How Is Lester Burnham Presented In The Movie American Beauty

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The film American Beauty was written by Alan Ball and directed by Sam Mendes. The motion picture was released in 1999, and was distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. Although this movie was very controversial it won awards that include: best picture, actor, and screenplay. In this film, actor Kevin Spacy stars as the main character Lester Burnham, a forty-two year old man who is enduring a life transformation during his mid-life crisis years. Lester was living the typical ‘American Dream’; he had a great job, enormous house with a garden full of beautiful red roses, and a loving wife and daughter. However, this all starts to change when Lester realizes that his wife Carolyn and daughter, Janie think he is “this gigantic loser and they’re right”. …show more content…
During a scene in the film Lester ends up masturbating next to his wife in bed while she is sleeping. Carolyn realizes what he is doing and proceeds to yell at him for being disgusting and not taking part in the marriage. Actor Kevin Spacy then states “This hasn’t been a marriage for years. You were happy as long as I kept my mouth shut, Well guess what I’ve changed and the new me likes to wak off when I feel horny because your obviously not going to help me in that department”. Lester feels that Carolyn in restricting his ability to grow as a man in their marriage. She is always telling him what to do, how to act, and what to say. Lester can no longer live up to the needs of his wife and cracks. Viktor Frankl believes when individuals endure a midlife crisis their ultimate goal is to realize the world’s potential meanings and values. Frankl claims that men “Conform to the wishes of others (wishes to do what others do) or behaves in a totalitarian manner and does what others tell him to do” (Weaver 71). Prior to this scene in the movie Lester was doing exactly that. He was obeying Carolyn’s every want and need. Carolyn even goes to the extent to threaten a divorce and Lester

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