American Beauty2

A detailed Summary of American Beauty2

American Beauty tells the story of one man's search for happiness. The film introduces the audience to Lester Burnham, an ordinary- looking married man and father in his forties. Lester is in a loveless marriage. Lester's wife, Carolyn, is so wrapped-up in her real estate career that Lester often claims that Carolyn doesn't even acknowledge him. Furthermore, Lester's daughter, Jane, is completely distant, often claiming how "pathetic" she thinks her father is. Moreover, Lester has dedicated fourteen years to his occupation, and suddenly, he is in danger of losing his job due to downsizing. All of these factors dramatically effect Lester and culminate into feelings of desperation and vulnerability for him. Lester is therefore in search of an escape and a rebirth. He is seeking the slightest possibility of happiness.

Throughout the story Lester is consistently reminiscing on his past; wishing he could have it back. In the beginning portions of the story, Lester, as the narrator, states that "it is never too late to regain your past." The catalyst to this frame of thought is Jane's friend, Angela. Lester feels excited by the thought that a teen-age girl thinks he is "hot." Lester overhears Angela state that she would have

The second scene of interest occurs when Lester's erotic dreams are about to become reality. Lester and Angela are in his house. Lester has confessed 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 realization 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.

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 cutting is fast paced which suggests an almost chaotic and imbalance perspective to the audience and at the same time it shows that the thoughts that are going through Lester's 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 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. Using ellipsis would require fast-paced cutting 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 Lester's intentions and transformation.

Lighting is another technical element that adds to the effectiveness of this scene. When the camera performs a point of view shot from Lester's 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 Lester's attention. Lighting adds to this effect. Lighting is used to focus the audience on Lester's 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 becomes completely black. There is a bright light shining on Angela. The source of the light is not clear, and is coming from above Angela. The lighting in the scene is high contrast and low key. It is high contrast because the difference between light and darkness is clear. It is low key lighting because Angela's shadow can be seen behind her and shadows can be seen on the rest of Lester's face, excluding his eyes.. The contributions 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 Lester's attention. Secondly, light is usually affiliated with good and darkness with bad. The light compliments Angela's characteristics because she is a virgin. Since the source of the light cannot be seen, there can be speculation that the light is one from Heaven, shining down on her to show her innocence. At the same 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, unknowingly to Lester; Lester views her an

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Approximate Word count = 3050
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Movies