Subject: Re: American Beauty
AntiUtopia@aol.com
Date: Mon Feb 21 2000 - 17:20:53 EST
In a message dated 2/21/00 5:14:43 PM Eastern Standard Time, shok@netcom.com
writes:
> I don't think there were any bad guys in American Beauty, much less bad
> guys wearing black hats; bad guys might have defeated the purpose,
> methinks. One of the most remarkable aspects of the film, I thought,
> was that I was sympathetic for every single character. Between the
> title, the subtitle ("Look Closer," which appeared more than once hidden
> on screen), and the recurring speaches about the world being so full of
> beauty, I thought the message was clear. The "most beautiful thing I've
> ever felt" scene just about knocked me out of my seat.
>
> Maybe you have to be intimately familiar with American culture - the
> rampant consumerism and vehement adherence to the very cliches you
> bemoan - in order to really appreciate this film. And I don't think
> it's fair to cry about the bias of a british director, as the man who
> wrote the script, I believe, is American. Suburban America really gets
> beaten up in the movies a lot, especially recently, and I'm not sure
> it's totally undeserving of such treatment; but it is entirely admirable
> of this film to still manage to find some Beauty there.
>
> -robbie
> --
I have to agree with Mattis that the view of American Culture presented in
the movie is hardly to be applauded. They are all "bad guys" in that movie
once you step out of American culture and into a paradigm that transcends it.
My discussion with Mattis would have to move along the lines of the purpose
of the film's depiction.
I think the families depicted aren't so much representative of American
Families In General as they are representative of the forces working on
American society. In that sense they move toward allegorical figures, but I
wouldn't argue that they were allegorized.
Jim
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