I love American Beauty. I always have, even as a blue pill… but these days it always reminds me of the s~~~ that matters. I don’t think I’m alone.
I just stumbled on this article where someone talks about how horrible/abusive Lester Burnham is… and I wanted to share. http://decider.com/2014/09/08/american-beauty-15-years-later/
American Beauty was my favorite movie of all time. I loved it like a friend
Totally man. Ya. So what’s the problem?
Statistics overwhelmingly support the notion that American Beauty is not just a good movie, but one of the best ever made
I’m with you. Where is this going?
But after years of contemplation, maturation, overall life experience, and one certificate in Women’s Studies
Bingo!
It may, in fact, be one of my least favorite movies of all time.
(Talking about how it was inspired by ‘Lolita’) Ball named the protagonist of American Beauty Lester Burnham: “Humbert learns.” Like Lolita, however, American Beauty is about a man who learns nothing. Lester is the same exploitative, violent, manipulative abuser as his namesake, but he comes in a different package. This time, Humbert Humbert is an idealistic baby boomer.
It’s about a man who learns nothing? Except for how to escape a gynocentric hell, financial rat race, miserable relationship, miserable job, poor health… I guess ‘learn’ might not be the ideal word but neither is it about someone’s inability to do so.
Who/how did he exploit?
When was he violent? Was it the masturbating in the shower? Was it the car?
He did blackmail a boss who s~~~s on him regularly so I guess he was manipulative. But given that it was an isolated incident, I have to argue he was a guy who DID something manipulative, rather than a manipulative GUY.
Lester says Charlotte makes him feel “like a prisoner,” but the movie doesn’t make it clear how. We know he hates the music she plays while their family eats the dinner she makes for them, but that appears to be the only power Carolyn exerts over Lester. The further we go into American Beauty, the clearer it becomes that Carolyn is the real prisoner.
Maybe you missed all the scenes where she belittles him in front of his own child. Or the part where all he really wants to do is workout, f~~~, and smoke weed… but their entire existence revolves around material things that he doesn’t care about.
“IT’S JUST A COUCH”
But Carolyn (Not Charlotte. That’s from Lolita fyi) is obsessed with material things he doesn’t give a s~~~ about. Her clothes match her pruning shears. She buys a super expensive couch and would rather lecture him about the cost of it than have sex.
Sex, for that matter. He only gets off when he does it himself. Did you miss that part too?
Carolyn is the prisoner because… why? She has everything she wants and Lester is not taking her s~~~ anymore?
In the meantime, Lester quits his office job to work at a fast food restaurant, making Carolyn the sole breadwinner of their home. We only see Lester at his fast food job once: when he catches Carolyn and her lover kissing in her car. There is no imagery of the excruciating toil of minimum-wage service work, save for the dumbfounded faces of his coworkers when he asks to apply for a job. Lester has the experience and pedigree to do whatever he wants, but he’d rather do nothing, especially because his wife will pay for it. No more “[flipping] burgers all summer just to buy an 8-Track” — he’s got the means to buy himself expensive weed and a vintage car. Carolyn is not Lester’s wife: she’s his rich mother, coerced into providing for him.
What really struck me about this scene has always been the part where he says he’s ok with it. Like he wants everyone to just be happy and do their own thing, no jealousy, no anger… but no more taking s~~~ from her. It’s f~~~ing beautiful. But I digress.
She’s not the sole breadwinner. He has a fast food job and just brought home $60,000. That might not support them for life, but it’s enough for a hell of a long vacation. Especially if they let go of all the material bulls~~~ that only Carolyn cares about.
She’s ‘coerced’ into making a choice: 1. Leave. or 2. Pay for your own luxuries. Sounds reasonable to me. And I’m saying that as someone who was once given that same choice (minus the hefty lump sum or any income brought in by the other party). I left. It was the best decision I’ve ever made.
/rant over
Freedom 3 years, 7 months ago.
