American Beauty
In American movies there are often underlying plots, hidden themes and subliminal messages. Many times the producer is trying to make a point that is not blatantly obvious to the audience. American Beauty is one such movie with an intangible agenda. There are many characters interacting with each other in obvious ways on the surface, such as leading normal lives in a normal neighborhood, but ultimately they effect the outcome of the movie because of less obvious character flaws and the way they conflict living with each other. The movie contains homoerotic behavior in a pair of homosexual neighbors, a homophobic father, and a questionable relationship between an average man and his teen neighbor. The homoerotic behavior displayed by the characters in American Beauty influences the development and eventual outcome of the movie by interactions and subliminal implications of characters and actions with such homoerotic behaviors.American Beauty centers on the last year of Lester Burnham's life. Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is married to Carolyn Burnham (Annette Betting), and their marriage is picture perfect on the exterior, but the perfection only runs superficially. Their marriage is based on the idea of "projecting an ima
ge of success at all times," (American Beauty). The two have a teenage daughter named Janey played by Thora Birtch. "Janey is a pretty typical teenager; angry, insecure... confused," (Lester, American Beauty). Conflicts start when Lester realizes he can take back control of his life and live life as a carefree teen once again. At the same time, new neighbors arrive, thickening the plot with a hatred for gays. The ex-marine corps father, "Colonel Frank Fitch", brings a hatred for the homosexual couple that lives in the neighborhood. Ricky (Scott Bakula), his son, brings to the movie a romantic interest for Lester's daughter, Janey. Similarly, the part of the Colonel is seemingly unimportant to the overall outcome of the movie, but surprises us in the conclusion of the film. The extreme homophobia of Frank Fitch is consistent throughout American Beauty. Frank would rather his son "were dead than be a fucking faggot," (American Beauty). His homophobia acts as a mask for his homosexual thoughts. One may argue that his homophobia is an inverse relationship for how strongly his homosexuality is. This constitutes a strong desire for men on the part of Frank Fitch because of his constant showing of contempt for homosexuals. Frank shows this desire for men by trying to flirt with his neighbor, Lester. Col. Fitch believes Lester will reciprocate his sexual desires because of a misconstrued situation involving Lester and Frank's son. Frank believes he sees his son taking money from Lester for sexual favors. While this upsets him greatly, Frank still runs into the arms of his neighbor. When Lester
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Approximate Word count = 1087
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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