Just interested.
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Frank_Z — 10 years ago(January 16, 2016 05:47 AM)
I think the term "American Beauty" seems to represent the disconnected between Lester and Carolyn.
By this I mean if you asked Carolyn "What is American Beauty?" she would say "Those flowers I spend my free-time cultivating in my front garden with my color-coordinated shears and shoes". However if you asked Lester the same question he would say "A kickass album by the Grateful Dead that reminds me of my youth and I haven't heard in years".
Agreed. And also, note that there is a brand of pasta named "American Beauty" with a rose as part of the package decoration. -
TxMike — 10 years ago(April 15, 2015 06:26 AM)
It has multiple meanings. The obvious one is the rose variety, "American Beauty", a red rose like the ones (maybe the same ones) that the wife was growing and cutting. And the rose petals on the girl's chest in Lester's vision of her.
But to me it is also a statement about "beauty" being where you find it, as in the plastic bag being tossed around in the breeze. Or Lester getting up the courage to stand up for himself against a crazy wife and a crazy workplace. Or the kid making spending money selling pot. Or the girl realizing she no longer needed to save her money for a boob job.
We each have our own idea of what "beauty" is to us, this movie explores that. And of course being set in America it is American Beauty.
.... TxMike ....
Make a choice, to take a chance, to make a difference. -
matagt1983 — 10 years ago(June 08, 2015 02:57 PM)
I always thought the title was meant to be sarcastic in way. The Beauty of living in the American suburbs is the lack of real struggle. To the characters portrayed the problems they dealt with are tremendous and they really don't know what real problems are.Each one of their problems were easily solvable if they just changed their point of view on their life. The only character who truly realizes that is Lester before being shot in the head yet I don't feel as if it was a sad ending. Most people go their whole lives and straight to their graves without ever realizing how lucky they really are yet Lester had the joy to realize that before he died.
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Lester_Burnham_Risen — 10 years ago(December 16, 2015 07:26 PM)
Most people go their whole lives and straight to their graves without ever realizing how lucky they really are yet Lester had the joy to realize that before he died.
Agreed, but there has always been a conflict to me in last bit "don't worry, someday you WILL" [ie understand]
The whole of the movie agrees with you that most americans die with Eyes Wide Shut, never having opened them, UNLESS he is saying everyone, once in the hands of The Ferryman just after death, will get the picture.
http://www.kindleflippages.com/ablog/ -
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njiuma — 10 years ago(January 13, 2016 08:50 PM)
I think that you've captured the essence of the meaning of the film. It does have multiple meanings, but that is at the core:
Each one of their problems were easily solvable if they just changed their point of view on their life. The only character who truly realizes that is Lester- It is sad, because just as Lester really understood "American Beauty", he was shot. And they certainly could have worked through their problems together, and been the better for it over time.
Though it is profoundly, simultaneously, beautiful yet bittersweet that he understood his life's greatest blessings (that seemed to be curses) at the end: his wife and daughter.
"If you love Jesus Christ and are 100% proud of it copy this and make it your signature!"
- It is sad, because just as Lester really understood "American Beauty", he was shot. And they certainly could have worked through their problems together, and been the better for it over time.
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DavidStHubbinsUSA — 10 years ago(November 10, 2015 08:26 AM)
The title of the film refers to a breed of roses that while pretty and appealing in appearance, is often prone to rot underneath at the roots and branches of the plant. Thus, the tagline "look closer" tells the viewer that when they look beyond the "perfect suburban life" they will find something rancid at the root.
I know I cheated.
Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man. -
gonemoab — 10 years ago(November 10, 2015 09:54 PM)
I don't know what you mean by "cheating"; it's a good answer.
Caroline's desperate desire to be in the upper echelons of her business, and social circles denotes a superficial self-image one that lets her deny her lack of self-confidence. The expensive trappings she acquires, but can't afford, display an ambition to superiority, but she doesn't have the engine to power it. She listens to the psychobabble self-help seminar tapes, but she can't keep from doubting herself. And the vapid hollowness of the American suburb where nearly everyone is concealing "something rancid at the root" is the macro-scale manifestation of the American dream, the American Beauty.
Lester decides to look inward and evolves by admitting who he really is inside, what powers him, and what he has to accept in order to reach satisfaction. At his death, I don't know whether to cry or smile (like Ricky did). He was seeing the American Beauty in the faces of his happy family as they once looked, once before. He smiled saying "man, oh man!" just as he died in an instantaneous, blissful condition.
Log Lady lives
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london777 — 9 years ago(September 08, 2016 11:07 AM)
The title of the film refers to a breed of roses that while pretty and appealing in appearance, is often prone to rot underneath at the roots and branches of the plant. Thus, the tagline "look closer" tells the viewer that when they look beyond the "perfect suburban life" they will find something rancid at the root.
Two years later another good film used a similar botanical metaphor as its title:
Lantana (2001)
Lantana is a shrub widely found in Australia which entices with its attractive flowers but spreads fast, killing other plants, and can entangle the unwary.
I wonder if the makers got the idea from American Beauty? -
Jonwartea — 10 years ago(December 03, 2015 04:23 PM)
We, as Americans, are sold on this white, suburban, picket fence, materialistic lifestyle that is suppose to be the pinnacle of happiness and beauty. However, if you were to look deeper into these families and what happens behind closed doors you would find that not everything as appears.
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brendan_stuart — 10 years ago(March 19, 2016 02:59 AM)
I interpret it as an ironic, disconnected representation of 'the American dream'. We all have a mental image of the traditional American dream: a suburban home, nice car, a happy marriage, happy children playing in the yard, nice garden, waving to the neighbours, etc. What the film shows is the pain and suffering that can happen behind the doors of the Dream. The title draws attention to the American dream, while being wholly dissonant to the film's meaning. An oxymoron, perhaps.
Everybody is projecting themselves as different people as a way to get approval, except for Ricky and Jane, and Lester after meeting Ricky. Carolyn preens herself, makes sure people notice her working her garden. Ricky's dad hides his homosexuality and sadness over his wife's state behind excessively strict military bearings and homophobia. Angela hides her own body issues behind sheer overt sexuality, and being friends with a person who makes her feel better about herself (whether she was telling the truth or not about her virginity to Lester is irrelevant, it's her projected image that is).
All of them projecting their image of 'beauty' in their view of the American Dream -
wylierichardson-966-922691 — 9 years ago(April 14, 2016 08:53 AM)
It says in the 'trivia' section that the title refers to a type of flower that may be superfically pretty, but actually rots quite easily, at the base. That was clearly a metaphor for the suburban life and marriage depicted here.
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AndrewGS — 9 years ago(January 19, 2017 08:34 AM)
Although not completely clear, to me the title seems pretty cynical, trying to claim that Americans (or segments thereof) consider artifice, status and struggling for normality to be beautiful when actually they hurt and strain people.
Ricky and eventually Lester claim that there is genuine beauty and yet seem uneasy if not bitter about their own lives - maybe that suggests that life in general is great but American values distort it.