American Beauty and Death of a Salesman

"The characters in the texts deal with a shallow concept of success"

Discuss in relation to Sam Mendes' American Beauty and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.

"There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." (Oscar Wilde)

While the American Dream is much more attainable for the average person in America today, it still fails to fulfill and satisfy the deeper needs of a people trapped in a material culture. The study of Sam Mendes' American Beauty alongside Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman exposes various similarities inherent in the values possessed by the central protagonists of the texts. Both Mendes and Miller explore the notion of the American Dream: While Mendes presents it as a shallow and un-fulfilling goal, Miller shows how such a dream in unattainable for the American Everyman in the late 1940s. One can follow the progression of this Everyman from the post-depression era to America in the present and come to the realisation that, following Freud's teachings, what has been repressed of the individual, has not been fulfilled. Both Mendes and Miller explore a similar sense of success but in the comparison of

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America has become a country where money can buy everything, even, Lester believes, happiness. Both of these men have families and the potential to be happy, but in attempting to find money, they push their families aside and lose the more stable chance of being fulfilled. " Biff, Miller's symbol of truth and reality, realises that his father died in vain, "He had the wrong dreams. "

The American Dream promotes ordinariness that is comforting. Willy expects that if he is well liked he will not have to try. Ricky says, "There is this life behind things. The death of the Salesman refers to the death of the sales that Capitalism promotes. Miller's play differs from American Beauty in that it explores a Marxist approach to American success. The film documents his 'mid-life crisis' when his desires are focused on the sexuality of his own daughter's best friend. He is an ordinary man but he lives an illusion that he is well liked and 'successful' in the American sense of the word. Ricky sees beauty in a plastic bag, "dancing with him," in a homeless woman and a dead bird.

The American Dream is a repression of one's self for the sake of conformity, a repression that is not compensated by money. Ricky says to Angela, "…you're boring. Lester thinks that Angela is beautiful. The allure of such 'success' satisfies only the shallow exterior.

Common topics in this essay:
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Approximate Word count = 1258
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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