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- scéne 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. This scene holds relevance for two reasons. First, it constructs an image that the young teenager in the previous scene is the killer. As we will learn by the end of the film, this image is not at all what it appeared to be. These constructed images reoccurs as a theme throughout the film: notice that there is more to the story then what appears on the surface. The high angle tracking shot of Lester's street also holds significance for the spectator. This opening !
             shot is quite similar to that of Alfred Hitchcock's opening scene in Psycho. The similar theme again is that the ...