Although Angela is the stereotypical American beauty: blonde haired and blue eyed, by using his camera, Ricky can see the real beauty - Jane. Through his camera, Ricky can "look closer" into a so-called "perfect" American family and uncover a web of deceit and lies in the Burnham household.
The marriage of Lester and Carolyn has turned fragile and painful. We can sense this by "looking closer" into their world. By looking past their so-called "perfect" marriage and see that they are two different people with two very different desires and passions and are only together to project an image of success.
Jane is sullen, seemingly difficult, extremely sensitive and vulnerable. All Jane really needs is for someone to "look closer" into her life, to nurture and care for her. Jane seems bitter, confused and selfish, even though old enough to look after herself, because she still needs someone to protect and support her. Her mother and father, Carolyn and Lester, are too busy in their own lives to worry about her. Jane is also jealous of Lester's love for Angela - it seems he cares more for her than his own daughter. "How could he not be damaging me? I mean, I too need structure. A little fucking discipline" Through this quote, we can tell that Jane feels disappointed in her family and the fact that her father's care for her decreases with every single day. We can see that the Burnham's are really three separate people and that Jane, in particular needs to be cared for.
Angela presents herself as very flamboyant and dramatic, but by "looking closer" we can see that inside she is a lost soul, and is using her friendship with Jane to better herself and make her feel special. On the outside, Angela and Jane's friendship seems close and relatively normal. If we look deeper into it, we can see that they are friends but not really friends. Jane sees something in Angela that she feels she doesn't have and could never have.
