"American Beauty", as the Virgo of Sam Mendes and his proudest work so far, naturally has its depth and research value.
This film deeply reflects the hidden problems of native American families, and reflects the hidden contradictions and indescribable morbidity of the middle class under the guise of gorgeous marriage. In the film, the male protagonist shows up on the big screen as a complete loser. He relies on morning masturbation to clear up his inner emptiness. He is also a dispensable employee in the company and is looked down upon by his daughter and wife. The hostess is a gold-worship girl, puts on the most beautiful makeup, kind of flowers, and often frowns at real estate big coffees, and is a control freak, forcing everyone to listen to their favorite music at night, but because the house has not been sold until now Going out and frustrated, completely bewildered by the material. The daughter is rebellious by nature, saving money for breast augmentation, introverted, not confident, and despising her father extremely, like a weird man. Daughter classmate, as a mapping point and motivating point of the theme of the film, the director did not portray her too much psychology and background, but only used her to describe the transformation of the male protagonist from the side. She is unwilling to be ordinary, and would rather create a false sexual experience to win the public's attention than to live an ordinary life. The neighbor of the male protagonist, there is a boy who likes to take pictures of the male protagonist’s daughter, but he only focuses on the daughter’s face and doesn’t care about other parts of her. He is very single and not artificial. He has an old man who is a soldier, but his family is dying of anger because of his desire for control, a self-centered pervert.
In the first talk about the implication of the self in the film, several protagonists are acting in accordance with their survival rules, and their repressed thoughts are hidden in their hearts, and they are not released until the second half of the film. This is the vague appearance of all beings in today’s society, for the benefit Struggling with material ability, gradually losing myself in it, obliterating my true self in life, but it burst out because of something. Life is like an ocean. We strive to maintain the illusion of "beauty". Through the false layer of "beauty", we can touch the extremely empty mind. We tried to change, but in the end we stopped exploring on the grounds of failure. The so-called "beauty" is nothing more than the incomparably true self who lives in all beings, and is the true "beauty".
In fact, what the director wants to express is a self-examination of the "real beauty". The "American Dream" is not unfamiliar to everyone, but it is not as beautiful as imagined. Everything is just absurd. This extremely depressing thought suppressed the soul that originally belonged to him, and was gradually crushed into the soul, leaving only such an empty body, moving the walking dead body. The whole film can express this, no more than the male lead and the female lead. Lord, one is too low self-esteem, one is too self-improving, one lamenting life, one struggling to maintain life, one breaking out first, one following the former, and finally ending with a peaceful tragedy. But everything can be seen for students who understand enough that this is actually the ending Lester wants. After all, he has seen the "beauty" of this world and the "absurdity" of this world. His expression seems to be very Satisfied, thinking that it was God who gave him a taste of the "beauty" of the world, and then asked him to end his life as "dead under the rose and behave like a ghost". This is also one of the most "beautiful" parts of the film.
For such a humble life, the neighbor’s brother lived a different life. Although on the surface everything followed his father’s instructions, he lived completely according to his own consciousness in private. He likes to take DV photography and take pictures of what he thinks is "beautiful." , Even the plastic bags flying in the air, in his eyes, are also wonderful and beautiful. In contrast, his dad, the reason why he resisted homosexuality so much, but in the end wanted to have a relationship with the male protagonist, which shows that he is Fearing to face it, not daring to admit that I am a homosexual, this is also a kind of irony of "beauty" in this film, which is the duplicity of modern people, and irony is extremely hidden from the middle class "self", and it is in such an open country. inside. As a high-ranking military officer, he made the family atmosphere dignified. Because of his extreme control desire, his wife became stunned, her pupils dilated, and she had no energy at all. To be precise, in her eyes, except Her son should have nothing left (it seems that even the son will let him go in the end). Although it is just a side line of the film, it is so amazing and touching, and it strongly reflects the fact that the male protagonist's family is actually not good. condition. Here you can see the screenwriting skills
In the end, I still have to talk about my views on "Angela". Like most dream chasers or idealists, she has the same idea that life cannot be mediocre, despise the original life and yearning for future life all the time. It shows her longing for a "better future", but in order to make the status quo more "outstanding", she does not hesitate to forge false sexual experiences, expressing the situation that she can be as many ass as she can, and even for stimulation, seduce the male protagonist, at least let Her "first time" was carried out more meaningfully, and her vanity was obviously overwhelming. As far as she is concerned, her "beauty" yearning is to be wonderful, to live a wonderful life, to live beautifully, but it is mainly reflected in On the outside, she did not reflect the pursuit of beauty inside, and even the concept of "sao" which is a bit similar to ordinary people is "beauty." It’s worth mentioning that this role was originally an intermediate-to-advanced degree of difficulty, which is difficult for ordinary actors to grasp. However, the actress did not disappoint the director and the audience. Let’s not say that the performance is vivid, but she and the role are very different. Fusion really brings to life a posture that wants to be "bitch" but can only be manifested on the outside. As one of the main lines, she not only promoted the plot, but also inspired the key points, becoming one of the indispensable characters in the whole film. Digression, although it's not my dish, at least it's plausible.
The most iconic character is the image of the heroine, a woman who worships gold. It is also an important figure in the plot promotion, node explosion, main story line, and ending. There are too many descriptions and descriptions about her, I decided Call a few representative places to talk.
Materialized thoughts;
As a representative of the "beauty" of the entire film, she has already hinted at her status in the family from the beginning of the film. Wearing the brightest red clothes and planting the most beautiful flowers, even the door of her house, the roses on the dining table, and the family portrait on the wall in her own bright suits, fully reflect her value for "status" and "identity" Pay attention, especially the phrase "If you can cook a delicious dinner for me, I promise you can listen to your favorite songs." It directly shows her side of controlling desire, and the side reflects her bottomless material desire. Moreover, in order to be able to work hard in the real estate industry, he took the initiative to contact the real estate tycoon, and even cheated on the male protagonist. In the end, it was discovered that the other party was actually just an irresponsible hypocrite. Finally, materialized, she let go of her shackles and picked up the gun to fight her husband desperately. It turned out that the glamorous exterior is nothing more than a very fragile petal. The exterior is ugly and ugly, standing alone in the center of the crowd forever, but it is ignored by people.
Control the performance of "whatever the power wants";
Regarding the desire to control, I have already mentioned it above, but the desire to control her is shown in the film is very few. It only appears in the furniture and meals, but it is described in depth. To show its desire to control, one must have certain rights in status. As the status of the “head of the family” of the whole family, the female protagonist naturally looks down upon her daughter and husband, so her "desire to control" is manifested in it, but the male protagonist will forever endure under this desire for control without saying a word. The daughter is hard to come by. Put forward suggestions, and the end result is only an "unexpected, reasonable" ending.
Not only is it manifesting its desire to control in the room, but it also expresses more on the objects. Perhaps you will think that I am over-explaining in the following language, but in fact, if you think about it carefully, you will think similar to mine. Let’s start with the comparison of the “family portrait” on the wall
Obviously, the wife's clothes are extraordinarily dazzling, even a bit out of line with the color of the photo. This detail is particularly important. Obviously, the director secretly intended it. Take a closer look. Only the wife is sitting there, and the others are standing. The actions of "sitting" and "standing" also indicate their rights and status. Then I will deeply interpret the roses in the garden and the rest of the plants. We compare the husband to "grass" and the wife to "rose". In the same garden, the wife is like the dazzling "beauty". Be beautiful for a long time.
In fact, the beauty I am expressing is irony. I use beauty to represent its ugliness. Perhaps, the true beauty can only be seen by a male protagonist in heaven.
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