We all have the desire to be desired. We want the nice sports car, the good-looking family, and the big house behind the white picket fence. Is all this really possible? Is there such thing as the perfect family? Using the film "American Beauty" I will compare the idealistic family to the realistic family. I will show how easily life can pass you by, and how important it is for us to be our true selves. .
"In less than a year I"ll be dead." So begins the narration of Lester Burnham a "nothing writer for a nothing magazine." Statistics say that in the next 20 years it will become common practice to change careers five times during a lifetime. In the course of a mid-life crisis Lester loses his job, vents his frustration at his hibernating marriage, and becomes foolishly infatuated with a high school cheerleader named Angela (Mena Suvari), his daughter's best friend. Many men fantasize about being with a younger, more beautiful woman. Almost every man is tempted at least once in his life to cheat on his wife. After being downsized Lester blackmails the company for 60,000 dollars and the first thing he spends it on is a 1970 Pontiac firebird. He wants a more simplistic life for himself that is free of worry and responsibility. Lester's scripted family role is cast aside as he quits his job and picks up a crappy job working at a local fast food burger place, begins lifting weights, smoking pot, and develops an obsession about Jane's friend Angela. There comes a point in every person's life that death is coming and it is important to appreciate life for what it is, and to make every moment count. Lester begins to explore his inner thoughts and desires. In one scene Lester sits on the very expensive couch and almost spills a beer. Carolyn snaps at Lester for nearly spilling his drink on the couch and he responds "This is just stuff. And it's more important to you than living.
