American beauty Essays

American beauty Essays American beauty Essay American beauty Essay Essay Topic: American Beauty Lester Burn is 42. Working in a corporation, he is Just a cog in the wheel, having completely lost the Joy of life. He doesnt get on well neither with his wife Caroline, nor with his daughter Jenny. The former- an energetic business woman, but really a woman on the verge ofa nervous breakdown- has an affair with her boss. The daughter despises of her father. Both of them consider Lester a looser. Meeting Angela, Jennys best friend, changes the life of a frustrated 40-year-old. The man falls n love with the sexy teenager and it is like a breath of fresh air for him. He suddenly sees the lies and sick system he had been entangled in. Lester decides to leave it all behind: he quits his Job and starts to take care of only himself, which comes down to practicing weightlifting, looking back at the time of his youth in the decay of flower power and smoking pot bought from Ricky, the boy next door. And, of course, dreaming about Angela. It is another time of the day when the social life prospers. The Milanaise have supper t home, with their families, or at a restaurant in the neighborhood. In the evenings they party in a typically Italian spirit. Bars and clubs are overcrowded. Milan is the city of international fairs. Almost every week the theme changes: starting with fashion, through computer electronics to end with gastronomy. Some fairs are open to public, for example alimentary fairs. Having bought a ticket for about 7 euro, one can wander from stand to stand all day long and try culinary specialties from all around the world to one hearts content. Cutting into the back of the car, Carolyn shuts the hatchback aggressively, showing her anger or possibly busyness. This creates darkness on the whole scene. Fading into the following scene, we view Carolyn opening up the house, and saying what could only appear what to be her daily mantra I will sell this house today This suggests she has possibly seaked therapy, and has been told to boost her confidence by doing it. Arranging her desk, almost frantically making everything look perfect and putting the house details onto the desk. The camera cuts to behind her, where she is seen to be wriggling out of her Business dress, into a more sexy red satin negligee, possibly showing a more passionate side to herself. From this scene, quiet background music is added; it seems fast, possibly to show how fast she is working. Impelling forward, Carolyn is seen to be singing, while rhythmically cleaning the windows. Once again she repeats her mantra of I will sell this house today to boost her confidence and show determination. Next she is seen to be boisterously cleaning the kitchen in a low angle scene, from the floor to the table, this shows her obsessiveness to get the house clean. Opening the doors to the house, Carolyn enthusiastically Hello! Im Carolyn Burnham while putting on a phoney Air hostess type smile at the same time. Walking quickly by the hallway, Carolyn says, This is the big room, its very dramatic indicating the overly gaudy wallpaper. A voice off scene from Carolyn says Wait till you see the native stone fireplace. While the clients look overwhelmed and unimpressed. Focusing on the wall and stone fireplace, shows a extremely dull and depressing massive slab of grey rocks stuck on a wall, yet Carolyn still trys to put a lighter approach on it by saying A simple cream could really lighten things up. You could even put in a skylight! This shows she is lying and is putting on a massive phoney smile to possibly brighten the place up. The scene then finishes by cutting to the clients extremely dull unimpressed and unconvinced reaction. Cutting into the next scene shows Carolyn walking into a dark, kitchen, completely bare and uninteresting, Carolyn exclaims Its a dream come true for any cook, its full of energy, huh? The next low angle show focuses on a plain empty room with a bright orange wall, and Carolyn pulling on a ceiling fan rope saying Youll be surprised how much a ceiling fan cuts down on energy costs She then does another phoney smile, with the two clients looking once again unimpressed. Shifting into the next scene, which is located in the back garden by a pool, Carolyn proclaims you know, you could have some really fun backyard get together out here but only gets a cocky response of The ad says the pool was lagoon-like. Theres nothing lagoon-like about it. Carolyn is obviously starting to get stressed now, but is still being persuasive even though the client is unimpressed and sarcastic towards her. Viewing a long shot of the pool, a client says There arent even any plants out here The camera then goes to a close up on the infuriated Carolyn, she replies with What dya call this? Is this not a plant? If you have a problem with the plants, I can always call my landscape architect, solved. Her voice is starting to show her frustration, and her anger is breaking through the faked smile. Fading back into the house, Carolyn closes the patio doors and pulls the vertical blinds across, she looks almost in control, until she turns around, with the camera closed up on her face, she starts to cry loudly, banging her head against the glass, she slaps her own face and screams SHUT UP, Stop it, you weak, you baby, just shut up, shut up, shut up! I believe this shows how stressed and frustrated she has been throughout the whole day, and is letting it out now, also I think that she says SHUT UP, Stop it, you weak, you baby, just shut up, shut up, shut up! because she has been advised by a therapist to do so, to possibly control herself. In conclusion we learn about Caroline, her aspirations, disappointment and obsessions via the use of language, presentation and structure