spectators being the voyeurs, in each we are looking into the private sphere of the character. However, the difference being that in American Beauty our voyeuristic nature is not shameful, it is actually quite normal for the spectators and the characters.
             The narration that accompanies the scene is allowing our voyeuristic desires to enter into the private lives without guilt or shame. Mendes as does Lester asks the spectator to be the voyeur. As well the sign on Lester's cubicle wall is not a coincidence. Mendes is again soliciting the spectator's voyeuristic nature by placing a sign that asks us to "look closer." This theme of looking past the constructed images is Mendes way of telling us to look past the superficial images that we represent and to find a way to see our true selves. The construction of images within the narrative is important to how Mendes constructs them through cinematic techniques. Carolyn Burnham, real estate agent, mother and wife have been, from the very beginning is constructed through the narrative in such a way that the spectator defines her as someone who is consumed by the importance of projecting and maintaining the perfect image. She is often caught, consciously making references concerning imag!
             es. Referring to Jane Burnham, "are you trying to look unattractive" or to her husband at a real estate gala "there's a certain image . . . " and to herself, " to be successful one must always put forward an image of success." 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 m
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