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The scene which I have chosen to analyse is the scene where Lester
is in bed fantasising about Angel, and the roses are falling down on
him.
The roses in American beauty; In American Beauty, the roses are
used to symbolize many, for example sex, passion and love ect.
The roses could also connote life, Perhaps Lester’s life. The first time
we see them, Carolyn is cutting them, so metaphorically, she is
cutting the life of Lester, which is causing him to have a midlife
crisis. The roses for Lester in this scene however represent sex, and
passion, as they usually appear when Lester is having a fantasy
about Angela. In this scene, we see Angela floating on a bed of
roses, which connotes that she is surrounded by passion, or perhaps
full of passion, this relates to Barthes theory of symbolism. With
only the petals falling on Lester, this could represent that the thorns
have been lost, which could symbolize Carolyn, and the petals could
symbolise Angela.
During this scene, we see the light not on him, but on Angela, this
connotes that Angela is the light in his life at the minute. Angel is
the spark that lights his fire,
and causes the events to roll out, and take place the way they do.
Carolyn is facing away from Lester during this scene, through her
body language, we can connote that she is simply facing away from
him, and his life, and she is trying to have the least amount of
contact with him as possible. She is simply sharing the same bed as
him, therefore reducing the romance in their relationship. This
makes the audience connote that they are both in a loveless
marriage, which furthers the point of everything being for show.
During this scene, the set, which is the bedroom is simple, and there
is nothing out of place. The way the props are placed, is organised. I
connote that this bedroom has been organised by Carolyn, as her
character is the leader in the relationship, she decorated this room,
and keeps it tidy, as she is a tidy character.
The fact that Lester is fantasising over someone who he just met,
shows he has a “crush”, which is a teenage thing to have. This
shows the audience that his teenagers years are coming more to
the surface, as the film progresses.
This scene is one of the most sexual scenes of the movie. the fact
that this scene is quite near to the start of the movie almost creates
an enigma, because we (the audience) can guess that there will be
some kind of relationship with Lester and Angela, whether that be
sexual, or emotional (more likely sexual).
The narration during this scene is “it’s the weirdest thing, I feel like
I’ve been in a coma for about 20 years and I’m just waking now”
This defiantly shows the audience that Angel is the cause for the
storyline of this movie. During this scene, I think that it is more
aimed at men, because the use of male gaze is present throughout
the scene. Lester is obviously gazing at Angela, and Angela is
staring into the camera, Which will connect with the audience,
particularly the male audience. This supports Laura Mulvey’s theory,
of the male gaze.