Ethics In American Beauty
The word ethics is derived from the Greek work "ethos," which refers to the character and sentiment of the community, and standards of behavior. Ethical means conforming to the standards of a given profession or group. Any group can set its own ethical standards and then decide to live by them or not. Ethical standards, whether an individual, a society, or even a whole nation establishes them, help to guide a person's decisions and actions. The commonly accepted definition of ethics is rules or standards that govern behavior. There are many different characters and actions in Alan Ball's "American Beauty" that show the ethics, or what may seem to be the lack thereof, of each person. Not every character in the movie may seem to have ethics, and therefore affects their actions. I chose to write about two "friends," Jane and Angela, both of whom were using the other for different reasons. Jane, the daughter of Lester, comes across as being a bitter, dark girl. She at times feels embarrassed by her parents, and what they do. She feels that she doesn't possess any special qualities or anything that might make her attractive. When Ricky complimented her at times, she became all embarrassed, as i
Angela is on the opposite end of the spectrum. On the outside, she seems to possess all of the qualities of a beautiful girl. Blonde hair, blue eyes, killer body; she's everyone's dream girl. What she does seem to lack, however, is anything inside. She is shallow, all about looks and such, and has no depth to her. She has no insight on situations, and does everything that will make her look or seem that much better. She remains friends with Jane because Jane makes her feel that much more "attractive." Little does she know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Ricky was able to see a beauty in Jane that other people saw in Angela. Throughout the movie, we never saw Angela with an actual guy. All she did was talk about her "sexual experiences," which at the end of the movie, we find out were complete lies when she was with Lester. For some reason, talking like she was so experienced in bed made her feel that much better about herself. She hangs around with Jane because it makes her feel better. She finds Jane to be unattractive, so having her around make Angela look that much better. Once Jane realized how beautiful she really was, though, she had to use for Angela. Angela is just as unethical here as any of the other characters. She lives her life in a lie that she has created, just to make hers
Some common words found in the essay are:
Jane Angela, American Beauty, Angela Angela, Angela Ricky, Angela Throughout, Jane Jane, Angela Jane, jane angela, jane makes feel, ricky able beauty, unethical characters, jane makes, ricky able, friends jane, ethical standards, makes feel, able beauty, beautiful angela, throughout movie,
Approximate Word count = 889
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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