OPPapers.com

American Beauty

 In American Beauty, 1999, directed by Sam Mendes, we are confronted with the
permeating images that have consumed mainstream American life. Mendes exploits these
images as constructions that we created around ourselves as a means of hiding our true selves.
Mendes is able to implicate us in the construction and make us active viewers by exploiting our
voyeuristic nature. In American Beauty Mendes uses the voyeuristic tendencies of the spectator
to acknowledge the permeating constructed images. Mendes, through the use of narration, the
mise en scene and cinematic techniques implicates the spectator in to using their voyeuristic
tendencies to deconstruct the images in order to reveal the true image. From the start of the film
the construction of images is evident.
American Beauty begins with the obvious constructed shot, shown through the use of a
video camera, of a young teenage girl. The narration reveals that she wants her father dead. The
image portrayed around her is constructed as an evil, unaffectionate youth. The next scene is of
a high angle shot, with a voice-over narration. The voice-over goes to explain that this is Lester
Burnham's speaking and he is already dead and the following is a construction of the relevant
events. This scene holds relevance for two reasons. First it constructs an image that the young
teenager in the previous scene is the killer. And as we will learn by the end of the film this
image is not all that it appeared to be. This is a reoccurring theme throughout the film, that
these are constructed images, and to notice that there is more to the story then what appears on
the surface. The high angle spanning shot of Lester's street also holds significance for the
spectator. This opening shot is quite similar to that of Alfred Hitchcock's opening scene in
Psycho. The similar themes is the spectators being the voyeurs. In each we are looking into the
private sphere of the character....