’s point of no return is when he meets a friend of his daughter Jane’s called Angela. Angela is Lester’s American Beauty. She is a pretty good-looking girl, who has a flirting behavior to everyone who in some way adores her. She does not like Ricky because he is only showing interest in Jane. Jane is totally different. I think the only reason why they are friends is because Angela don’t feel intimidated by Jane’s company and looks. She does not attract boys or permit them to fall in love with her, because she turns them down, and keep thinking that her life is shit so why even try. It seems like she does not need the approval or attention from his father but she does. Every time she catches Ricky filming her, she smiles. She likes the attention. Ricky is the next-door neighbor. He videotapes every thing, because he sees the beauty in everything. In the past, his father sent him to a military school for selling drugs. Frank has a strict way to educate his son because of his own past. I can only imagine he was beated for being gay, for being who he was, so when Ricky is to weird or does something he is told not to, Franks gets crazy and beats his son. Through the movie Lester becomes a more confident person, who dares talk back to Carolyn and Jane. He takes control of his life, example by quitting his job and starting working out. Right before he gets shot, he actually seems happy.