Succeeding in the real world is no easy task. There are constantly obstacles that stand in the way of people achieving their goals, and there are always sacrifices to be made if one's sight is truly set on achieving their dreams. However, while men, for the most part are portrayed to have to work longer hours, sacrifice family time or make many business trips, in many occasions women are displayed as sex objects on the big screen who have to sleep their way to the top.
Carolyn Burnham (Annette Benning) is a wife, a mother and a real estate agent in "American Beauty". Throughout the film it is easy to see that as far as responsibilities go she has a full plate. During the duration of the film Carolyn is seen trying to reinforce to herself that she is a good real estate agent who can succeed in the market. However at the same time, she is constantly measuring herself to the more successful Peter Gallagher who plays Buddy Kane, "The King of Real Estate". Although portrayed as somewhat of a success, Annette is constantly measuring her success and accomplishments to that of Buddy. She desperately wants to be the best at what she does and would do anything to give herself that opportunity. She believes that this opportunity will come by sleeping with Peter. In this film, Carolyn continues the on going stereotype that woman must sleep their way to greater succession. Despite owning her own real estate firm, Carolyn decided that despite being successful, she would rather jeopardize her integrity in order to achieve greater success. This act is shown quite clearly when Carolyn is seen in bed with buddy. As though that would be enough to tarnish the reputation of a lady who wants to be known as a professional, while Carolyn and Buddy are having sex, Buddy on more then one occasion asks Carolyn "who's the king baby?" to which she responds, "you are, you"re the king". She does all of this to try and impress.
