American Beauty Scene Analysis

American Beauty scene analysis

Representation:
Lester: Sarcastic and depressed, Lester gives the audience no reason to like him. He is quite ungrateful for all his wife does for him and is child-like shown when he asks for "ice-cream". In addition to this, Lester is submissive, he does not stand up to his wife and is definitely not the man of the house.
Carolyn: Formal and caring, Carolyn controls as much as she possibly can within the family and each persons life. Behind the front, Carolyn is in despair, desperately pretending she's okay. 
Jane: Quick witted, she often makes remarks at her fathers poor efforts. Jane seems more in control of her emotions more than any other. 
Boy: Creepy as he is spying on a family through their kitchen window. In addition to this, it is incredibly random as the scene before is juts a family having dinner whereas now the family are an enigma and seem vulnerable.
Mise en scene
It is a typical family home with strong accents on the patriarchal colours of red, white and blue. On the table, there is red roses in front of the daughter creating a barrier between her and her parents. Furthermore, Jane is well lit whereas her parents are in the darkness either side. Jane has got roses on her top and Carolyn is wearing vibrant formal clothes whereas Lester is wearing bland clothes showing that he is depressed. At the end, the camera zooms in on photos which show happier times, however to the audiences surprise, some of them are quite recent.

Camerwork
The scene opens with a slow zoom towards the table as if we are ease dropping on their conversation. Later on in the scene, there is cross cutting between the shot reverse shot of Lester and Jane and the close up of the boy in the bushes. The camera then changes to the boys videocamera videoing Lester and Jane arguing in the kitchen.

Sound
It opens with 'Bali Hali' from South Pacific - a diegetic sound - playing in the background. This shows the mum has old fashioned values and misses the past. It is soft and light, opposite to Carolyn's personality. The soft, melodic non-diegetic sound when the boy comes shows how he could be confused or concerned. 


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