AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999): A CRITICAL DEMYSTIFICATION OF AMERICAN DREAM

Abstract

Abstract

Sam Mendes’ 1999, Academy Award winning directorial debut, American Beauty can be described as nothing short of a brilliant satire that is subtle yet evocative in critiquing the hollowness of the American Dream. Imbibing into it the new distillations of the Dream, the film presents before the audience the Burnhams, a picture-perfect American family of three. The family is nuclear and fits into the criteria of being heteronormative and continually striving. It comprises a father (Lester), a mother (Carolyn) and a school going teenage daughter (Jane) who are caught in a tangle. They struggle to get through their ordinary lives, with some striving to make it more happening while the others yearning for a way out. Their dreams get coalesced with the realities only to result in disappointments and conflicts. The film sheds light on the strivers and their relentless pursuit of the Dream while simultaneously addressing the repercussions of not being cognizant of the possible cracks in the facade of the same. This paper is devised to look into the characters’ journey as they struggle their way up the social ladder, how individuals are victimised for failing to achieve material success, and the section of the American society that unknowingly becomes prey to the “homeland of the free” (Hughes line 16).  It also aims to expose the hypocrisy of the American Dream and the discrepancy that exists between the preached ideals and the practised reality.