Choose one scene from American Beauty and analysis its effectiveness

American Beauty is about a guy called Lester Burnham, who at the start of the film is very down in the dumps, and depressed to a point. He feels like his life is going nowhere, and his wide Carolyn, and daughter Jane both are embarrassed of him and hate him. Throughout the film though, Lester gradually comes out of his shell, after meeting a girl called Angela, who is a friend of Jane, and is very shallow and regularly throughout the films boasts of her previous love conquests, which later turn out to be lies. Lester falls in “love” with her when he first meets her, although it is more like lust, and spends the rest of the film trying to impress her with progressively more and more childish methods, such as working out to become more muscular. Meanwhile, Jane gradually drifts away from Angela, and forms a relationship with her new neighbour, Ricky Fitz, who is portrayed as a bit strange, but a very deep person, and very sensitive.
The film fits into two main genres, the first being the romance genre, and the second that it fits into is the genre of mystery. The romance is in the relationships between Ricky and Jane, Lester and Angela, and Carolyn and Buddy King, who is a local and rival estate agent. Ironically, the one relationship that isn’t really in the film is between the married couples of Lester and Carolyn, and Ricky’s parents, Colonel Fitz and Barbara Fitz. On the other hand, the mystery side of the film is all about who is it that ends up killing Lester, and why they do the deed. The audience is told at the start of the film that Lester ends up dead by the end of the film, and the whole film builds up to the moment that he is killed.
The scene from the film that I have chosen to analysis is the scene where Lester is driving along at the wheel of his car, singing along to the radio, which is playing a song called “American Women”. This scene is shown about half way through the film, and is a significant scene in the film (see YouTube, type in “American beauty American woman” and click on top result).
The camera angle is looking at him through the windscreen of his car, from the passenger side of the bonnet. This is done like this because it shows that whilst Lester is singing, he is in his own little world in that car, and the windscreen represents the walls of his own little world. The lighting in the general for the scene is quite bright, and the reflection on the windscreen is of blue sky. This reflects Lester’s mood, showing how happy and lively he is feeling.
The music in this scene is “American Woman” by Lenny Kravitz. It’s a very upbeat song, and was chosen for the scene by the director because it matches the upbeat feel of the scene, and Lester’s mood. Furthermore, if you listen to the lyrics of the song, it says “I don't want to see your face no more, I got more important things to do, Than spend my time growin' old with you, Now woman, stay away, American woman, listen what I say”. These lyrics show what Lester is feeling towards his wife, Carolyn. He is basically saying that he’s found his new groove in life, and he doesn’t need her any more, and wants her to stay away from him. The American Woman in the lyrics therefore is Carolyn. The scene also shows Lester as being very cheerful, as shown by his singing. He appears to be very carefree at this point, and on top of his game. However, previous to this scene, he had been very down, almost depressed. This scene represents the turning point in the film of his emotions. He is driving along in a very fast and almost dangerous way, just like you would expect a teenager to be driving. Also he has the music on, and turned right up loud, which is also very teenage-like. This reflects on how he has been “born again”, and is living his life to the full, all over again. Furthermore, when he reaches the drive though of the fast food restaurant, when he can’t hear the intercom clearly, rather than asking politely for them to repeat themselves, Lester simply yells “what?!” into the speaker, which is also very much the sort of thing a teenager would do. Also he’s smoking what we know from earlier in the film to be drugs, which can also be linked back to him acting just like a teenager.
In the scene, Lester is clearly breaking free of the restrains of his life he was feeling before in the film. This can be linked the Levi-Strauss’s theory, being that Lester, the down trodden and disheartened one, has found a new breath of life, and is in conflicted with his very restricting and restraining wife Carolyn, a conflict of freedom and restriction. Also, the scene links into Torodov’s theory, of the problem/ solution/ consequence. The scene fits into the solution part of the theory, because his problem was that he was very down and depressed, and his solution to that problem was to find himself almost a new personality and act like a teenager.
American Beauty was primarily aimed at an audience based in America, hence the name. Nearly everything in the film is something that all Americans can relate to in their life, and the film is actually set in America. Furthermore, throughout the film there is a constantly reoccurring theme of red white and blue, which are the colours that make up the American flag. The characters also appeal to an American audience, for example Lester trades in his normal and boring car for a Pontiac Firebird, which is a famous American car, and is the dream car of many fellow Americans.
Overall, the scene I have analysed is a very effective scene, even though it’s a fairly short scene. Its whole purpose is to show the audience how much Lester has changed since the beginning of the film, and where his life is heading next, which turns out to be working in a fast food restaurant.