American Beauty - Scene Analysis 

Representation:

Lester: 

Lester is represented as a pathetic, depressed and insecure man as he's not bothered with life because he sees everything as meaningless. He feels as if he's dying slowly each day as he is disengaged from others and trapped in his own world as he is longing to be normal. Lester is not the 'man of the house' as he doesn't fit the typical stereotype of the man in a family as he takes no control of situations and is a pushover. He's self-indulgent as he only wants to focus on himself. We see Lester as pathetic because, he mentions that his 'highlight of the day' is masturbating in the shower. Straight after that scene, we see this rose being cut off, this might represent how Lester is 'cut' off from others as he's lonely most of the time. In the scene where Lester is in the car, he sits in the back of the car slouched, not even sitting in the passenger's seat. This suggests that he's acting like a child and the daughter looks more mature than Lester. Also in the car, none of them are talking which represents a disconnection between the characters. At Lester's workplace, we see his reflection on the computer screen with 'bars' on the screen which represents that he's trapped. This suggests that in his life he feels like he can't do anything as he has no control because he's trapped. During the scene at the dining table, the daughter was sitting at the head of the dining table, this suggests that Lester is not the 'man of the house' as he's not in control which presents him as submissive. We can see that Lester cannot talk to his wife or daughter about how depressed he is as she treats him like a kid and there's zero affection between them which shows that their relationship is not going well.

Carolyn:

Carolyn is represented as the 'man of the house' as she takes more control than Lester does, she does most of the tasks which implies she's the breadwinner. The scene at the dining table, Carolyn's choice of music shows that she has old fashioned values or that she might miss the past. This suggests that she has a poor life and that she's in despair because she's not happy anymore. This also implies that Carolyn is putting on an act in front of others and is trying to pretend that everything is okay however, it's really not. Also, she put effort into the dining which she does for the family however, Lester and Jane seem ungrateful.

Jane:

Jane is represented as a typical teenager with mood swings and she's presented as a sarcastic, quick witted, angry character. Jane seems as if she's not close to her parents anymore as she doesn't talk to them much in the scenes. However, she is presented as more mature than her parents as she sits in the passenger seat in the car in an upright postilion whereas the father is in the back slanted. Also, Jane sits at the head of the dining table which also shows she is mature and grown up.

Mise en scene:

The old fashioned house is empty which suggests that the family seems empty and not like an actual family. The main primary colours used in the scenes are blue, green and red. Everything else is very bland such as in the bedroom, bathroom, daughter's room, the office and even the background. The colourlessness reflects the family lifestyle. Lester is wearing bland clothes, colour wise, and Carolyn wears vibrant blue formal clothing. The colours red, white and blue are used quite often which also links to the colours of the USA flag which is typical as the name of the film is called 'American Beauty'. There's a motif throughout some scenes which shows the roses in the front of the garden and the roses shown on Jane's jumper. Also, roses are in the middle of the dining table in front of Jane. Because of all the roses, it all links in to the title of the film as it relates to 'American Beauty'. Carolyn's makeup is shown to be quite bland with little amount of colour such as red. The lighting in the house is mostly dark which links in with Lester's character as it's a visual representation of his emotional state. In the scene at the dining table, it shows that Jane is well lit which makes her in focus however, Carolyn and Lester are in the shadows/dull lighting. This implies that the daughter is the happiest out of them all as Lester and Carolyn are not happy with their life as they seem to be depressed. The prop of the photograph in a frame shows the much happier times in the past where Jane was a child when she used to be happy and innocent. However, things have changed as she's grown up and a teenager.  Another picture is shown hanging up on the wall in a frame which is of the family. Lester has his hand on Carolyn's shoulder, however he also has his other hand around Jane as he is leaning towards her. This suggests that Lester has more of a close relationship with his daughter more than his wife.

Camerawork: 

At the start of the film, it begins with a hand-held camera shot a s there's the shaky effect which makes the audience feel as if they are there. It then cuts onto the title of the film then fades to the next scene which shows an Ariel shot of Lester's neighborhood which is full of houses, then slowly zooming into his street. The scene then abruptly cuts to a scene of Lester's bedroom. In the scene of the dining table, there's a Steadicam slowly moving up towards the family. The slow zoom creates the sense for the audience that's reminiscent of the theater. The scene then goes onto the kitchen where we see a point-of-view shot of both characters: Lester and Jane. However, it then cuts to another angle of a hand-held camera recording Jane and Lester having the conversation whilst zooming in, this is a shot-reverse-shot. Also, it's a change in film stock from film to video and back. The camera then cuts to a boy's face and slowly zooms out and then back to the daughter and father arguing, which is cross-cutting between the shot-reverse-shot  of Lester, Jane and the boy in the bushes showing a close-up/extreme close-up.

Sound:

The music starts off lighthearted, soft and melodic. a voiceover of Lester is used at the start of the scene. As the music is repetitive it gets quite monotonous as it carries on. When Lester's day begins, the non-diegetic sound suddenly goes high pitched as it builds up. over the non-diegetic sound, there's also the diegetic sound of dialogue between the characters. When Lester is at work the music stops, this helps illustrate the juxtaposition between home and work. In the scene at the dining table, a source of non diegetic sound is played, the song is called: 'Bali Hai' from South Pacific. This choice of music is from Carolyn which is unexpected as the soft, light sounding is the opposite of how Carolyn is presented. After this scene, a composition is used when the random boy was looking at Lester and Jane.