The film American Beauty is about a life journey of the suburb middle class people of America. It stands out from all the films during its time, earning an amazing recognition of five Oscars. Not only does the film excel at the topic which the film, it also excels at the elements which help present the theme.Through the scene where Colonel Fitts goes to Lester Burham to ask for consolation after kicking his son Ricky Fitts out of the house, the director of the film uses film elements such as setting, sound and cameras angle to show how Colonel, out of loneliness and insecure, conform to the rules of being the middle class just to create a normal and healthy image while Lester choose to refuse to obey those rules by stepping out of the line of morality and challenge the ultimate limits of it.
             The setting symbolizes the mental conditions the characters are in. The director chooses to shoot the scene on a rainy day in a garage on purpose. Outside the garage, it is raining heavily. The heavy rain actually symbolizes the devastation Colonel feels. Colonel himself is a homosexual and he knows that middle class people in America are not supposed to be like that. In order to be typical and create a ¡§healthy¡ image, Colonel has long been covering his gay identity, suffering from the struggles of coming out and the fear of being discriminated. He even marries another woman to try to be a normal man. Therefore when Colonel finds out that his son, Ricky, is a homosexual and earns money by performing fellatioes, he feels torn. Not only is Colonel shocked at his son being gay, he also feels mad at it. The calm environment inside the garage, in contrast, symbolizes the peace and content Lester feels when he has found out the way of regaining his so-called passion of life. He is sick of trying to be a normal middle class person. He is discontent with his marriage but he cannot divorce his wife just because they want to be a typical couple am...