Ricky Fitts Character Analysis

“Do you want to see the most beautiful thing I’ve ever filmed?”(American Beauty) asks Ricky Fitts as the camera is pointed to his girlfriend, Jane Burnham. The scene cuts to the back of their heads, the two of them sitting side by side, and a TV in the middle on the desk in front of them. A plastic bag floats in the wind along with some brown leaves against a red brick background. There are several seconds of silence before soft music begins to play. Ricky begins a monologue about the day this was filmed and how there was “electricity in the air”(American Beauty). Ricky speaks slowly and delicately showcasing how much this video affects him. The camera cuts to his face. Ricky reviles that “that’s the day [he] realised that there was this entire life behind things”(American Beauty). He looks as though he may cry; the
These characteristics are categorized under six ‘virtues’ (wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence) and were chosen because of their value to “moral philosophers and religious thinkers across time and world cultures” (Niemiec). Under the virtue of transcendence, there is a character strength titled “appreciation of beauty and excellence,” in which “you notice and appreciate beauty, excellence, and/or skilled performance in all domains of life, from nature to art to mathematics to science to everyday experience”(VIA Institute on Character). It is clear that this would be one of Ricky’s top character strengths. In fact, on the VIA website, the first movie example under appreciation of beauty and excellence is American Beauty. Those who do not understand Ricky and his obsession with beauty clearly do not share this character strength with him, at least not to such a high degree. They deny themselves of understanding and appreciating the charm and elegance that surrounds their everyday