Back to category: Movies

Limited version - please login or register to view the entire paper.

American Beauty

Does the movie “American Beauty” totally destroy the idea of what American gender roles are? Let me start off by stating what I feel the gender roles are in America. The male gender seems to take care of the money that is brought into the home. He is strong natured, and never shows emotion. The male seems to talk down to his children, in ways to make them better people, again going back to not showing emotion. The female is, for the most part a housewife that takes care of the children. She works but makes less than the male. Women tell children what they want to hear to make them feel good about themselves. So how can characters in a movie that is often compared to the American dream itself destroy the idea of gender roles?
The character Lester in this family does not follow the male gender role. In fact it’s the opposite; he follows the female gender role. Lester does not have the respect you would expect a father to have from his family. An example of this is when the fa...

Posted by: Arianna Escobar

Limited version - please login or register to view the entire paper.