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The Unconventional Beauty of American Beauty



Unconventional Beauty


The film American Beauty directed by Sam Mendes starring Kevin Spacey is the film that deals with the perception of beauty and dives into the opposing idea of ‘Beauty is everything’ and ‘Everything is the beauty.’ The director uses many different aspects of spaces to support this theme as well as constructing an environment around each character to externalized their feelings and perspective on life and beauty.

Opening with a shallow bird’s eyes view of Lester in his bed. It makes Lester look like they are being crushed against the background. After having met Angela, we see Lester in bed with the same bird’s eyes view again. The director subtly creates the illusion of off-screen space, by having rose petals fall from above. The same flat space is now no longer as flat with the help of perpendicular visual movement. The sequence symbolizes how Angela has opened up a new door for him. To him, she is a light shining through a small hole in a dark cave. This marks the moment where we start to see his change of no longer conforming to the 2-dimensional world that Carolyn lives in. It also marks the moments where his perspective changes from ‘Beauty is everything’ to ‘Everything is beauty.’

One of the crucial scenes we keep revisiting are scenes at the dinner table, Those scenes make it seems like we are looking directly into a dollhouse, symbolizing how the family is forced into specific roles while trying to achieve the American dream, losing freedom and not seeing outside their own materialistic desires. The lack of strong visual movement creates a closed space. The symmetrical, picture-perfect dinner table scenes create a claustrophobic box. The second time we see them at dinner, Lester and Carolyn are fighting. Lester, now no longer conforming to the picture-perfect dollhouse, throws a plate which hits the wall behind them. This act of rebellion and the perpendicular movement of the plate literally breaks the illusion of flatness and deepens the space. This symbolizes the changes that Lester had learned that the pursuit of happiness is not as shallow and may be deeper and unconventional.


During the “I will sell this house today” sequence, we see numerous instances of shallow space as well as many frames within a frame. The shot with her against the stone wall or the leaf wall crushes her against her environment. The frames trap her in her job trying desperately to achieve shallow happiness. Most of the shots with her in it are very 2 dimensional, she is unable to look outside and see that joy is more than success. The curtain she closes behind her symbolizes a cell she has created for herself, masking her dissatisfaction with an image of normalcy. To her normalcy is beauty and therefore everything must be normal. This is one of many instances where Carolyn is shot against flat space as it happens throughout the movie.





Angela’s bedroom creates a very flat space. There is not much overlap in furniture meaning there is not much illusionary depth. However, the numerous cut-outs of pictures of models really flatten out her room; we almost can’t see where the corner of her room is. The cutouts themselves show her shallow view of outer beauty and thinking that appearance is everything. The lack of textural differences in her wallpaper consumes her visually, blending her in, ironically making her just like one of the cut-outs, in a way she is objectifying herself. Despite what she says, she is ordinary both inside and outside. Her fear of being ordinary is ordinary. Her visions and ambitions are also ordinary. Angela is a metaphor for conventional beauty, the “American Dream” girl, an object of perfection, something Lester sought for. Throughout the film, Lester has his own image of Angela, objectifying her. By the end, he learns that even she isn’t picture perfect. Her being a virgin breaks his illusions. She too becomes humanized and to his eyes is an unconventional beauty. She is just a lost child trying to shine in the world. From the wallpaper in her room, we see that nothing is holding her back other than herself. She puts up all the cut-outs; She blends herself into the image of conventional beauty. By opening up herself to others and revealing her insecurities, she becomes imperfect but unordinary.

The use of shallow space is used to symbolize the shallowness of perspective. In this film Shallow space in synonymous with conventional beauty and the idea of ‘beauty is everything.’ The flat environment around each character as well as surface division creates an entrapment which denies them of seeking happiness in unconventional ways. They are a metaphor for conventional beauty and normalness.

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