American Beauty and Existentialism - Movie Review Example

of the Philosophy of the Concerned 13 October American Beauty and Existentialism There is no denying the fact that American Beauty is indeed an existential film imbued with varied existential themes in an intricate and complex way. The primary crux of the movie American Beauty could be traced in the existential crisis faced by the main character in the movie that is Lester Burnham. Throughout the movie, the main character Lester Burnham struggles to seek and find out the meaning of his life in a personal and intimate context. The continual struggle of Lester Burnham regarding the meaning of life eventually endows him with the freedom to assume total responsibility for his life, thereby taking the onus to give a meaning to his life, which though did not affiliate to any organized and systematic philosophical discipline is of immense importance and concern, so far as the life of Lester Burnham is concerned. Hence, eventually in the climax, Lester Burnham arrives at a meaningful conclusion that corroborates the essential existential theme that any valid philosophical quest ought to stand on a foundation comprising of the actual experiences of an individual. The eventual demise of Lester Burnham is not only satisfactory and well deserved in the context of his individual struggle, but is also indicative of the possibility of soliciting happiness by proactively engaging in an existential crisis. The existential themes inherent in the movie American Beauty could only be grasped by having a relevant insight into the actual plot and contexts. The central character in the movie that is Lester Burnham is shown to be up against a midlife existential crisis. In the movie Lester Burnham is shown to be a middle aged American male who is both a husband and a father. Lester is shown to be trapped in a marriage that is of no relevant meaning or interest to him. He happens to be the father of a daughter who actually seems to hate him. Lester is also shown to be trapped in a job that not only devoid of any motivation or interest, but also happens to be morally and ethically debasing and from which Lester Burnham intends to escape for the sake of personal peace and well being. It is only after Lester Burnham gets attracted to her daughter’s young and beautiful friend that he begins to assume responsibility for his life, thereby getting actively engaged in asking questions and making decisions that lead to his eventual sad but personally edifying death. In that context, the movie American Beauty facilitates a deep insight into the actual motivations behind the so called modern life and the commensurate human struggle to seek meaning and personal contentment. The movie presents to the viewers the varied existential themes marking the contemporary life through the existential struggle of the central character Lester Burnham, at the same time shedding light on the vacuity and inanity of the individuals and organizations surrounding Lester Burnham. The plot of the movie thereby serves two purposes, one to unravel the absurdity and ludicrousness hidden behind the conformist notions of life, and second the possibility of seeking happiness and fulfillment in the small things marking the human existence. One existential theme that continually pops up while being engaged in the unraveling of the seemingly banal and mundane life of Lester Burnham is that of authenticity. In a quest for personal meaning and goal, the existential struggle engaged into by the central character that is Lester Burnham, the character is shown to be living Sartre’s notion of authenticity, thereby practically symbolizing the fact that “authenticity implies the assumption of one’s moral responsibility, the recognition that one has to decide what is good (Schilpp 96).”Through his existential struggle, Lester Burnham actually establishes that authenticity is possible that even while being numbly engaged in an existential struggle, there does is a personal unity of consciousness, a personal capacity to be a proactive agent of choice, which could make an individual live as per one’s personal values and needs (Schilpp 122). The movie American Beauty begins with Lester Burnham’s bold confession unraveling the utter meaningless of his familial and social existence, and his initiative to assume a personal responsibility for his life. The later scenes in the movie focusing on Lester’s travails and experiences in a way evoke Albert Camus’s correlations of human existence with the myth of Sisyphus, magnifying the punishment that life eventually dishes out to Lester Burnham, thereby magnifying the actual absurdity and meaninglessness of Lester Burnham’s endeavors and fight for meaning. This absurdity and meaninglessness are shown to strongly mark Lester Burnham’s early life in which he goes on with his dull and monotonous domestic and professional routine, sticking to his least motivating and vacuous job, playing home with a wife who is upwardly mobile and not particular about respecting her marital bonds, being father to a daughter that continually acts distant and harbors scarce affection for Lester Burnham. This play of the absurd goes on till Lester Burnham’s attraction for Angela Hayes; her daughter’s teenage friend gives way to the actual existential crisis in Lester Burnham’s life. In the wake of this struggle, Lester Burnham’s plight is amply conveyed by Sartre’s comments that, “I must be without remorse or regrets, as I am without excuse; for from the instance of my upsurge into being, I am… engaged in a world for which I bear the whole responsibility without being able, whatever I do, to tear myself away from this responsibility for an instant (Sartre 76).” Lester is shown to be left with two possibilities and choices, either to continue with one’s depressed existence, or to actually embrace and accept the inherent meaninglessness of life and savor the freedom associated with such a choice. Luckily, in the later scenes in the movie, Lester Burnham accepts the essential meaninglessness of life and moves ahead towards making choices and taking decisions. Lester Burnham’s actions in the latter half of the movie give voice to Sartre’s notion that assuming responsibility for one’s life is both a freedom and a viable choice thereby allowing one to either seek meaning in one’s life or to take actions if life do not turns out to be what one expects it to be (Pamerleau 54). Remarkably, while doing so Lester Burnham portrays the emptiness of the contemporary American life and the absurdity hiding behind the notions of American dream. At a superficial level, Burnham is shown to have it all, a job that enables him to earn a living, a well furnished home in the suburbs, an attractive and ambitious wife and a talented daughter. However, the irony of the matter is that the movie American Beauty turns out to be comically ruthless as it begins to portray the absurdity and angst hidden behind the price possessions of Lester Burnham. Doing so, once the movie begins to portray the essential alienation of the American male played by Lester Burnham, it raises the larger question as to whether there is something meaningless and rotten inherent in the American middle class life. Still, though the viewers tend to expect a stark criticism of the American dream as lived and born by Lester Burnham, surprisingly, the film tends to suggest a possibly aesthetic stance that may help Lester Burnham find a way out of one’s personal angst. In that context, the movie goes on to elevate the Kierkegaardian concept of angst by suggesting anxiety to be a possible outcome of human attempt to vie for a mental and physical synthesis (Beabout 9). Eventually, Lester Burnham succeeds in learning an important lesson from his daughter’s wayward boyfriend that it is feasible to live life on one’s own conditions provided one somehow manages to delink oneself from the outcomes of the events in one’s life, even the essential and important events like one’s death (Solomon 19). In that respect, Lester Burnham and his wife tend to highlight this aspect of life through the method of contrast in the sense that while Lester Burnham manages to grasp the essential absurdity and meaninglessness of life, his wife in contrast misses this point and continues to work herself to the extreme to find a meaning and relevance in her life. The essential appeal of the movie American Beauty to the audience is inherent in the fact that not only it deals with the existential notions of alienation and angst, but also suggests that changes in the personal attitude could make life meaningful if not bearable as marked by the eventual suicide of Lester. American Beauty portrays the varied existential themes like authenticity, alienation, absurdity and angst in a positive light in the sense that it depicts as to how the task of seeking meaning in the essentially meaningless aspects of life could lead to personal happiness and freedom. This is amply depicted by Lester’s final words that “I’m great’ and the satisfying smile on his dying face that certainly mark a state of existence that is both ordinary yet meaningful. Works Cited Beabout, Gregory R. Freedom and its Misuses: Kierkegaard on Anxiety and Despair. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1996. Print. Pamerleau, W. Existentialist Cinema. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009. Print. Sartre, Jean-Paul. Being and Nothingness. New York: Washington Square Press, 1993. Print. Schilpp, Paul Arthur. The Philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre. La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1981. Print. Solomon, Robert C. Existentialism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Print. Read More