Harrison Saito Professor Hollingsworth English 1C 13 December 2010 American Beauty Ever since civilization began‚ trends have socialized groups on how to dress‚ think‚ and act; it becomes an absolute necessity to support whatever is in vogue or risk ostracization. Modern businesses create advertising in American media by following these cultural trends. Whether it is through periodicals‚ radio‚ or the all powerful television these companies use effective methods to psychologically convince
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A True Beauty Sam Mendes’ ‘American Beauty’ is a daring‚ startling and gut-wrenching film that explores a seemingly typical mid-life crisis of a middle-aged office drone‚ which quickly turns into an unbelievably dysfunctional dimension of self-discovery. The drone in question is none other than Lester Burnham (played by the terrific Kevin Spacey) - a 42 year old who has reached the lowest point in his unexciting‚ boxed in‚ suburban life. However this all changes when Lester meets a friend of his
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 In American Beauty‚ 1999‚ directed by Sam Mendes‚ we are confronted with the permeating images that have consumed mainstream American life. Mendes exploits these images as constructions that we created around ourselves as a means of hiding our true selves. Mendes is able to implicate us in the construction and make us active viewers by exploiting our voyeuristic nature. In American Beauty Mendes uses the voyeuristic tendencies of the spectator to acknowledge the permeating constructed
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but Erik punches him in the face. In that scene‚ Paul is in his backyard. Almost all of the backyard scenes have been negative. There haven’t been any good memories there that Erik hasn’t tainted. All the time Paul listens to Erik and Arthur “kicking a football into a net in the backyard.” Paul describes it as a “short violent sound” which shows how violent he knows Erik is‚ just like he saw when Erik punched Tino. Another negative backyard scene was when Paul had Joey come over in the beginning
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THE RHETORIC OF AMERICAN BEAUTY: A VALUE ANALYSIS A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts Jessica L. Papajcik December‚ 2006 THE RHETORIC OF AMERICAN BEAUTY: A VALUE ANALYSIS Jessica L. Papajcik Thesis Approved: Accepted: __________________________ Advisor Mary E. Triece __________________________ Interim Director of the School Dr. Carolyn M. Anderson __________________________
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Mike Nichols‚ the director of The Graduate and Sam Mendes‚ the director of American Beauty both do a great job of including specific framing shots. They also character proxemics to showcase the relationships between the characters. Both directors also use the dominant and subsidiary contrasts very effectively in their respective movies. These mise en scene film elements are vital to a good movie and these directors perfected them. The directors in these two films use character proximity very cleverly
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filmmaker who turns his life upside down when he goes “undercover” and is “poor” so he can make a movie out of it. The scene of them jumping on to the train and going on an undercover expedition shows how some people really had to live during the great depression and that to get somewhere they had to use a cargo train to travel where they wanted to go. The theme of this scene is for the main characters to set out on their journey to develop a plan for the movie Sullivan wants to make‚ but also
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Film Studies American Beauty and The Graduate Scattered all throughout American Beauty‚ there is constant symbolism that reflects the movies main idea. Whether it is sexual liberation or the fragility of common patriarchal norms‚ American Beauty tends to convey these abstract ideas through concrete visuals that the audience can identify and interpret. The most common and identifiable ones that most audiences tend to pick up one are the rose petals that are in practically every scene which symbolizes
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The film American Beauty‚ directed by Sam Mendes is a film about imprisonment and escape from imprisonment (Mendes‚ 1999). American Beauty explores the breakdown of a suburban family man whose life journeys from self loathing and emptiness to freedom and liberation but at the ultimate cost of his life. Mendes effectively employs a range of techniques to help convey the meaning of this film such as set design‚ camera angles‚ colour and soundtrack. Cinema often uses structured set design and camera
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Taking a closer look at one scene‚ the filmmakers are able to create an authentic look at the two most tumultuous decades of changing in American culture. Specifically‚ the scene involving Jenny‚ drug use and her contemplation of suicide (1:29:07-1:31:18) which is completely without dialogue relies heavily on the elements of mise en scene to communicate the mood‚ message‚ and tone. It is very compelling and connects the audience. The set design is filled with small details that add to believability
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