American Beauty
In American Beauty, 1999, directed by Sam Mendes, we are confronted with the permeating images that have consumed mainstream American life. Mendes exploits these images as constructions that we created around ourselves as a means of hiding our true selves. Mendes is able to implicate us in the construction and make us active viewers by exploiting our voyeuristic nature, the nature of a prying observer to usually seek the sordid or the scandalous. In American Beauty, Mendes uses the voyeuristic tendencies of the spectator to acknowledge the constructed images. Also, through the use of narration, the mise- en- scene and cinematic techniques, Mendes has the spectator use their voyeuristic tendencies to deconstruct the images in order to reveal the true image. From the start of the film the construction of images is evident. American Beauty begins with the obvious constructed shot of a young teenage girl, shown through the use of a hand-held camera. The narration reveals that she wants her father dead. The image portrayed about her is constructed as an evil, unaffectionate youth. The next scene is of a high angle shot, with a voice-over narration. The voice-over goes to explain that Lester Burnham is speaking
He is already dead which implies that the following scenes of the movie are a construction of events that already took place. In American Beauty, Mendes constructs his images in order to ask the spectator to deconstruct, by looking closer. As the narration allowed the spectators to be guilt free voyeurs so does the video camera. Mendes is again soliciting the spectator's voyeuristic nature by placing a sign that asks us to "look closer. " These comments are additions to what the spectator has already been subjected to when Lester points out "that it is not an accident the handles on her pruning sheer's match her gardening clogs. The narration that accompanies the scene is allowing our voyeuristic desires to enter into the private lives without guilt or shame. The high angle tracking shot of Lester's street also holds significance for the spectator. Yet Rickey through the lens of the camera can see that this is not necessarily true. In a way it validates Carolyn's obsession with always needing to project the image. Throughout the film Mendes has been asking us to look closer. However this is a quite different image from the one that the spectator and Rickey see in through the video camera. By doing such, demands us to see the construction of the image and asks us to deconstruct it, to look closer, to be active voyeurs within the film. Mendes uses the video camera to reveal the truth within the characters and the images. She also understands the important role of the voyeurs and at the object in which they gaze. With the close-up shot the camera focuses on just the eyes, the spectator, is given an intimate look into Carolyn's emotions.
Common topics in this essay:
Jane Burnham,
Jane Lester,
Buddy King,
Beauty Mendes,
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American Beauty,
Lester Burnham,
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Sam Mendes,
Rickey Mendes,
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voyeuristic tendencies,
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american beauty mendes,
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Acceptance Essays
