American Beauty

American Beauty, in my opinion, is one of the most successful films in regards to its use of mise-en-scene (without it being too overwhelming). The symbols are simply set up and the patterns that develop guide the audience along. Immediately, the audience is immersed in this world. We are in the thick of it. Through the use of the color red, lighting, costuming, and mirroring of scenes the director clearly, and artistically told the story of Lester Burnham.

The most obvious motif in American Beauty is the use of the color red (particularly with the roses). But what did the red mean? I took it to mean quite a few things. The life-force of the characters, sexuality (lust), and an indicator of character growth. Near the start of the film we see Carolyn (Annette Bening) cutting red roses in her front yard. She gives off this unhealthy, suffocating air of complete control. Carolyn is stifling the "life-force," quite literally, by cutting the roses, and this side of her character is shown through the scenes where she interacts with her family. 

With Lester the red roses are representative of his pent-up sexuality and lust for his daughter's friend Angela. Lester fantasizes about Angela numerous times throughout the movie. In these fantasies the red roses are ever present. This indicates to the viewers that what is happening is not real. 

At the end of the movie, in Lester's and Angela's near sexual encounter there is a vase of roses in the background. Ultimately Lester's lust and dissatisfaction with life lead to his downfall. In an article on the website The Artifice, author Dale Barham puts this idea eloquently."It’s almost like Lester’s lust for Angela lit the fuse on the entire downward spiral of events. If he hadn’t become obsessed with her, he wouldn’t have started working out. If he hadn’t started working out, Colonel Fitts wouldn’t have spotted him working out naked. If Colonel Fitts hadn’t spotted him, he wouldn’t have thought his son, Ricky, was sleeping with him. Then he wouldn’t have come out as gay and tried to kiss Lester; and if he hadn’t done that, he wouldn’t have been driven to kill him. It was beauty killed the beast.”

The lighting in the film was one of my favorite devices of showing character development. After Carolyn's failed open house, once everyone has left, she walks in to the empty living room, closes the blinds over the sliding glass doors, leans up against the blinds and breaks down crying. Her dimly lit, sobbing silhouette is powerful. We get a window into how not in control she is. And only until she is alone does she let the facade of success and being in-control fall away. 

At the game when Lester sees and fantasizes about Angela for the first time, the use of a spotlight on Angela, and a highlight over Lester's gawking eyes makes it feel like Angela is just dancing for him and they are the only people in the gymnasium. This scene even further proves how sad and sexually frustrated Lester is. 

The lighting I was most fascinated by was the lighting involving Ricky. One of the first times we see Ricky, he is in a pitch black room, and only the upper part of his face is lit by his camcorder. At this point, Ricky is still a mystery to the audience and to the characters he is curiously observing. 

Another scene where he is filming Jane, she notices and calls him out on it. He decides to stop "hiding," and reveals himself by turning on the porch light that is directly above him. This was a bold move and he continues to show throughout the rest of the film how confident and unapologetic he is. Ricky helps bring out this air of confidence in a couple of the characters, especially in Lester. 

Another one of the ways red is used and shows character development is through the costuming. While Carolyn is cleaning the house she is about to show, she takes off her clothes and cleans in her red slip. This shows that she is hiding her more passionate side and is just as repressed and sexually frustrated as Lester. As the film goes on, she starts to loosen up a bit, and therefore is seen in more red clothing. After she has an affair with Buddy, she wears an all red suit, showing that her sexual-frustration has finally been released. There isn't as much red in Lester's clothing, but when he finally quits his job, sticks up for himself, and gains more confidence his clothing becomes less stuffy and stiff. 

The director used, what I like to call mirrored scenes, to help show that the characters who seem so opposite aren't as different as they would like to let on. For example, when Lester and Carolyn finally let loose. Lester quits his job and does what he wants, while Carolyn has an affair with Buddy and blows off steam by shooting a gun. They both are seen in similarly set up scenes, driving alone in their cars and singing along to their music happily and loudly. 

There are two other scenes that show Jane and Ricky managing their finances/cash flow to save up for what they want most. Ricky's want for more film equipment and Jane's want for a breast augmentation. 

Through the director and crew's use of these different elements of mise-en-scene, they created a fully realized world and interesting characters. American Beauty is one of the most beautifully made films I have ever seen. My view of this movie couldn't be put any better than Lester's last monologue. "I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me, but it's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst. And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain, and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life. You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry. You will someday."

Works Cited

"American Beauty - Don't Rain on My Parade." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lizDEo04dGA>.

"American Beauty - Informations Blu-Ray DVD." AVCesar. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. <http://cinedb.avcesar.com/film_bluray_dvd/i-14/american-beauty.html>.

"American Beauty Kevin Spacey Applies for Job Drive through." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJh5wdvdfVE>.

"American Beauty Roses." :: Factandfiction. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. <http://www.thefactandfiction.com/news/american-beauty-roses/>.

"American Beauty: The Color Red and the Power of the Visual Image." The Artifice. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. <http://the-artifice.com/american-beauty-color-red/>.

"Auteur of the Week: Sam Mendes." The Diary of a Film History Fanatic. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. <http://cinema-fanatic.com/2010/07/27/auteur-of-the-week-sam-mendes/>.

"Bright Lights Film Journal." BLFJ Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. <http://brightlightsfilm.com/72/72crisis_engle.php#.VFHHHPnF-W4>.

"Every Single Moment of Your Stupid Little Life: The Trauma of Dissolving Fantasy in American Beauty." And My Sidearm. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2014. <https://andmysidearm.wordpress.com/2010/12/06/every-single-moment-of-your-stupid-little-life-masculinity-in-american-beauty-the-trauma-of-dissolving-fantasy/>.

"Why 'American Beauty' Works: Focus on the Use of Symbols." Why 'American Beauty' Works: Focus on the Use of Symbols. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2014. <http://www.writersstore.com/why-american-beauty-works-focus-on-the-use-of-symbols/>.

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Full Metal Jacket

Full Metal Jacket opens with the recruits having their heads shaved before they go off to boot camp. Seeing the faces of the young men while having their heads shaved, I felt like I was watching their identity being slowly taken away with each chunk of hair that fell to the ground. Although all new recruits reporting to boot camp in any branch of the military go through this ritualistic shaving of their heads, it is the first step to breaking down an individual. This opening scene suggests a theme of “anti-war" and loss of self-identity. 

Gunnery Sergeant Hartman’s opening speech further proves this point of loss of identity, when he says to the recruits, “Here you are all equally worthless…”

Another theme worth mentioning, that gives an in depth look at Joker’s character, is the idea of the “duality of man.” The scene where Joker is asked by a colonel why he wears a peace sign button on his vest and a helmet that says, “Born to kill,” Joker says, “I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man…”  

Pogue Colonel: Marine, what is that button on your body armor?

Private Joker: A peace symbol, sir.

Pogue Colonel: Where'd you get it?

Private Joker: I don't remember, sir.

Pogue Colonel: What is that you've got written on your helmet?

Private Joker: "Born to Kill,” sir.

Pogue Colonel: You write "Born to Kill" on your helmet and you wear a peace button. What's that supposed to be, some kind of sick joke?

Private Joker: No, sir.

Pogue Colonel: You'd better get your head and your ass wired together, or I will take a giant shit on you.

Private Joker: Yes, sir.

Pogue Colonel: Now answer my question or you'll be standing tall before the man.

Private Joker: I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir.

Pogue Colonel: The what?

Private Joker: The duality of man. The Jungian thing, sir.

Pogue Colonel: Whose side are you on, son?

Private Joker: Our side, sir.

Pogue Colonel: Don't you love your country?

Private Joker: Yes, sir.

Pogue Colonel: Then how about getting with the program? Why don't you jump on the team and come on in for the big win?

Private Joker: Yes, sir.

Pogue Colonel: Son, all I've ever asked of my marines is that they obey my orders as they would the word of God. We are here to help the Vietnamese, because inside every gook there is an American trying to get out. It's a hardball world, son. We've gotta keep our heads until this peace craze blows over.

Private Joker: Aye-aye, sir.

Looking at Joker’s character throughout the film, he is very much struggling with the duality within himself; his want for peace vs. his want to serve his country.

The idea of duality is portrayed in the way the film was made. Vincent Canby, in his article about Full Metal Jacket, in the New York Times Review, he says, “Full Metal Jacket is divided into two parts, which at first seem so different in tone, look and method that they could have been made by two different directors working with two different cameramen from two different screenplays. Only the actors are the same. Part of the way in which the movie works, and involves the audience, is in its demand that the audience make the sudden leap to the seemingly (but far from) conventional battle scenes in Vietnam, which conclude the film, from its flashily brilliant first half, set in the Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island, S.C.”

The first half of the film follows the recruits through boot camp under the commanding thumb of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. The lighting and cinematography throughout this half of the film is bright, crisp, orderly, and everything is in complete focus. This half ends when Pvt. Pyle shoots Sergeant Hartman and then himself in the bathroom of the barracks. The last image we see is freshly-spilled, crimson blood splatters and pools on the white tile as Pvt. Joker looks in horror. (Please start video below at 2:08).

Then we are immersed in the Vietnam War. The shots are not as crisp as before, and everything is confusing and chaotic. Fire, death, and rubble make up the landscape and surround the characters. The visuals of the second half of the film are quite jarring in comparison to first.

City of Hue

Even though these two parts of the film felt vastly different, it isn't until the end that everything is tied together. In the city of Hue, having just shot down the sniper, the platoon finds that the sniper was a young Vietnamese girl. She is mortally wounded, Animal Mother suggests that they just leave her and go on their way, while Joker refuses to leave her there (he is again battling with his “duality”). The girl whispers over and over again begging them to shoot her. Joker is forced to choose between his own ideals and the ideals that were instilled in him at boot camp. Joker pulls out his pistol and administers the kill shot.

"Shoot me"

After this, the film ends with Joker saying, “My thoughts drift back to erect nipple wet dreams about Mary Jane Rottencrotch and the Great Homecoming Fuck Fantasy. I am so happy that I am alive, in one piece and short. I’m in a world of shit… yes. But I am alive. And I am not afraid.” Ultimately, he made the choice (I believe) that he could live with.

Overall, the movie was beautifully written, well-acted, and shot in such a way that I couldn't look away from all the horribly grotesque images. By showing the viewers how Joker deals with his internal struggle, it gave a poignant look into what life may have been like for those young men who were enlisted to fight in the Vietnam War.

Works Referenced:

Canby, Vincent. "Full Metal Jacket (1987) Film: Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket,' on Vietnam." Rev. of Full Metal Jacket. The New York Times June-July 1987: n. pag. The New York Times. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B0DE6DB133BF935A15755C0A961948260>.

"Full Metal Jacket - Opening Scene." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwMPZR3sS2o>.

"Full Metal Jacket Monologue." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2M4ilVaAmI>.

"Full Metal Jacket Private Pyle Part 3 of 3." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hkNuykz2RE>.

"Hell Yeah, Kubrick Films! - Private Joker and the Sniper in  Full Metal Jacket..." Hell Yeah, Kubrick Films! - Private Joker and the Sniper in  Full Metal Jacket... N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014. <http://hell-yeah-kubrick.tumblr.com/post/7080162096/private-joker-and-the-sniper-in-full-metal-jacket>.

"Hollywood Elsewhere." Hollywood Elsewhere. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014. <http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2008/08/get-some/>.

"Quotes from Full Metal Jacket." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093058/trivia?tab=qt&ref_=tt_trv_qu>.

Conversation Starters

Being raised by huge movie buffs, I have always had a special place in my heart for movies. My family and I would have at least 2-3 movie nights a week together. 

Because of this, I have been able to quote the entirety of: So I Married an Axe Murderer, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Tommy Boy, Hook, Mrs. Doubtfire... The list goes on and on. Most of our family conversations are completely made up of film quotes. But the movies we watched also encouraged some meaningful, not just "silly," talks around the dinner table.

My fondest memories usually revolve around watching movies. Even in movie theaters with complete strangers. For a brief couple of hours you are all on the same adventure together. And that doesn't happen often enough. 

Movies are a sly, tricky animal. They lure us in with the illusion of entertainment. Then BOOM! They whack us upside the head with issues going on in the real world. We went in wanting to forget our woes or stresses of the outside world, and films gave us new ways to assess and go about solving our problems. 

It may sound corny or cheesy... But the real movie magic is seeing how a film will affect its viewers and how much conversation the subject matter can inspire. I feel like that is one of the main reasons why we still make and watch films.