american beauty symbolism

The beauty of American society, as seen in the film American Beauty, is its dysfunctionality. The theme of the movie is to take control of your life, regardless of what the consequences may be. This is shown through the portrayal of the character Lester and his decision to change his life and “carpe diem”, seize the day. Although his decision ultimately led to his death, his resolve to take charge of his life can be seen as the overall theme of the movie. Coupled with this theme is a hidden notion for a need to look closer at what is given. The significance of Lester’s decision to change his life is that he didn’t actually need to change things the way that he did. What he needed to do was to look closer at his life and his family to discover where the problems he was facing were stemming from and to fix those problems rather than turning to outside influences. This is a very important theme because it applies to everyone in the movie, not just Lester. Don’t blame everything ...