AMERICAN
BEAUTY
PRODUCTION AND STORY ELEMENTS
ANALYSIS
LESSON OBJECTIVE /
SWBAT
Describe and apply production and story elements
in American Beauty
LOOKS CAN BE
DECEIVING
AMERICAN BEAUTY
American beauty is the name of a species of rose.
This flower is used repeatedly throughout the film as
a motif. The rose is a plant that, although beautiful,
has many thorns. From this we can take the idea that
looks can be deceiving. A theme that runs thick
throughout the film itself. Angela, the outspoken
sexually deviant teenager is in fact a virgin. The
falsified commercial of Lester and Carolyn’s
relationship to those around them, is in fact a farce.
The homophobic neighbour, Colonel Frank Fitts, is
ironically a repressed homosexual.
NARRATIVE
POSSIBILITIES
In a matter of minutes the audience is oriented into both the
physical and historical setting of the film. American Beauty
begins with a non-diegetic voice over. ‘My name is Lester
Burnham. This is my neighbourhood. This is my street. This
is my life. I’m forty-two years old. In less than a year I’ll be
dead.’ With this short piece of dialogue Mendes establishes
both the geographical setting of the narrative and the
duration of time left in the characters life. He raises
questions about narrative possibility: ‘How will Lester die
and why is his life close to ending?’
‘MY NAME IS LESTER
BURNHAM. THIS IS MY
NEIGHBOURHOOD. THIS IS
MY STREET. THIS IS MY
LIFE. I’M FORTY-TWO
YEARS OLD. IN LESS THAN
A YEAR I’LL BE DEAD.’
IMPRISONMENT
Lester is seen in a shower cubicle, in an office cubicle, in a
car and at one point, with bars reflecting off of his face from
a work computer screen. This is to give the audience the
impression of his imprisonment. These locations act as a
series of jail cells.
As Lester leaves his workplace having blackmailed his
manager into giving him a large severance package we track
with him from behind corrugated windows until he comes out
from behind the glass into full view. This symbolizes his
freedom from the imprisonment of his work.
MATERIALISM
The audiences introduction to Carolyn has her pruning some
roses in her front yard. Lester comments ‘That's my wife,
Carolyn. See the way the handle on her pruning shears
matches her gardening clogs? That's not an accident.’
This begins the character development process. The
audience is introduced to a woman so concerned with
appearances that she wears colour coordinated gardening
clothes. The narrative dialogue informs the audience that
Lester does not like the person Carolyn has become. He is
unhappy and he believes that ‘they’ are unhappy.
CAMERA
When Lester deals with the efficiency expert, a man who has
been hired to downsize the company, we notice how small
Lester appears in the frame in contrast to how large to his
superior. This coupled with the fact that the efficiency expert
is shot from a low angle indicates that he is superior over the
inferior Lester.
MISE EN SCENE
During the family dinner we notice the extreme distance that
the family members are sitting from one another in the frame.
This gives the audience an impression of how alienated the
Burnham family are from one another.
NARRATIVE
POSSIBILITIES
When we see Ricky filming Jane and Lester through their
kitchen window we are introduced to various narrative
possibilities. A) romance B) rejection or C) obsession.
Later, when Jane is walking to her house, she notices Ricky
once again filming her. She angrily curses him, runs inside
and then peeks through her venetian blinds to see if she is
still being watched. At this point in time we are witness to a
soft smile that grows across her face and a softly increasing
light. This indicates to the audience that she enjoys being
watched by Ricky and sets up the narrative possibility of a
romance.
CHARACTER
DEVELOPMENT
Sam Mendes develops Lester’s character by presenting him
as a conservatively dressed, downtrodden, unhappy man
who has no meaningful direction with either his wife or his
daughter. But this is not the real Lester Burnham. Through
Lester’s decisions and actions, the audience discovers more
about him as the narrative unfolds. Later on he is presented
untucked and rebellious.
CHARACTER
DEVELOPMENT
It is not just what characters say that develops them but also
what they do. When confronted with being fired as part of a
corporate restructuring, Lester blackmails his employer. With
the money, Lester buys a 1970 Pontiac Firebird: ‘The car I
always wanted and now I have it. I rule.’ Lester is beginning
to take charge of his own life through his actions. The
decisions he makes and the actions that follow them develop
within the audience a better understanding of this character.
CAUSE AND EFFECT
In American Beauty it is the threat of losing his job that
makes Lester blackmail his boss and the company he works
for into giving him a huge payout. Carolyn is unhappy in her
relationship with Lester, so she begins an affair with her realestate rival.
POINT OF VIEW
In presenting the narrative, the filmmaker decides from
whose point of view the story is to be told. In a
conventionally plotted narrative, the point of view is that of
one or two main protagonists. For example, the main
narrative in American Beauty is presented from Lester
Burnham’s point of view. In other words, it is his story the
audience is seeing. The film however does not exclusively
present Lester’s point of view. At different stages throughout
the film, Sam Mendes shows the point of view of Lester’s
wife Carolyn, his daughter Jane, her boyfriend Ricky and
Angela, the object of Lester’s desire.
CAMERA
When Lester begrudgingly attends a basketball game with
his wife Carolyn to watch their daughter Jane’s cheerleading
dance routine he is sucked in by the beauty of her best friend
Angela. Throughout this sequence, everyone else is no
longer at the basketball game. It is just Lester and Angela.
The camera, initially wide, slowly begins to push in on the
two characters. This technique works to connect the two
characters and establishes the narrative possibility of a
romance.
STRUCTURING OF
TIME
During this scene we enter slow-motion and have continuous
movements of her body jump cutting backwards in time.
This, coupled with the abstract Middle Eastern music, helps
to set the notion of the fantasy world Lester is entering.
As Angela erotically dances, seemingly for Lester, we notice
that she is spot-lighted. This further enhances the notion that
Angela is the sole object of Lester’s attention.
CAMERA
It is important to note that Angela and Lester are never
shown in the same frame in this scene. This suggest that
there is some barrier that is between them; Lester is desiring
a girl that is his daughter's age.
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.
MISE EN SCENE
Whilst Lester miserably drinks martinis at Carolyn’s work
function he is approached by his next door neighbour, Ricky
Fitts who is dressed in white during the bar scene. Glowing,
angelic. Not long after he offers Lester a joint, which is to
change his life forever. The angel offers him a way out. Ricky
is adorned in white and lit in such a way that he glows. This
functions as a means of portraying Ricky as symbolic of an
angel. Indeed, not long after Lester meets Ricky, his concept
of the world changes and his escape from imprisonment,
from his job, from his wife, from his responsibilities begins to
take shape.
MISE EN SCENE
When Buddy and Carolyn discuss their careers, they begin a
distance apart. However, as they continue speaking they ever
so slowly move closer to one another. This establishes the
narrative possibilty of a romance.
CHARACTER
DEVELOPMENT
When Ricky shoots Jane on camera from his bedroom
window, the attention seeking Angela begins flirting through
the window and dancing erotically. The camera continues to
zoom past her and finally comes to rest on Jane’s face
reflected in a mirror. This indicates to the audience that Ricky
is only interested in Jane and once again, sets up the
narrative possibility of a romance.
CHARACTER
DEVELOPMENT
Ricky- ‘My Dad thinks I pay for all of this with catering jobs.
Never under-estimate the power of denial.’ These two
sentences mean two things.
1. Perhaps most obviously it references how his father
denies that his only son could be involved in drugs after
being disciplined.
2. It also indicates the denial his father has of his own sexual
orientation.
CAMERA
Colonel Frank Fitz is often framed slightly skewed, whether
that be through a camcorder on its side or through his
reflection in a mirror. This adds to his deluded character and
suggests that he is unstable. This proves true when we find
out he is a repressed homosexual with violent tendencies.
CHARACTER
DEVELOPMENT
When Jane, in an act of trust, takes her top off through the
window, Ricky zooms directly past her breasts and up to her
face. This indicates that Ricky is interested in her on a
spiritual level and not on a shallow sexual level.
LIGHTING
As the movie progresses toward the ultimate climax Lester is
typically shot in the light which contrasts with Colonel Frank
Fitz who is typically shot in darkness. This lighting technique
indicates to us the ubiquitous archetype of hero and villain.
CAMERA
When Carolyn realises that she cannot continue her
relationship with her former real estate rival Buddy King she
screams in frustration and as she does so the camera rises
up above the car and begins to tilt. This camera technique
gives the audience a sense of the world spinning on its axis
and indicates that it’s all going to go wrong from here.
Something bad is going to happen. This works to set up the
dramatic tension.
CHARACTER
DEVELOPMENT
When Caroline cannot bring herself to kill Lester she begins
weeping uncontrollably. She falls into a closet and holds on
to clothes. Her grip slips and she falls to the floor in misery.
From this we can see that she is having trouble holding on to
her material possessions.
MISE EN SCENE
When Ricky, after being beaten up by his father, arrives at
Jane’s and asks her to run away with him they are confronted
by Angela, who warns Jane that she is making a big mistake.
Jane sides with Ricky against Angela. Their division is made
all the more apparent by their choice of costuming. Jane and
Ricky wear black whilst Angela wears white.
CAMERA FORMAT
Lester’s most vivid memories are shot in black and white to
suggest that we have jumped back in time.
SOUND
In some cases, the music comes from the action (diegetic)
and serves the purpose of developing character. Carolyn
plays tunes from various musicals while the family eats. This
develops her character by suggesting that, as in a musical,
her perception of reality is a fantasy. Her perception that
material possessions are the key to happiness. For Lester,
the music represents the blandness that dominates his life.
SOUND
Lester’s musical choices also reflect his attitude toward
escaping his imprisonment. As Lester pumps iron in his
garage, he plays Bob Dylan singing ‘All Along the
Watchtower’ in the background. As Carolyn opens the garage
door, Dylan sings, ‘There must be some way out of here’. The
words of the song represent Lester’s search for a way out of
his circumstances. Later as Carolyn drives home from the
shooting range to confront Lester, she sings along to the
broadway musical song ‘Don’t Rain on my Parade’,
developing the narrative possibility that she will stand up to
Lester.