American Beauty

Jeff’s usual media consumption habits are quite ridiculous. This guy is a media junkie. He has hundreds of movies (VHS and DVD), CDs, MP3 files, video games, a satellite dish with 600 channels (literally), and a DSL Internet connection in his apartment. He rarely misses an advanced screening of a movie (good or bad) and has a bad habit of ruining most films before the opening credits are done. But, for some strange reason that I have yet to understand, he had never seen American Beauty! Of all the people I have met in my life, this guy would be the last to miss out on a great movie such as this. I was also excited to see how he would react to the movie because most people I have spoken to ei

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ther love this movie or hate this movie. Jeff’s dad is also extremely strict and has trouble relating to his son. Jeff felt like he had much in common with Ricky Fitz because of the life he leads behind his father’s back. He lives a sheltered life under the watchful eye of his insanely strict father. My favorite theme in this movie is that of liberation and free will. I asked him to rate the movie based on what he had seen in the past year and he said it was the best movie he had seen in a really long time. There are many smart and funny shows on television, but there are not enough.

Jeff let out a “Hell yeah,” during the scene where Lester buys dope from the kid next door and commented, “Man, there are so many parents out there who used to smoke weed when they were kids, but freak out when their kids do it. I was happy to hear his reaction because I personally take this movie to heart. As the end credits rolled, all he could talk about was what an amazing movie he had just viewed. Every time I watch the film, I catch something different about the characters, the cinematography, or how the film relates to life in general. The reason we watch so much trash on television is because the networks believe that’s all we want (thank God for the Discovery Channel) and that’s all they put on the air. I personally connect with the character of Lester Burnham in that I feel trapped at this point in my life. Does the mass media audience really need to be spoon fed Regis and “Who want’s to be a millionaire” six nights a week? Maybe I’m ranting on too much, but I think many people would agree with my belief that a broader range of programming should be available to the public from network television.

Common topics in this essay:
American Beauty, Fight Club, Freaks Geeks, Lester Burnham, Questioning Media, Fitz Ricky, Ricky Fitz, Carolyn Lesters, , Jeff Hell, american beauty, american beauty movie, life movie, scene lester, beauty movie, character lester, mass media, mindless entertainment, network television, watch movie, ricky fitz,

Approximate Word count = 1355
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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