I had quite an easy time finding subjects for my viewer analysis. My friends and I are movie buffs and we watch a lot of movies together. For this particular assignment, I chose to hang out with my buddy "Jeff" (name has been changed) and watch the movie American Beauty. This movie was an interesting choice because I have seen it a few (okay, maybe 100) times and the film has a special meaning to me. The experience was quite different this time because I was watching my friend watch the movie, rather than watching the movie itself.
             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 either love this movie or hate this movie.
             I popped in the DVD and selected play from the start menu. The opening half-hour of the movie is quite hilarious and my friend reacted accordingly. In one particular scene where the character Lester (Kevin Spacey) is having dinner with his family and gets in a fight with his wife is especially funny. Jeff laughed hysterically at some of the movie and was dead silent during the serious final act of the film.
             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...