"American Beauty" is a typical painting of American social customs, but in the context of today's globalization, many social problems it contains are common in other developed countries such as Europe and the United States and even in China. Since the invention of the steam engine dragged mankind from an agricultural society to industrialization, mankind’s pace has been extremely rapid overnight. An invisible motor stirs up the pace of life faster and faster, and no one can stop for a while. Behind the appearance of economic prosperity, we have to re-examine our lives. My question is-does the advancement of technology really make our lives more and more happier? Has the distance between people shortened? "American Beauty" gives some answers, such as the mental pressure caused by money worship, the psychological imbalance caused by "Success Studies", the emptiness of the midfield class, the tediousness of daily life, personal frustration, children's education problems, people The estrangement between people and so on.
Father Lester is an out-and-out loser in the eyes of his wife and daughter. His company is in a sluggish economy and he will face the danger of being laid off. His wife bears most of the family’s economy. The principle of "status" made him lose his authority in the family. He has not had sex for a long time. The climax of each day is to masturbate in the shower. His daughter hates him, and his work is not going well. Almost everyone around him does not care about him. Existence, "It's okay", he said, "I don't even remember my existence." Until one day he and his wife went to his daughter's school to watch a cheerleader performance, Angela's unusually dazzling appearance made him instantly see the hope of life. Since then, he has taken the first step of spiritual rebirth. From the perspective of his father Lester, Angela's "beauty" is his only sustenance for breaking out of the prison of life.
His wife, Caroline, is a real estate broker. Like most urban middle-class women, success is her religion. As a result, she becomes narrow-minded and has a pathological belief in her independence and self-confidence. In fact, she A woman with a strong appearance and fragile heart, her emotional world is blank while pursuing "success", and "success" constitutes her entire definition of "beauty".
The male owner of the neighbor’s house is the authority in the family. He is a military-born man who is conservative and arbitrary. His women can only obey blindly like a puppet. The expressions of men are simple and rude. He will never allow the existence of resistance. Violence is his defense. The weapon of his own authority status, the freedom of every member of the family is pitifully small. The "beauty" he pursues is essentially the pursuit of power that surpasses all living beings.
His child, Rich, grew up in a family that lacks warmth and tolerance. His father said "I hit you for your own good" while crying. This sentence became an irresistible pain in Rich's view. The fact is Many parents control their children out of good intentions rather than malice. Therefore, children will inevitably feel a sense of guilt in their hearts after resistance. They cannot completely resolve with their families. This lack of freedom brings about There will be nowhere to escape the child's pain. So, just like Richie's interpretation of the plastic bags flying freely in the image, "freedom" for Richie is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen in the world.
Jane’s parents don’t spend most of their energy in the family, which makes Jane feel that she has been abandoned by her family, so she "repays" her parents in a more indifferent way, which ultimately leads to the inability to communicate between the two generations. The parents will never Unable to understand her heart, compared to Richie who is too tightly regulated, Jane who is not regulated can also not feel the warmth of the family. From this perspective, the desire to regain "freedom" from the family is the same as that of Richie's "freedom". There are similarities in understanding between the two young people, which is why the two young people are attracted to each other.
Classmate Angela is a vulgar and arrogant girl who is heavily influenced by the media. She dreams of becoming a model, and her body becomes the only capital for her to approach her dream world. She is both confident and suspicious of her charm, which makes her even crazier. Vanity, such as: fake sex experience, even in front of her friend Jane, he never concealed his desire to dominate men (especially Jane’s father Lester), "If someone who doesn’t know looks at me and thinks Sleeping with me means that I am really a model." She proves the value of her body by conquering men. For her, "beauty" is the "star dream" deposited on the body.
From this perspective, the father Lester and his daughter’s classmate Angela found resonance. It can be seen that the two people are not involved in pure sex. They are each other's "opportunity" for each other's transformation. When Les When it was discovered that Angela was still a virgin, he stopped his mistakes. The film wanted to show that beauty is free and undefinable. It is the unfettered soul experienced after breaking the imprisonment of thought. However, Lester died in the end. , Even though he just realized the beauty of life.
An ordinary viewer may not fully understand the reality of life that the film strives to reveal. The beautiful suburbs, the straight streets, the neat and sparse shadows of the trees in front of the roadside courtyards, the white house and the red door, these seem to constitute a perfection. While the standard American-style family, "American Beauty" tries to reflect on the dark side of those white fences, large rooms, and small families that should be perfect in imagination. For most people, this kind of suburban life is their "dream", but behind the appearance, the inside of this dream is likely to be a twisted nightmare, full of the smell of competitive engine oil, suppressed desires and disillusionment. ideal.
To answer the question I mentioned at the beginning, the progress of civilization may not make our lives more and more happier. The process of urbanization and industrialization seems to be a huge juicer, which will transform people’s understanding of beauty. The squeeze out of nothing will be replaced by all kinds of cruel competition, increasingly utilitarian interpersonal relationships, great desire for money and power, and desire for success. From this point of view, in such a kind of Under the irreversible background, the true "American beauty" seems to be impossible to reach forever.
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