Dan Cervone

Lesson Plan - American Beauty



I. Cast, Characters, and Crew

·	Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) - The narrator of the story, Lester is a middle-aged man stuck in an unfulfilling marriage and boring day job. However, he eventually rebels against the traditional norms of middle-aged life as he rediscovers his youth and free-spiritedness. 
·	Carolyn Burnham (Annette Bening) - Lester's wife, an unsuccessful local real estate agent. Carolyn is materialistic, shallow, and pompous.
·	Jane Burnham (Thora Birch) - Jane is 17 years old and struggling with finding her own place in life independent from her parents. Jane is confused and often doubts herself and her friends.
·	Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley) - Ricky is the next-door neighbor of the Burnhams'. He comes from a strict military family, yet earns money as a drug dealer. For many years, he has had an interest in film and always carries a camera with him.
·	Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) - Angela is a shallow, self-important school friend of Jane's who fears nothing more than being ordinary. She is snobbish, judgmental, and aloof.

·	Director - Sam Mendes. American Beauty is really Mendes' only notable accomplishment in film. In theater, however, Mendes has directed many Broadway and Shakespeare plays.
·	Cinematography - Conrad L. Hall. Hall had been in the cinematography field for 3 decades prior to American Beauty, and put his experience to Oscar-caliber work for the film.
·	Screenplay - Alan Ball. Largely unheard of before American Beauty, Ball created an entirely original script for the movie that would eventually win him an Oscar.

II. Film Overview

	American Beauty, released in 1999, was both a popular and critical success. The presence of notable actors such as Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening helped the film gross over $120,000,000 domestically, and critics justified its success with glowing reviews and eventual Oscar nominations. 
	Although many parts of the film are humorous, American Beauty falls much more into the genre of dark satire than humor. The story follows the "average" American family, living in the average town with the average people. Lester Burnham, the film's central character and narrator, has taken a step back from his life, looked at himself in the proverbial mirror, and decided to improved the dull, "sedated" quality of his existence. In a renewal of youthful livelihood, Lester quits his job, buys a convertible, starts smoking pot, fantasizes about his daughter's friend, and announces a non-legal, but observable divorce from his wife. With each step Lester takes astray from the traditional behavior of a man his age, the film reveals a new layer or the dynamics of the American family. Through the intense and intentionally stereotyped personalities of the Burnham family, the viewer learns of the tensions that can exist underneath the surface of an outwardly normal family, and of the fakeness that such a family would inevitably have at its heart. 

III. Discussion Questions

·	Was Lester Burnham immoral?

Response 1: Yes, Lester was immoral. He engaged purely in self-satisfying endeavors. From marijuana use to seducing his daughter's friend, Lester acted without any regard for morals or social decencies. Additionally, Lester was almost entirely responsible for the demise of his family through his trivialization of work and commitment. His only accomplishment of quitting his job and living life on a whim was that it sent a shocking message to his daughter. What was Jane supposed to think of her father, who no longer did anything aside from his own personal ambitions? Lester abandoned his responsibilities as a father and role model, and left a shroud of uncertainty and neglect for Jane to grow up with.

Response 2: It's hard to argue that Lester's actions were moral, so rather than offering contrived examples of small moral happenings, I'd rather argue that the status of Lester's morality is irrelevant to the message of the film. It is not the intention of the film to force the viewer into justifying Lester's actions, rather, the viewer must accept his actions and interpret their effects. Through his actions, whether moral or immoral, Lester stripped away all the surface glitz of his family down to the bare threads of its existence. What the audience sees of the Burnhams is pure conflict in the most commonplace and misunderstood setting-the home. Despite the argument that Lester's actions were immoral, they were necessary to convey the message of the film.

·	Lester is killed at the end of the film. Who killed him and why?

Response 1: Although it was Colonel Fitts that pulled the trigger, Lester was responsible for his own death. Little by little throughout the film, Lester unraveled all of his decency in a blaze of self-indulgence and spontaneity. By dying at the end of the film, we see how he died because he had nothing left as a person-his credibility, his responsibility, and even the love of his family had all vanished into nonexistence. The end result of Lester's midlife resolution was nothing more than a used-up, shameless body with no purpose left in the world. For an individual such as this, death was the next logical step.

Response 2: Colonel Fitts shot Lester in the head, but in doing so spoke for the conformity, idealism, and fear that was the real cause of death for Lester. America as a nation values normality and egalitarianism. It's very rare in society today that one encounters a truly free spirit, one not bound by the expectations of those around him. The sad truth of the matter, and perhaps the reason why such free spirits are so rare, however, is that individualism is not embraced by the general consensus. Instead, individualism becomes the victim of fear and conformity, the subject of disgraces, denials, and rejection. Whether it was for experimenting with marijuana, or being tolerant of homosexuals, or maybe for not caring for his wife-whatever it was, there was something about Lester that wasn't normal. It was out of fear of this aberration that Colonel Fitts put a bullet through Lester's head.

·	Why does Jane fall in love with Ricky Fitts?

Response 1: Ricky is a great match for Jane, because not only does he provide companionship, but he is also an escape from the turmoil and uncertainty that invades Jane's home life. Jane can no longer depend on the stability, support, and even love of her parents, however she can receive all three from Ricky. Ricky is the only one who appreciates her as a person, and sees that she is more than just a confused teenager, or an apathetic subservient. Ricky is everything to Jane-a best friend, a mentor, a companion, and a parent.

Response 2: The thing that draws Jane toward Ricky is his own unique perception of life. The sole purpose of Ricky's endeavors into filmmaking is to capture the beauty of the world around him. With the presence of this beauty, Ricky is able to cope with the trivial and binding aspects of his life, such as the strictness of his father, and his drug probation. When Jane is with Ricky, she forgets the immediate problems of her life, and instead becomes grateful for what she has, and appreciative of what's around her. After Ricky has shown her how fortunate she is in many ways, Jane's self-image drastically improves.