he "is already dead" within the first eighth of the movie. Lester "blackmails his company for $60,000 for rumors and a sexual advance that never took place, only to spend the blackmail money on drugs and weight lifting equipment." (4). It takes the drug dealer neighbor boy to help set Lester free and on the path to a new journey. Lester's wife, Carolyn, (Annette Bening) is a dominant and the head matriarch of her family and her career. She believes she's living the "perfect" life; but it is gradually slipping away from her. Jane Burnham (Thora Birch), their daughter, is the everyday, original girl and is terrified of not being an American beauty icon. Her thoughts of inadequacy and generic self-images lead her to consider breast enlargement to feel perfect and ordinary. Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) plays Jane's so-called best friend and the epiphany of beauty to herself and to all that look in her direction. Lester soon becomes infatuated with her and her you physique, while learning about his wife having a steamy affair with her career competition. These events and many more lead Lester towards a new journey and an unexpected life changing transformation.
             American Beauty is told from the " first-person-omnipotent view" of Lester Burnham, who is an ethereal being that reflects back on the actions leading up to his ultimate journey and unexpected demise. Lester's refusal of contemporary life is invigorating and inspiring. Lester Burnham is the hero of American Beauty, but yet at the same time he is the anti-hero. He behaves completely depraved and discourteous to the appearance of suburban life and the society's expectations. American Beauty has extreme emotional pragmatism that adds to the fantasy in our own lives. Lester provokes us to come into his world from the very beginning. He is imprisoned in a lifestyle that he hates and constantly feels "s...