DATED 

American Beauty (1999) is one of my favourite films due to the alternative use of enigma codes, symbolism, camera angles and the idea of challenging the 'typical' American family.  

 

The film looks into many different themes that challenge the nature of society.  The main themes that the production exaggerates are that of materialism, appearance versus reality, denial and repression, control versus chaos, loneliness versus feeling connected, change and searching, and versions of beauty. 

 

The Art Culture Film website describes the family portrayed in the openng sequence as "trapped by the ideology of the American Dream". The use of high angled shots portray Lester as a weak character, submissive to his wife Caroline. As the film progresses, Lecester changes his life, quitting his job, becoming in control of the family unit and ultimately becoming in control of his life. During this transformation, shots become low-angled to show power, and he is seen to become centralised in the framing; connoting dominance and superiority over the other characters. 

 

The film uses visuals and dialogue throughout to portray the changes of Lecester's life. The use of the colour Red is dominant throughout the whole film. The colour connotes Lust, Love, Passion, Danger and sometimes even Evil. At the beginning of the movie, Caroline (the hero's wife), is seen to be cutting red roses. I think that this symbolises the lack of passion and sexual drive in their relationship; as when Lester starts to fantasise over his Daughter's friend Angela, red rose petals seem to shroud his fantasies of her; suggesting that his wife is being replaced. This drive seems to become the 'fuse' for the downwards spiral of events that occurs afterwards; which is when the colour red starts to dominate the film's aesthetics (seen by the gifs above). This is then juxtaposed when red roses appear by Lester's head after he is murdered. This signifies the colour red as a sense of passion, but also danger; symbolising the bad effects of obsession and lust. 

Red is also used to build up suspense and tension in the film, especially towards the end as we as an audience are left to guess who the killer is, before the revelation. Each supporting character in the aftermath of Lester’s death is wearing or near something that is red. I feel as if this could suggest that the amount of red shown in each shot manipulates the reader in to guessing who the murderer’s identity is, as it's slowly revealed.

For example, Angela puts on red lipstick in the bathroom when the shot goes off. Ricky and Jane are lying on red-colored bed sheets. Carolyn is wearing a red dress – and holding a gun – which leads us to believe it may be her. Then finally, the ending scene, we see Colonel Fitts splattered with the blood and holding the murder weapon.