Thursday, June 22, 2017

AMERICAN BEAUTY 4 CAE BRAVES

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With great confidence in your ability to appreciate (precisely) the beauty of AB, it is that I decided to share it with my braves in class. Not only did you look involved in its plot and funny moments but rather you seemed to enjoy it all along. As this is essentially an honest project, I do not expect you to make a thorough analysis of its most striking aspects, let alone an in-depth cover of its characters, though you are free to do so if you will. As you let the movie seep into your conscious mind, you might choose to follow whatever road that most interests you. In class, I suggested themes, though you may feel inclined to follow the process of research and then comment or viceversa on any issue, deciding to contrast what you read with what you felt or still feel about certain issues. Needless to say, I hope you are able to pick your brains and delve into your hearts to make your contributions. Those not present are most welcome to watch it on their own and become part of it. Big hug.

12 comments:

  1. After watching this film, a lot of things came up in my mind. You can realized so many things throughout the movie that and by watching it again I´m sure you´ll find new topics. However, I am going to tell you the ones I have noticed.
    At first, Lester´s attitude really caught my attention. In the beginning of the story we can see that his life is very miserable, not enjoying his job, not having a good relationship which his wife and daughter and simply not enjoying his life. Nevertheless, he gets into a point that he´s fed up and starts doing the things that he likes to the maximum. So, a message can be shown in this particular moment. Moreover, a really interesting aspect that appears is the legalization and use of guns in United States. Sadly, the citizens are able to have a gun around their house for security but, as a we saw in the movie, it could be also use for a crime. Furthermore, violence, abuse and bullying are also some factors that pop up in the movie. Especially, in Ricky´s life with his military father, who is the one that beat him up just because he thought that his son was gay.
    When I first saw the 20 minutes of the film I have imagined another personality for each character. For example, Jane as a very dark teenager with no friends and Ricky as a psycho and stalker. Obviously, this change completely. Both characters have a really special charisma and the one who really stands out is Ricky like when he explains that he sees beauty in the world. In my opinion, that is very challenging but that´s what makes it a great film.
    To conclude, American Beauty is an amazing movie and I just cannot believe I did not heard it before. There are so many things to appreciate and messages to consider in mind. Thanks for the space and have a great weekend everyone!

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  3. When we started the film I honestly didn't have any high hopes for it; I thought it was going to be about why Les had a miserable life, him complaining about being horny all the movie (because that's what is given to interpretation in the first half an hour) and finally ending up shooting himself because he was so depressed and we already knew he would die anyway. So I didn't think I was going to enjoy it.
    But as it continued it came to my surprise how much I liked it, I believe this was the movie with the best character development I have ever seen! Especially Lester, who was ceaselessly morose and seemed to don't have any chance of getting better. Without a doubt, the ending was shocking. However, everything before that was a great example that nothing is hopeless and we can pull through no matter what. Also, the film shows that happiness can be found in the most unexpected places, objects, and people.

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  4. While watching the movie, I could identify some themes. The first and most important one is how subjective beauty is. On the one hand is Lester that, as every guy who comes across with Angela, falls in love with her, who seems to be confident but is totally insecure and afraid of being normal instead. On the other hand, Ricky considers that she is ordinary and believes that Jane or a plastic bag is beautiful. At first I thought Ricky is an odd and creepy character since he films such mainstream or tragic situations but then I realized he appreciates the beauty that for him there is in some aspects of life even though for others they are not. Another topic this film deals with is materialism. Carolyn is obsessed with staff because she thinks not only do material things bring her happiness but also make her feel she has succeeded in life. She wants to appear to have a perfect life and family when the least they have is a close relationship. Thirdly, Lester goes through a period of change in order to feel happy again as when he was young. Finally, violence is constantly present. We can see this issue when Ricky’s father, as well as Carolyn with Jane, treats his son violently, and let alone when Lester is killed.

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  5. At the beginning I wasn´t interested in the movie because since the first minute Lester tells us he is going to die. So I though he was going to tell us his life story and the events which took him to death. Throughout the film I realized there were a lot of interesting themes such as what it is consider beautiful. In Ricky´s case he found beauty in objects or people who weren´t considered so and on the other hand, there´s Angela´s case, the the typical gorgeous girl, who everyone looks at but has insecurities and would feel disappointed of herself if somebody didn´t look at her. Another theme is materialism which involves Carolyn and his need to show she has money and that they are a fancy family. Finally, self-liberations is another theme, which I think was present in every character showing how everyone wants to have their happiness back and be who they want to be. This last theme was the one which make me like the film let alone the astonishing final.

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  6. To begin with I wanted to point out that this was the 1st movie that I watched at school and liked it. American beauty is a really interesting, moving and complex film. It makes you think and analyze a lot. The movie starts telling the story of a man who appartenly live into the 'american dream´, he has a family, work, house and a car. Nonetheless Lester is not happy and he think he have a really frustrated and rutinary life. Throughout the movie we can see how Lester manage to put an end to that boring life and start a new one.
    In the movie there is a key moment in which the protagonist starts his evolution and it is when he saw Angela (his daughter´s best friend). From that moment he starts to fight for himself that is to say, he starts doing things he always wanted to. I believe is really amazing how some many people might consider Lester as a stupid person as he ruin all his life and, for others Lester might be a hero as he was bored of his rutinary life and changed all.
    Moreover, I wanted to make a comment about the scene where Wes shows to Jane a the most beautiful video he have ever filmed and to surprise for many it was a video of a plastic bag flying. I think it is shocking but true, the world is really beautifull, every little thing that makes it up is beautifull. Also, at the end when Lester died he related that he could not be angry with all the beauty we have.
    I really recommend this movie.

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  7. When I watched the movie I had the feeling than happiness was the only theme involved in this piece of art. I have done research and found out that there are many others, such as: mortality (we can find this theme at the beginning of the movie when Lester tells the audience that he is going to die soon) or even appearances, Lester seems to be really fond of the “model” look that Angela has and he falls for her because mostly her looks. However, on the other hand we have Ricky who sees the type of girls like Angela ordinary and not even remotely pretty as many other would. In addition I was intrigued at how much Lester wanted to have a fit body in other to be attractive and comely. It triggered in my mind how focus or conscious we are of our appearance. And that sometimes we could do almost everything in other to be attractive for others. Moreover happiness is something that the movie targets really well. We can see that even though Lester had an economic stability a house and even a job he was not happy. Everybody else could have seen him as a happy man living the American dream but he was actually utterly unhappy (he was more than meets the eye we could say). And once he achieve the happiness he was looking for he stopped living, he fulfilled his goals and died which is what humans do. I believe that we are meandering in life until the point we fill that we made it or that we accomplish something important in life and then life makes sense. To sum up American Beauty is a great movie that targets the psyche of people.

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  8. In the first place, I felt completely disappointed by the beginning of the movie. The first thing we get to know when we play it is that the main character dies. From my point of view, this is a very frustrating situation. I doesn´t matter how hard he tries to improve his miserable life, he will end up on dying and everything he has done in order to feel happier about himself will be in vain.
    On the other hand, I could find many topics involved in this plot, such as insecurity, psychological instability, nonconformity, materialism, love and frustration. All of the previous topics are perfectly developed through the movie. However, the one that has caught my attention the most is the nonconformity that Lester feels at the beginning of the film. Through the movie, we get to understand that the main character has felt miserable and unhappy for many years. Unfortunately, he hasn’t done anything about it until the moment of his life in where the movie takes place.
    From my point of view, we are being teached an important life lesson through Lester´s situation. I believe that the movie is trying to explain us that life is too short in order to spend it in an unhappy way. If we are not enjoying ourselves, or we are not satisfied with what we are doing, we should not get used to this feeling.

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  9. From my subjective point of view, I would say that American Beauty is a film that, at first, is not shown as interesting as it seemed the typical movie cliche where the protagonist tells his miserable story and how it leads to suicide. However, as the film goes by, Lester discovers that it is still possible for him to be happy again. He begins to pursue hapiness by paying attention to his true and paramount desires and ignoring the elements that overwhelm him, such as his wife. In conclusion, I personally think that the film teaches us that happiness can always be achieved.

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  10. Honestly, there is so much to say about the movie... In this comment I'll try and write about characterization.
    In the first place, there's a special image given by every character at the very beginning, thus we become biased and it's harder then for us to accept that their personalities shift throughout the movie. At first, we might think that Jane will be the centre of the movie, since the first scenes follow her and what is happening in her life. We are lead to think her lacking friends and feeling lonely and shameful would be the plot. In the meantime, we are also introduced another people that will partake in the story. For instance, Angela who despite what we may believe in the beginning, will end up taking more protagonism in the movie that her friend Jane. Angela is characterized as artificial, superficial and plain. However it will be revealed mainly in the end how she is sweet and just wants to outstand in her attempt to never be considered “ordinary”, reason why she lies to everyone by saying that not only is she not a virgin, but has sexual intercourse with many people. Moving on, Ricky appears in a way what looks as if he uses to stalk, which makes him look creepy and maybe even spooky. Then, we find out that he has a particular way of interpreting the world’s beauty and this is why he might seem a little off. He represents that uncomprehended part of the society that is judged by looks and personal history -I’m making a reference to him being in the mental institution, another example of how just by being different he is looked down upon even by his own parents.

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  11. This is when the Coronel Frank Fitts makes an appearance. The manner in which the first scenes where he comes into sight develop already makes us understand that he takes tradition beyond common sense and he doesn’t seem friendly or comprehensive at all. We are still missing the two most important ones, at least in my opinion they are: Lester and Carolyn. Lester talks about himself as a loser and pathetic/ridiculous father who doesn’t know how to enjoy life. He doesn’t look bitter or angry though, he is shown as frustrated and accepting the fact that his life will be miserable for the rest of his days. This has saddened most of us because it was so raw and aggressive when his wife and daughter made fun and laughed at him. Nonetheless, as the movie passes by, his attitude becomes more and more reckless: starting when he started smoking marijuana with Ricky, also when he masturbated in front of his wife and confronted her, threatening her to keep most of their belongings if she decided to divorce him. It is also displayed when he bought his dreamed car, and threw the asparagus plate to the wall because he had been interrupted. We witness how his temper transforms however keeping the underlying sweet layer which we can see when he decided -near the ending- not to take Angela’s virginity despite the fact that he had fantasized about her since the very first moment he saw her. This alteration that he goes through also affected Carolyn.

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  12. She had always been in control of herself and her family until her husband seems to be suffering a crisis and she loses grip of the management of things. She doesn’t know what to do or how to react until suddenly she finds herself cheating on her careless husband. Yet she decides to keep it secret since she doesn’t care about breaking her marriage with Lester. She lets go of herself and enjoys for once in a very long time. However, this happiness ends the day that he finds out and her lover breaks up with her. That day is crucial. That day is the day in which everything comes to an end. Each character’s story finishes in a surprising yet oddly fitting way. Jane finally makes the decision of chasing a new life with his boyfriend Ricky; Angela opens up to Lester and feels beautiful and cared for which is so gratifying and important to her. Carolyn is determined “not to be the victim”, and this reflects what her character has come down to. And poor Lester…. he dies because Ricky’s father, the Coronel feels ashamed and vengeful for his feeling of homosexuality not being corresponded.

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