American Beauty was directed by Sam Mendes in 1999 starring Kevin Spacey as the main character. The film also casts Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Mena Suvari, and Wes Bentley. In the film Spacey is portrayed as a pathetic, unhappy, sarcastic smart ass. The film follows Spacey’s family while they deal with their individual changes, their struggles as a family, and the interactions they have with the people they have allowed into their lives. Throughout the film red roses are used as a metaphor that I understood to stand for passion, lust, desire, and intimacy.
One of the early scenes shows Spacey’s character masturbating in the shower after he explains how dissatisfied he is in his everyday life. Spacey explains that his time in the shower masturbating would be the highlight or high point of his day. I believe there is already a negative connotation/association with masturbation and while watching I could not help but notice the film reinforcing that message. As if regular, happy sexually active people do not masturbate. At that moment I decided to correlate positive characteristics with Spacey’s character instead of looking at him as low life and that made him a very enjoyable person to relate with. I found myself appreciating his character. He was not afraid to show how unhappy he was in his life and I respected that. Of course my feelings towards this character continued to grow (positively) as he became more confident and aggressive at taking control of his life.
The metaphor of red roses was brilliant in the film. They would show up in sometimes the most unexpected ways. Two examples of this was when Spacey and his wife went to support their daughter who was a cheerleader at a high school basketball game. Spacey, and the camera, focus in on his daughter’s best friend, who he is immediately attracted to from first sight, and imagines her performing a sexual dance. Close to the end of the dance she begins to unzip her cheerleading jacket about to reveal her breasts but instead hundreds of red rose pedals come out of her jacket. Spacey’s character imagines this dance to be as sexual as it is in his mind but right when the time comes to imagine her breasts red roses appear. Another example in the film was when Spacey and Suvari were in the kitchen and he envisions a very hot scene where they make out. As soon as the embrace ends Spacey has something in his mouth, what could it be? Of course it is a red rose pedal. To me, the roses define the desire Spacey wants to feel with Suvari and the roses showing up every time he imagines a sexual encounter with her also allow me to think of desire and lust. These roses never show up when Spacey thinks of his wife or when they almost become intimate, which is very rare even close to never, in the film. The metaphor was very sexualized to me. The film being called American Beauty made me think of red roses being an American beauty.
One of the early scenes shows Spacey’s character masturbating in the shower after he explains how dissatisfied he is in his everyday life. Spacey explains that his time in the shower masturbating would be the highlight or high point of his day. I believe there is already a negative connotation/association with masturbation and while watching I could not help but notice the film reinforcing that message. As if regular, happy sexually active people do not masturbate. At that moment I decided to correlate positive characteristics with Spacey’s character instead of looking at him as low life and that made him a very enjoyable person to relate with. I found myself appreciating his character. He was not afraid to show how unhappy he was in his life and I respected that. Of course my feelings towards this character continued to grow (positively) as he became more confident and aggressive at taking control of his life.
The metaphor of red roses was brilliant in the film. They would show up in sometimes the most unexpected ways. Two examples of this was when Spacey and his wife went to support their daughter who was a cheerleader at a high school basketball game. Spacey, and the camera, focus in on his daughter’s best friend, who he is immediately attracted to from first sight, and imagines her performing a sexual dance. Close to the end of the dance she begins to unzip her cheerleading jacket about to reveal her breasts but instead hundreds of red rose pedals come out of her jacket. Spacey’s character imagines this dance to be as sexual as it is in his mind but right when the time comes to imagine her breasts red roses appear. Another example in the film was when Spacey and Suvari were in the kitchen and he envisions a very hot scene where they make out. As soon as the embrace ends Spacey has something in his mouth, what could it be? Of course it is a red rose pedal. To me, the roses define the desire Spacey wants to feel with Suvari and the roses showing up every time he imagines a sexual encounter with her also allow me to think of desire and lust. These roses never show up when Spacey thinks of his wife or when they almost become intimate, which is very rare even close to never, in the film. The metaphor was very sexualized to me. The film being called American Beauty made me think of red roses being an American beauty.