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Summary: Grrrls and Cinema Movie Review
Review: American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes, is a brilliant film that invites us to "look closer" and examine the ideals of beauty. Jane Burnham and Angela Hayes are best friends who are on the cheerleading squad together. Jane is the "ugly," dark-haired gray-eyed sidekick to Angela, the blond-haired blue-eyed "beauty." Beauty is put under the lens when Ricky Fitts, Jane's neighbor, films Jane with his personal video recorder from his window. Angela embodies the stereotypical "perfect" female, so Jane isn't the typical object of affection and questions Ricky's feelings for her. Ricky shows the viewer through his eyes, his definition of beauty. There is not a single definition of beauty. It is our horizon of experience that shapes our ideals.Caroline Burnham is the obsessive compulsive, whiny, housewife. She is the super female who works as a realtor and top dog in the matriarchal family driving the car and making the money. By contrast, the Fitts are the patriarchal, militant family under the command of Colonel Frank Fitts, who is abusive to his son Ricky. Their neighbors, the Jims, are a (...)couple living together. They have a very healthy relationship and respect each other and see each other as equals. Fascinating, how the most controversial relationship in society is the best functioning family of the three in the film.
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Summary: American typicality
Review: American Beauty is a film about the 'typical' American family, with the 'typical' husband and wife, daughter, and a white picket fence surrounding a beautiful rose garden. But, as is it stated below the title of the film, we must look closer. Kevin Spacey's character, Lester, is the husband, who works 5 days a week in his cubicle office space, who suddenly comes to a realization that his life as he knows it, isn't what he wants it to be. His wife, Carolyn, played by Annette Benning, is Lester's wife, who falls asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow, concentrates all of her time being the best at her real estate job, gawking after the 'Real Estate King' Buddy Cane. Their daughter, practically ignored by both of them, suffering from lack of self esteem, with a friend who thinks the world of herself. This friend, Angela eventually becomes Lester's obsession. This 'typical' beautiful girl, blonde, blue eyes, thin, puts on a front for all the world to see when she's really suffering inside. When a new neighbor moves in, the son of the household, Ricky, develops an interest for the family. He films them, and watches them, this panoptical character, who sees things differently than the others, intriguing the daughter of Lester and Carolyn. But within the family, we see how Lester objectifies Angela, he fantasizes about her, and somehow every fantasy is overflowing with red rose petals. This film however opposes the stereotype that the man of the house runs everything, because in this house the woman puts herself in charge, and pushes everyone under her. She craves power, and high status. Overall the film raises questions about 'typical' family life, or anything 'typical', and invites you to think about what is really important and beautiful in life.
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Summary: ATTN Prof. Majer-O'Sickey
Review: American Beauty is an interesting film. It critiques the stereotypes we Americans have of what is beautiful and what isn't. "Plain Jane" becomes the one seen as the true beauty, and the typical, gorgeous, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Angela is put in her place. I enjoyed the window scene when Ricky focused his camera on the reflection of Jane instead of Angela flaunting herself. This scene really made this theme resonate.
I liked Jane's character much more than Angela's. However, both of them define themselves by what men say. For Jane, Ricky was the one who made her feel like a woman. I wish that she could have had self-esteem on her own instead of needing a guy to give it to her. However, most of us women have the same issue, so it is realistic. I think we all know that Angela relied way too heavily on the opinions of the men around her to define herself as feminine. The biggest example is the scene at the end when Lester finally treats her as more than a sex object. She is taught by him to accept herself and like herself for more than her looks.
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Summary: American Beauty: Look Closer
Review: American Beauty, a film directed by Sam Mendes, is meant primarily as a commentary on the American ideal of lifestyle and it's vast difference concerning reality. The film's previews include the cath phrase "Look Closer," which prompts the audience to examine the film. The movie opens with a scene of the "ideal" suburban neighborhood, which is anything but that. On this street lives a gay couple, a couple in which the father is militaristic and the mother is suppressed to the point which she loses contact with the world, and the Burnham family. Outwardly, the Burnham family is living the American dream, big house, good jobs, and even a white picket fence. However, if one does "look closer" one would see that this is simply a facade perpetuated by Caroline, the Burnham wife/mother. She is perfectly groomed, has a (somewhat) successful career, cooks wholesome meals, and listens to elevator music at dinnertime. Through interesting plot development, Mendes destroys the stereotype and eventually Caroline.
Lester, the husband/father, is submissive to this scenario until his job is threatened and he snaps. Lester quits, obtains a job at a fast-food restaurant, begins to work out, begins an affair with his daughter's cheerleader-friend, and picks up smoking pot, and he's never felt better. Gone is our ideal father, replaced with a rebel rediscovering his youth.
Jane, the daughter, is out of touch with her parents. She is somewhat of a nonconformist and her contact with her mother destroys our notion of ideal mother-daughter relations. Caroline only speaks to Jane to acknowledge how proud she is that Jane hasn't "messed up" and to criticize Jane's choice of clothing. Jane is unsure of herself and very self conscious, she is not the happy-go-lucky teen of our dreams.
Also on this street lives Ricky, who views the world through his camera lens. He films what he considers beauty and serves as a representative of panopticon, or the view that we are always being watched. Through his lens Ricky films Jane, who eventually becomes romantically attached to Ricky and strips for the camera. Jane becomes the subject of Rickys's interest which although first is uninvited, soon becomes welcome. Ricky uses his camera to survey his domain, the new neighborhood, and to watch Jane. It is he who "looks closer," not only at the stereotypes but at the world itself, and finds beauty in it.
American Beauty not only helps us realize the futility of pursuing an "American dream" but also invites us to look closer at our own lives and to find the beauty within them.
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Summary: American Beauty: Look Closer
Review: American Beauty, a film by Sam Mendes, is meant primarily as a commentary on the American ideal of lifestyle and it's vast difference concerning reality. The film's previews include the cath phrase "Look Closer," which prompts the audience to examine the film. The movie opens with a scene of the "ideal" suburban neighborhood, which is anything but that. On this street lives a gay couple, a couple in which the father is militaristic and the mother is suppressed to the point which she loses contact with the world, and the Burnham family. Outwardly, the Burnham family is living the American dream, big house, good jobs, and even a white picket fence. However, if one does "look closer" one would see that this is simply a facade perpetuated by Caroline, the Burnham wife/mother. She is perfectly groomed, has a (somewhat) successful career, cooks wholesome meals, and listens to elevator music at dinnertime. Through interesting plot development, Mendes destroys the stereotype and eventually Caroline.
Lester, the husband/father, is submissive to this scenario until his job is threatened and he snaps. Lester quits, obtains a job at a fast-food restaurant, begins to work out, begins an affair with his daughter's cheerleader-friend, and picks up smoking pot, and he's never felt better. Gone is our ideal father, replaced with a rebel rediscovering his youth.
Jane, the daughter, is out of touch with her parents. She is somewhat of a nonconformist and her contact with her mother destroys our notion of ideal mother-daughter relations. Caroline only speaks to Jane to acknowledge how proud she is that Jane hasn't "messed up" and to criticize Jane's choice of clothing. Jane is unsure of herself and very self conscious, she is not the happy-go-lucky teen of our dreams.
Also on this street lives Ricky, who views the world through his camera lens. He films what he considers beauty and serves as a representative of panopticon, or the view that we are always being watched. Through his lens Ricky films Jane, who eventually becomes romantically attached to Ricky and strips for the camera. Jane becomes the subject of Rickys's interest which although first is uninvited, soon becomes welcome. Ricky uses his camera to survey his domain, the new neighborhood, and to watch Jane. It is he who "looks closer," not only at the stereotypes but at the world itself, and finds beauty in it.
American Beauty not only helps us realize the futility of pursuing an "American dream" but also invites us to look closer at our own lives and to find the beauty within them.
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Summary: Womens Studies 285C Final, Professor O'Sickey
Review: The phrase "beauty is only skin deep" has never been more truthful in this drama about the layers beneath a small suburban family. Kevin Spacey dawns the role of middle aged, emotionally stunted father (Lestor Burnham), who is revitalized by his attraction to this rebellious daughter's best friend.. This film breaks the formula of the "perfect" family by showing that looks are definitely deceiving. From the initial image of a quiet street at the films beginning, to the eerie narrative of Lestor from beyond the grave, this film shows that nothing is what it seems. Rather, the viewer lulled into a false sense of rural bliss, then dropped on the ground of reality. The lives of the characters are not "peachy" and "picture perfect." Lestor Burnham's wife (Annette Bening) ignores the socially constructed idea of intrinsic domestic ability as she leaves her own home to indulge a sultry affair, as his daughter Jane (Thora Birtch) realizes that beauty is truly relative. This film takes the saying "you can't judge a book" by its cover and gives it a new spin.
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Summary: Representation of women in American Beauty
Review: American Beauty invokes a relationship between women and society. The main women in the film are shown to the extreme ends of feminity and beauty. Caroline, Jane, and Angela all have different aspects they bring to the film and each one symbolizes the true nature of women in the world outside of film.
Caroline is a housewife trying to make a name for herself in the world of real estate. She is the modern American women trying to play the role of the mother, wife, business person, and typical woman in society. However, she seems to be on her way to failure for all of them. Caroline is an over achiever and it tears her apart that she is not perfect. Her daughter Jane, however, prefers to exhibit almost no feminine qualities. Caroline sees Jane as trying to be the opposite of herself. She even asks, at one point in the movie, if Jane is trying to be unattractive.
Angela is Jane's best friend. She is the typical beauty with blue eyes, blond hair, and a thin body. Yet Angela is extremely unhappy and seeks he attention of everyone she comes a crossed.
Jane becomes the true Beauty in this film, though she does not dress or act the part. Her Beauty comes from being surveyed by the next door neighbor, Ricky. Though his eyes, we come to see the beauty in Jane, and the ugliness in Angela and Caroline.
The lesson learned here, is that one does not have to be perfect or thin or successful to be beautiful. One simply has to be seen. If only the outside world would come to such an epiphany.
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Summary: American Beauty (Review for Germ241F @ SUNY Binghamton)
Review: American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes, is a film about a white, suburbia middle class family and the different ways that each character perceives beauty to be.
Lester who is the protagonist of the film, is characterized as a middle-aged white male. His wife, Carolyn is a realtor, who is more interested in material things of life and obsessed with pruning roses, rather than having a normal relationship with her husband, whom she looks down upon. His daughter Jane is a young high school girl who feels insecure, and lacks self-esteem, which cause her to frown upon herself.
Jane's next-door neighbor, Ricky is used as a tool by Mendes to show us the beauty of everything in the movie through the lens of his camera. Ricky is the surveyor for the most part in this film because he is able to see things and people beyond just their outer surfaces. Ricky thinks that Jane is more beautiful than her best friend Angela, because he feels that beauty is not something that is artificial and is materialized on the outside, but that it is something much deeper than that.
This film also makes obvious to us that there are stereotypes present in this film, which are the stereotypical housewife of Ricky's mom, Barbara. Barbara is the kind of wife who will stay home and cook dinners, make you loads of breakfast in the morning, and do anything to make you happy. She seems somewhat repressed and in her own little world, this is probably because of her submission to her domineering husband. Due to this, we might think that she actually isn't in her real state of mind and don't know if this is really her personality.
Angela is thought to be a sexual icon in this film. She is the blond hair and blue eyes, picture perfect woman in this movie. She is afraid of people thinking that she is ordinary and dreams of becoming a model. Angela is being surveyed throughout the whole film and knows it, and so she becomes an object of society and what they want her to be. She doesn't mind being viewed, in fact she is very conceded.
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Summary: American Beauty ...a review for WOMN285 @ SUNY Binghamton
Review: In the film "American Beauty", Carolyn, Jane, Angela, and Barbara each portray a different stereotype of modern America. The ultimate question in the movie is what is beauty? What defines beauty? Is there one type of beauty, and if so , which one of these women is seen as most beautiful?
Carolyn, Jane's mother, can be interpreted as the typical American feminist, she provides for herself and her family through her reality job, but retains the traits of a typical mother, she is first seen pruning roses, and later performing household duties such as cooking and cleaning. Because Carolyn plays both the role of mother and modern working woman, it is at hard first to decide which category she fits in. However, due to her affair with another realtor, she moves out of mother and into a modern woman who is equal to men in every aspect. Carolyn's beauty comes from her love of beautiful things. She likes roses, expensive furniture, attractive clothing, and wants to present the overall feeling of beauty in relation to her family and home. To her beauty is more material and is along the lines of perfection.
Jane, Carolyn's daughter, is depicted as the average teen with the usual angst-ridden issues to deal with. She is on the school's dance/cheer team, a very stereotypical subject, but she also presents herself in baggy clothing, dark hair, and dark lipstick. Jane, playing the usual teenager, doesn't get along with either of her parents very well. To Jane beauty comes most importantly from the inside. She doesn't care what her appearance says to others, she wears dark, loose fitting clothing, and ignores her best friend Angela's criticism of her wardrobe. To Jane, Ricky, her next door neighbor and eventual boyfriend, is beautiful because he observes the world in nonconforming terms. For instance, Ricky believes that a floating plastic bag is beautiful, because he looks past the immediate response of "it's just a bag", and sees beyond into how that plastic bag moves and how it makes him feel. Jane is beautiful to Ricky, I think, because she is atypically beautiful, meaning that she strays from the ideals of conventional beauty, and lets her feelings and inner beauty show through her hair, clothing, and makeup.
Angela, Jane's best friend, is the perfect example of all-American beauty. She is white and has blonde hair, blue eyes, what would be considered a perfect body, and she is portrayed as a teenage vixen. Her concept of beauty is completely defined by outer, artificial beauty. She continually lectures Jane about her wardrobe choices, and prides herself on being physically beautiful, and theoretically the girl of every man's dreams. Her actions and personality however downplay her outer beauty because she's not very beautiful internally. In a particular scene, Angela and Jane are standing outside at school and Ricky approaches them, but only speaks with Jane. Angela is put off and confused by the fact Ricky didn't talk to her. She has a hard time believing that a guy wouldn't want her attention.
Barbara, Ricky's mom, is considered the typical housewife, although she has been so disillusioned from years of living with her military husband, that it is hard to tell if this is her true personality. Barbara's idea of beauty appears just be having her family fed and happy. There is a scene where Barbara is cooking a large amount of breakfast, and Ricky enters the kitchen. She seems to want to just fill up his plate and watch him eat all day. Her definition of beauty is simple, she wants others to be happy.
Applying John Berger's theory of the "surveyor/surveyed" to "American Beauty" can be thought of in a few ways. The obvious is every characters surveyal of beauty around them. Carolyn observes her flowers and her house. Jane surveys Ricky, and in turn Ricky surveys Jane and soon bases his entire thought of beauty around her. Angela surveys the physical beauty of others, and Barbara watches her family in order to see what they need and what will make them happy. The not so obvious is that each character surveys themself. They are both the surveyor and surveyed, criticizing themselves and comparing themselves to others. Each one is trying to find the true meaning of beauty, and what the characters find is that there are many different meanings of beauty, and no one fits every definition.
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Summary: more than meets the eye
Review: American Beauty is an example of director Sam Mendes' unconventional approach to film making. He takes Lester Burnham, played by Kevin Spacey, and launches him into the deepest midlife crisis, perhaps ever seen on screen. Spawned from a lusting over one of his daughter's, Janie's, played by Thora Birch, friends Angela, played by Mena Suvari, Lester finds himself in a new world. He blackmails his boss, becomes friends with the boy next door Ricky, who also happens to be Janie's love interest, buys a sports car, starts working out, and smoking pot. He has amazingly contradictory moods, as he goes from subservient husband to demanding his 'proper' place in his family.
It is through Ricky's camera lens that Mendes' want us to see the beauty of everything in the movie. With Lester's obsession with Angela and society seeming to point out everything about her as perfect, one would assume she is what is supposed to be beautiful. However, Ricky's lens focuses on Janie. He sees her as beautiful, and makes her feel that way. The Roses in the movie show up every where in the Burnham household, and the vibrant color red as well, pointing out where Ricky's camera does not, that beauty is everywhere. There are roses in every room, in every scene whether people are fighting, or reflecting upon something. Mendes uses Ricky's camera as a tool to reveal the deeper meaning to things normal society may not see, such as Janie's beauty over Angela's.
While unconventional, Mendes does and excellent job at revealing the underlying power struggles and beauty in his characters lives. Between Lester's fight for dominance over his wife, and the strategic placement of roses this movie certainly portrays much more than it appears to just on the surface.
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