NOTE: Once again, this is me riffing and am I looking for feedback. Seriously, this movie can be read in many ways – a sign of brilliance. Let me know any theories you have or whatever. Hat tip to lurker who gave me the idea to review this movie.
Review Of Movie & Characters
![[Image: american_beauty-800.jpg]](http://www.nidhin.com/images/free/american_beauty-800.jpg)
American Beauty was a highly popular released in the late 1990’s. The movie began as a play that was inspired by the Amy Fisher trial. Amy Fisher was referred to as the “Long-Island Lolita” as she hooked up with a autobody shop owner and then tried to kill his wife so they could be together. Apparently, the nuclear family & repression of sexuality is what inspired the work initially.
Let’s step through the main characters.
![[Image: lester+burnham]](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vl5LW_XbPLI/SbFc4_vMA-I/AAAAAAAAACE/aE-ZwaEe1BI/s400/lester+burnham)
Lester Burham: The main character of the movie. He is a typical middle-aged beta male - although he grows in the movie. He works a job he hates (that he eventually is laid off from) and claims the highlight of his day is masturbating the shower.
![[Image: images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTp3ie8w7Uk9UpHomhD7wX...o6sTPG_EPU]](https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTp3ie8w7Uk9UpHomhD7wXh6mPouuz4HOM3HFH-RKo6sTPG_EPU)
Carolyn Burham: She is a stereotypical middle-class female. She is obsessed with image, maintaining a good-looking home, gardening and is an ambitious real-estate agent. She is dissatisfied with her home life and her husband. She has a fling with a much more successful real-estate agent than her.
![[Image: images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSNZPw4UxhzCJTIkVMM9SQ...C6Oq028h4V]](https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSNZPw4UxhzCJTIkVMM9SQ5R29JbuM2ElB6le4I_TC6Oq028h4V)
Jane Burham: A 16 year-old goth who is a typical disaffected teenager. Frankly, she isn't relevant to my analysis, so let's move on.
![[Image: 11838167.jpg]](http://images.art.com/images/products/regular/11838000/11838167.jpg)
Angela Hayes: The cheerleader friend of Jane's. She is superficial and terribly stereotypical and average, aside from her looks. She is a habitual liar, especially about her sex life. Lester becomes infatuated with her. While Angela doesn't mirror Lester's interest, she does have a level of interest in him.
Let's talk about the plot. Lester is supremely dissatisfied with his life, as is the rest of his family. He is inspired to change himself when he meet his daughter's friend, Angela. After getting laid off, he starts working at a fast-food joint, buys a muscle car & starts working out. His next-door neighbor, apparently a closeted homosexual, thinks Lester is cavorting with his son sexually - when really his son is selling him weed. In the end, Lester never culminates his relationship with Angela, as they get to it and she confesses she is a virgin. Lester goes to the kitchen, where he is killed - either by his neighbor, himself or his daughter.
The Rebellion Of The Beta Male
This scene is important for a few reasons. First, notice the power dynamic here - Carolyn is clearly in charge. Further, Lester notes that even his daughter, Jane, has more power than him.
Lester asserts himself throughout the clip. He is a man grasping for his identity as a male. He clearly has little hand in his relationship, as his wife is a typical embodiment of a histrionic female. Lester's approach here is to subvert her hysterics in order to gain the upper hand in the relationship.
Throughout the movie, Lester seeks to move beyond the social scripts handed to him by American middle-class society. He is a typical beta male - a guy who gets married, realizes the narcissistic sexual hierarchy and is coming to terms with the unreality of his life.
His rebellion is his implicit acknowledgement of the red-pill. His frustration reflects on a society that discourages masculinity and encourages supplication to females. He is a tragic character who is trapped between who he always wanted to be and the man he has become. Like most men, he has ceded control to the women in his life. I suspect this is how it has always been, considering hypergamy & betahood, but it is treated as a new development for the powerlessness of the male.
His attraction towards Angela isn't just biological, but rooted in his desire to rework his past. The man that stands up for himself and pursues that which he desires is the man he always wanted to be. He could never be that man because of his poor self-esteem & needing to provide for his daughter. Like many beta males, he felt that his life was more a function of forces beyond his control than anything else.
He refers to his wife as "mother" more than once. It is a reflection of the relationship that most beta's have with their wife - one of supreme power differences. Some critics have very gently suggested this movie was about a crisis of masculinity, carefully noting they didn't want to empower men too much at the expense of women. Which is the damn impetus for the movie - society unable & unwilling to help failing men.
Modern society is about the narcissistic edification of women. Women didn't seek equality, they accused men of "misogyny" when they really meant they wanted narcissistic worship from men. Congruent with narcissistic analysis, it wasn't enough. They seek more compliments, more worship, etc.
A common theme is that masculinity is in crisis in reaction to feminist & gay triumphs. They need to prove their relevance. Masculinity has its serious issues, but nothing that compares to female & gay identities. Long considering themselves to be oppressed , female & gays should have to prove real identities outside victimhood. They leech onto male issues - keeping the conversation about straight men - so they don't have to talk about their issues.
Unable to change, they need to focus on straight men having masculinity issues so they can bolster their self-identities. Feminists sometimes complain about the focus on straight men - but where would any feminist be without her ability to bitch about men? Nowhere because she would have to turn her focus to women - there can be no criticism there.
Consumerism, Superficiality & The Modern American Female
A fantastic clip that embodies the movie.
While this analysis could span multiple posts, lets break it down as simply as possible.
Lester has sacked up & gotten more outcome independent. His wife responds positively to his advances, but it is all killed when his wife notices the beer about to spill on the couch arm.
He withdraws immediately, realizing she is the same superficial female she has ever been. He emphatically states it is "just a couch." He reminds her of the fact everything they own is just stuff. Unable to come to terms with the fact her life is just one navel-gazing adventure she storms off.
His existential crisis is worsened here. Surrounded by the trapping of the life he supposed to live he decides to sit around in sweatpants drinking cheap beer. That is his way of rebelling. As for his wife, he was on the precipice of reigniting their sex life but she was more worried about appearances than anything else.
His exclamation that "It is just a couch!" has strong anti-feminist overtones. Men can say that about a woman's career, their interest in this or that, or their consumerism. Women place inordinate amounts of value on things or endeavors that aren't all that relevant.
A study surveying college students in Canada revealed that over 90% of women were going to college in order to have a career; over 80% of men said they were in college to get a job. See the delusion here? Like Carolyn in the movie, women have delusions about the life they will live.
Carolyn mentions how much the couch cost (4000 bucks!) as if the cost has that much relation to its value. Carolyn embodies the modern woman's indoctrination into not consumerism but materialism. A key impetus of feminism was getting females to make financial decisions apart from men so they could exploit their emotional state.
Back on point, women value things or stuff that has no real value outside artificial female circles. By that, I mean were it not for females judging each other for X, Y, or Z, it would have no value at all for them. Much was causes consternation among women is their fighting over what standards by which they will hold each other and the fallout that comes from said standards.
Carolyn embodies the superficial American female. She is flighty, obsessed with appearances and is more interested in her career as way to self-aggrandize than to financially support her family. She blames much of her problems on her husband and refuses to take responsibility for her actions.
I need to stop tonight. Sorry to end abruptly, but I have to go to bed - but I will back tomorrow using this movie - plus Boys Don't Cry & Fight Club - to flesh out a thesis.
Review Of Movie & Characters
American Beauty was a highly popular released in the late 1990’s. The movie began as a play that was inspired by the Amy Fisher trial. Amy Fisher was referred to as the “Long-Island Lolita” as she hooked up with a autobody shop owner and then tried to kill his wife so they could be together. Apparently, the nuclear family & repression of sexuality is what inspired the work initially.
Let’s step through the main characters.
Lester Burham: The main character of the movie. He is a typical middle-aged beta male - although he grows in the movie. He works a job he hates (that he eventually is laid off from) and claims the highlight of his day is masturbating the shower.
Carolyn Burham: She is a stereotypical middle-class female. She is obsessed with image, maintaining a good-looking home, gardening and is an ambitious real-estate agent. She is dissatisfied with her home life and her husband. She has a fling with a much more successful real-estate agent than her.
Jane Burham: A 16 year-old goth who is a typical disaffected teenager. Frankly, she isn't relevant to my analysis, so let's move on.
Angela Hayes: The cheerleader friend of Jane's. She is superficial and terribly stereotypical and average, aside from her looks. She is a habitual liar, especially about her sex life. Lester becomes infatuated with her. While Angela doesn't mirror Lester's interest, she does have a level of interest in him.
Let's talk about the plot. Lester is supremely dissatisfied with his life, as is the rest of his family. He is inspired to change himself when he meet his daughter's friend, Angela. After getting laid off, he starts working at a fast-food joint, buys a muscle car & starts working out. His next-door neighbor, apparently a closeted homosexual, thinks Lester is cavorting with his son sexually - when really his son is selling him weed. In the end, Lester never culminates his relationship with Angela, as they get to it and she confesses she is a virgin. Lester goes to the kitchen, where he is killed - either by his neighbor, himself or his daughter.
The Rebellion Of The Beta Male
This scene is important for a few reasons. First, notice the power dynamic here - Carolyn is clearly in charge. Further, Lester notes that even his daughter, Jane, has more power than him.
Lester asserts himself throughout the clip. He is a man grasping for his identity as a male. He clearly has little hand in his relationship, as his wife is a typical embodiment of a histrionic female. Lester's approach here is to subvert her hysterics in order to gain the upper hand in the relationship.
Throughout the movie, Lester seeks to move beyond the social scripts handed to him by American middle-class society. He is a typical beta male - a guy who gets married, realizes the narcissistic sexual hierarchy and is coming to terms with the unreality of his life.
His rebellion is his implicit acknowledgement of the red-pill. His frustration reflects on a society that discourages masculinity and encourages supplication to females. He is a tragic character who is trapped between who he always wanted to be and the man he has become. Like most men, he has ceded control to the women in his life. I suspect this is how it has always been, considering hypergamy & betahood, but it is treated as a new development for the powerlessness of the male.
His attraction towards Angela isn't just biological, but rooted in his desire to rework his past. The man that stands up for himself and pursues that which he desires is the man he always wanted to be. He could never be that man because of his poor self-esteem & needing to provide for his daughter. Like many beta males, he felt that his life was more a function of forces beyond his control than anything else.
He refers to his wife as "mother" more than once. It is a reflection of the relationship that most beta's have with their wife - one of supreme power differences. Some critics have very gently suggested this movie was about a crisis of masculinity, carefully noting they didn't want to empower men too much at the expense of women. Which is the damn impetus for the movie - society unable & unwilling to help failing men.
Modern society is about the narcissistic edification of women. Women didn't seek equality, they accused men of "misogyny" when they really meant they wanted narcissistic worship from men. Congruent with narcissistic analysis, it wasn't enough. They seek more compliments, more worship, etc.
A common theme is that masculinity is in crisis in reaction to feminist & gay triumphs. They need to prove their relevance. Masculinity has its serious issues, but nothing that compares to female & gay identities. Long considering themselves to be oppressed , female & gays should have to prove real identities outside victimhood. They leech onto male issues - keeping the conversation about straight men - so they don't have to talk about their issues.
Unable to change, they need to focus on straight men having masculinity issues so they can bolster their self-identities. Feminists sometimes complain about the focus on straight men - but where would any feminist be without her ability to bitch about men? Nowhere because she would have to turn her focus to women - there can be no criticism there.
Consumerism, Superficiality & The Modern American Female
A fantastic clip that embodies the movie.
While this analysis could span multiple posts, lets break it down as simply as possible.
Lester has sacked up & gotten more outcome independent. His wife responds positively to his advances, but it is all killed when his wife notices the beer about to spill on the couch arm.
Quote:Quote:
Lester, you are going to spill beer on the couch
He withdraws immediately, realizing she is the same superficial female she has ever been. He emphatically states it is "just a couch." He reminds her of the fact everything they own is just stuff. Unable to come to terms with the fact her life is just one navel-gazing adventure she storms off.
His existential crisis is worsened here. Surrounded by the trapping of the life he supposed to live he decides to sit around in sweatpants drinking cheap beer. That is his way of rebelling. As for his wife, he was on the precipice of reigniting their sex life but she was more worried about appearances than anything else.
His exclamation that "It is just a couch!" has strong anti-feminist overtones. Men can say that about a woman's career, their interest in this or that, or their consumerism. Women place inordinate amounts of value on things or endeavors that aren't all that relevant.
A study surveying college students in Canada revealed that over 90% of women were going to college in order to have a career; over 80% of men said they were in college to get a job. See the delusion here? Like Carolyn in the movie, women have delusions about the life they will live.
Carolyn mentions how much the couch cost (4000 bucks!) as if the cost has that much relation to its value. Carolyn embodies the modern woman's indoctrination into not consumerism but materialism. A key impetus of feminism was getting females to make financial decisions apart from men so they could exploit their emotional state.
Back on point, women value things or stuff that has no real value outside artificial female circles. By that, I mean were it not for females judging each other for X, Y, or Z, it would have no value at all for them. Much was causes consternation among women is their fighting over what standards by which they will hold each other and the fallout that comes from said standards.
Carolyn embodies the superficial American female. She is flighty, obsessed with appearances and is more interested in her career as way to self-aggrandize than to financially support her family. She blames much of her problems on her husband and refuses to take responsibility for her actions.
I need to stop tonight. Sorry to end abruptly, but I have to go to bed - but I will back tomorrow using this movie - plus Boys Don't Cry & Fight Club - to flesh out a thesis.
![[Image: billy-dee-clapping.gif]](http://reggieshouse.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/billy-dee-clapping.gif)
![[Image: lol.gif]](https://rooshvforum.network/images/smilies/new/lol.gif)
![[Image: facepalm.gif]](http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/facepalm.gif)
![[Image: chris_hanson.jpg]](http://www.socialtechpop.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/chris_hanson.jpg)
