Preview

American Beauty Spectacle Culture Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
409 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
American Beauty Spectacle Culture Analysis
American Beauty demonstrates how construction of spectacles can be used to obfuscate our true selves. Mendes reflects on society during the 90’s whereby technological advances had been made evident through the computer and success of the mobile and Internet. The mass production of goods, rapid industrialisation and urbanization enabled individuals to compare their prosperity, achievement and success to each other. Mendes thereby refers to “spectacle culture” developed by theorist Guy De Bord (1931, 12) that is described as, “[…] societies where modern condition of production prevails, all life presents as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation”. This can be described as how individuals in American Beauty as well as real life create spectacles for outside parties to observe. …show more content…
The matching gloves and clogs is a manifestation of her hard work and achievement in order to live in luxury and incur a social status of hedonism and wealth. The spectacle Carolyn Burnham constructs is one of success, independence and affluence however this image is subverted through her alienation from her family, and crumbling marriage. In this way, Mendes demonstrates the deceptive nature of appearances individuals construct in order to conceal a sinister reality evident through Carolyn Burnham. He therefore, challenges individuals to ask whether they construct spectacles and identities in order to fit in, and whether their lives are dictated by “conspicuous consumption” (Veblen 1912). In this way he reinforces individuality and persuades us to reassess values such as commodification and acquisition, which desensitizes and distorts our perceptions of reality, enabling individuals to choose a reality that is free and authentic over simulation and
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Mla Mayer Body Image Analysis
    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Mla Mayer Body Image Analysis

    The vividly green lawn with homey flower pots surrounding the hospitable lawn chair would seem to create a sense of comfort and approachability. However, the attire that Mayer is clothed in contradicts this relaxed impression. Her high-end shoes create a more sophisticated and unapproachable tone. Mayer’s adept presence in contrast to the seemingly relaxed setting may be to emphasize that although she is participating in something that is considered trivial in her field, i.e. modeling, she is still upholding her victorious place as the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Signs Of Bad Taste In Dress In Ignatius J. Reilly
    • 158 Words
    • 1 Page

    Signs Of Bad Taste In Dress In Ignatius J. Reilly

    While waiting outside a department store, “Ignatius J. Reilly’s supercilious blue and yellow eyes looked down upon the other people… studying the crowd of people for signs of bad taste in dress”(4) here the author reveals that Ignatius is arrogant and looks down his nose at the common people and the way they choose to dress.…

    • 158 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Autobiography of a Face: Lucy Grealy
    • 1618 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Autobiography of a Face: Lucy Grealy

    The useful may be trusted to further itself, for many produce it and no one can do without it; but the beautiful must be specially encouraged, for few can present it, while yet all have need of it. Beauty does not lie in the face. It lies in the harmony between a person and his or her industry. Beauty is expression. Lucy Grealy’s book Autobiography of a Face takes a deep look at the societal stereotypes and perceptions. At the end of her book she writes “Society is no help. It tells us again and again that we can most be ourselves by acting and looking like someone else , only to leave our original faces behinds to turn in ghosts that will inevitably resent and haunt us” (pg. 222). This passage is in the conclusions; because through her experience she was face with the social and cultural expectation Grealy’s life after her cancer was filled taunts and stares from strangers. These judgments made Grealy very concerned with the perception of how others saw her.…

    • 1618 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Panopticism In The Day I Became A Woman
    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Panopticism In The Day I Became A Woman

    This analysis will examine the following focal points, panopticism, scoptophilic instincts, and visual pleasure. First, the analysis will examine panopticism in relation to embedded “secret politics” within the film, The Day I Became a Woman. Second, the analysis will compare both scoptophilic instinct with visual pleasure.…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    New Woman: Book Synopsis
    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages

    New Woman: Book Synopsis

    The “New Woman” is “appealing in her appearance” (Moeller 35), independent, and changes all assumptions about femininity. She is one who “go[es] to the cinema in the evenings… buy[s] Elegant World and the film magazines,” (Wehrling 721-723) she can be seen as promiscuous and sexually liberated. Mia Pinneberg models all these adjectives. She wears her “brown suit and smart hat” (Fallada 278) voiding any feminine assumptions, she formerly worked as a hostess at a night club, and even upon aging, continues her quest for social superiority through her constant evening parties and booze. Mia is the independent “New Woman” that bounces around from lover to lover with only her self-interest in mind. She is currently using Jachmann, her “current lover” (Fallada 107) for solely her own pleasures, and openly admits that she “sleep[s] with him” (Fallada 107). All of these aesthetic qualities and aspirations demonstrate how society saw the “New Woman.” However, underneath the mass stereotype for modernized bourgeois women, the pressures and expectations create an alienation from themselves, others and society itself as displayed through Mia.…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Surveillance In Guy Debord's Nineteen Eighty Four
    • 620 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Surveillance In Guy Debord's Nineteen Eighty Four

    In the society of the spectacle, the commodities have control over the consumers and workers rather than being controlled by them. Consumers are indifferent subjects that observe the spectacle. The criticism of the spectacle develops from Karl Marx’s concept of fetishism of commodities (the observation of social relationships involved in production). The critique of the society of the spectacle has a lot in common in terms of arguments as Adorno and Horkheimer and the critique of culture industry…

    • 620 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Gender Stereotypes In Film Analysis
    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Gender Stereotypes In Film Analysis

    (Sampson 2015: online) In her essay, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975: 63), Mulvey reveals how films are structured in a way that facilitate the viewer to objectify female characters and to identify with an “ideal ego” (Freud 1991: 397) of the male protagonist. Mulvey identifies this phallocentric structure of cinema as a byproduct of a patriarchal society. Essentially stating that a male-orientated society will undoubtedly create male-orientated art. (1975: 57) Within this patriarchal realm, it is argued that cinema thus far has been constructed for the pleasure of a male audience, and as Mulvey states, “pleasure in looking has been split between active/male (subject) and passive/female (object).” (1975:…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Monkey Bridge
    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Monkey Bridge

    When still in Saigon, the mother flourishes in interpersonal interactions. When at the market, the mother interacts with the salesmen to haggle and bargain in “a mating dance, a match of wills” (1). The word “dance” implies that the interaction is more complicatedly choreographed than a simple conversation; as a dancer must have either a natural or learned talent to dance, the mother must have an innate ability to interact with the salesmen. The phrase “match of wills” demonstrates that the process where the mother meets and bests most of the salesmen when buying products is a difficult battle, as shown by the word “match.” The markets in Saigon are of great complexity, which the mother handles flawlessly, showing both her great ability in social interactions and her belief in her ability to interact socially. In contrast, once in America, the mother cannot understand the social cues due to cultural differences, leaving her feeling alienated. When a store clerk waves her over with a wave normally used for dogs in Saigon, she laments that “even the store clerks look down on us” (2). The word “even” shows that she finds this hard to believe or the lowest of lows, showing that this interaction is emotionally damaging to her. “Look down” connotes that the store clerks think worse of her, so completely backwards to the respect that she saw salesmen have for her in Saigon, in America she sees them as behaving in a disrespectful way to her. This difference is caused by the change of cultural norms in the way the shop is set up and the way hand gestures work, so the change in the mother’s interactions with salesclerks shows the pain and estrangement that changing social expectations can…

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sociological Perspective Analysis
    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sociological Perspective Analysis

    Next, I will use the sociological concepts of social construction of reality, impression management, and the looking-glass self to show how these sociological perspectives, as well as others, have enlarged my view of the social…

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    America And The Spectacle In The Simulacra
    • 2073 Words
    • 9 Pages

    America And The Spectacle In The Simulacra

    “ The spectacle presents itself simultaneously as all of society, as part of society, and as a instrument of unification. As a part of society it is specifically the sector of which concentrates all gazing and all consciousness. Due to the very fact this sector is separate, it is the common ground of the deceived gaze and of false consciousness, and the unification it achieves is nothing but an official language of generalized separation” (Society Of The Spectacle, 3). In this text the spectacle is a variety of things but the main two things that influence the spectacle as a whole are Nicole Thibodeaux and the corporations. They present themselves as almost all of society and try to unit everyone else together. They both get all the attention or “gaze” like celebrities from individuals however they don't truly help the people in society but rather perpetuate a lifestyle of human culture which only aids those who whom have power or a status of power . Kongrosian ties into all of this because he himself is greatly influence by of these two aspects of the spectacle like so many other…

    • 2073 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Spectacle In The Mass Media
    • 309 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Spectacle In The Mass Media

    “Spectacle” in the mass media definition is required in order to advocate any form of activism in our world today. We have created a culture that requires this alteration in order for any story to be considered. Everybody is looking at what the next most exciting story is. Sadly, because of competition in media, stories are often distorted to become visually dramatic because of “our belief that truth and power belong to those who tell the better story” (Lowe 320). Using “spectacle” is very effective in getting others to believe/agree in any piece of activism. For example, think of all the mediated gun control, or racial stories in the news today. They, as serious as they already are, are blown up and twisted to become political movements instead…

    • 309 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Appearance vs. Reality
    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Appearance vs. Reality

    The article then asks the question of what exactly is appearance and reality? What is the difference? Often, it becomes difficult to tell the difference. Generally, “real” is regarded as external and eternal, while appearance is regarded as temporary and internal. I feel that, over the years, society has muddled the two together. So much so that often the two are confused with one another. For example, nowadays teens care so much about their online life. People will make fake accounts on social networking sites like twitter and Facebook, and they will act like it is their life. They will also take an unhealthy amount of pride in their online gaming lives. These things are not reality, yet they are treated as such.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    What Is The Message Of The Gift Of Hunger
    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages

    What Is The Message Of The Gift Of Hunger

    Everyone in the family wears clothes that fits their standard of living and socioeconomic status: bright sweaters, crisp button-ups, and delicate dresses. These factors go hand-in-hand with the upper middle socioeconomic class that the Johnsons fall under— with wealth and success that the Johnsons have obtained comes the nice luxuries of the environment. But when it comes to race, I find that mise-en-se is not as straightforward as social class can be. The color of their skin is apparent.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Illusion Of Freedom In Brazil
    • 1082 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Illusion Of Freedom In Brazil

    This thought process has led to a society filled with materialism, obsessed with buying, and obsessed with this illusion of choice even though, in this aspect of their lives, no choice exists. In one scene of Brazil, a group of characters are enjoying a brunch. They are given a choice of a few foods, many of them picking different ones, however when the food arrives it all looks the same, as unappetizing green blobs, completely different from the picture on the menu with the characters complacently accepting this fact. Even though they “chose” what they wanted, they still ended up with the same exact meals, and accepted this nonchalantly. This shows just how deep this illusion is for society. But with consumerism as the only outlet of freedom, this society glorified buying to the point of absurdity, even making an actual religion, “the consumers for Christ,” to justify the rampant and senseless materialism that is present in their society due to the lack of choice and freedom. Even death has become a part of the materialistic lifestyle. Mrs. Terrain’s funeral shows this as we see a bright pink, expensive looking coffin, gift-wrapped, not unlike any other purchase near the Christmas season would look. However, Mrs. Terrain, whose body was liquefied from plastic surgery gone wrong, symbolizes how destructive this society’s values…

    • 1082 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    60s America Through Images
    • 5289 Words
    • 22 Pages

    60s America Through Images

    The 1960s proved a tumultuous time for the United States in how there were so many historical developments in the mere space of a decade. Throughout the 60s Americans experienced and witnessed many events such as war, civil rights campaigns and protests, assassinations, technological developments and the emergence of a popular culture and counterculture. Photography came to the fore at the start of the 20th century and a huge emphasis was put on the visual to experience culture. The historical developments of the 60s can be seen clearly through the visual culture as they portray the historical events of the time through the medium of imagery. With the growing popularization of television, imagery could be rapidly distributed to each home and this is one of the main reasons that visual culture had such a profound effect on those who witnessed the events portrayed. “By the end of the decade 90% of Americans had access to television sets” this staggering amount of led to a high level of influence though reception of imagery. For instance when we look at the portrayal of the typical American family one would often see an image of a close-knit family sitting together watching television. In the space of a decade from the 1950s television was incorporated in the American family (see fig. 1.). Pictures such as this defined the family of the late 50s early 60s and incorporated the television into American families. With the television being a vital part of family life there was a constant flow of imagery available for the family to view. We can clearly see through images such as this that the US population began to regularly consume what the television provided. The photograph captures the importance television as a family pastime and how it gradually became the main focus of family time. Therefore we can see that the visual culture through the media such as television, newspapers and the images they provided to the population had a serious impact on historical…

    • 5289 Words
    • 22 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More

Related Topics