American Beauty Family Notes (Dinner Scene)

What do we learn about the family?

Mise-en-scène

Jane's Portrayal

When the camera cuts to the short of the family at the table, Jane can be seen to be sitting directly behind the roses as well as being surrounded by candles. This could be presenting the idea of innocence in her character, or possibly that she is the 'rose' of the family. This also links back to one of the first scenes of the film, where Carolyn can be seen to take care of the roses in the garden - this could be the directors way of suggesting that Jane is in fact the only reason that Lester and Carolyn are together, as they clearly don't seem to love each other anymore.

The Family's Portrayal

There are mainly muted colours in this scene, again, which I think is the director's way of displaying the dullness of the family themselves. The separation and formality of the table scene seems to suggest that there's also not very much of a connection between them (even if they do want to connect to one another, as in the case of Lester and Jane). The parents are also directly opposite of each other - which may not seem to abnormal, but it again adds to the formality of the situation and also suggests the two to be 'direct opposites'. Lester's submissive nature is also shown by his slumped posture in the chair (as well as his retreat to the kitchen when confronted by his wife).

Camera Work

Jane's Portrayal

The scene starts with the camera focusing on several small tables - on these tables are multiple pictures of a smiling Jane, accompanied by roses. The camera then cuts to a wide shot of the dinner table (above), and directly in between the parents sits Jane. These shots seem to be the director's way of portraying Jane, again, as 'innocent', as well as being directly in the middle of the conflict between the parents - perhaps the only reason the parents are staying together.

The Family's Portrayal

The slow zooming of the camera suggests that we, the audience, are "spying" on them, or to put it more accurately, seeing into their real lives (rather than the fake one they portray to others, as seen by the personality difference in Carolyn whilst speaking to the neighbours at the beginning of the film). This is furthered at the end of the scene when you see through the camera of Ricky, who is spying on Lester and Jane in the kitchen, and it zooms in slowly in the same way.

You also see various close ups of picture frames, besides Jane's pictures, that show the family in a seemingly happier time - one of these shows the family in a more stereotypical family hierarchy, with the father standing above the mother, adding to the feeling of regret within the character of Lester. It also shows the rag that Lester throws on the side after cleaning his hands land directly next to an old picture of the family again being happy, showing possible 

Music

The diegetic sound within the scene - referred to as "elevator music" by Jane - is 'Bali Ha'i' from South Pacific, an old song from 1949. From the dialogue, you can tell that the mother is the one who chose the song and that she's an old-fashioned person for doing so. It also shows her to be dominant, as the other characters don't really have a say in the choice of music, despite them all having to listen to it. Jane also complains that they "always" listen to it, furthering the suggestion of earlier scenes that their lives have become repetitive. It could also suggest that Carolyn too looks back on the past with regret or longing, as does the character of Lester.

American Beauty Opening Scene Analysis

Lester Burnham (played by Kevin Spacey)

• Submissive: seen by the way his character is dominated and put down by his wife and child
• Dissapointed with his life: seen by his opening statement of "In some ways I already am [dead]", and the hateful way he describes his wife - "She wasn't always like this"
• Sexually frustrated: "jerks off" in the shower, and calls it the highlight of his day
• Regrets marrying his wife, seen by his unloving descriptions of her and the line "she wasn't always like this"
• Loves, or at least doesn't hate, his daughter: he wants to help her, but doesn't see how he can - "I wish I could tell her that's all going to pass - but I don't want to lie to her"

"How does the film portray Lester as being 'trapped'?"

His character is portrayed as trapped in almost all of the elements in the scene, from visual hints, to sounds and more obviously in his dialogue. For instance, one of his opening lines is "In a way, I'm dead already", showing how he thinks of his life as insignificant yet unchanging (and the whole "dead" simile is again shown in the position his body changes to when he turns off the alarm clock - it looks like the classic "dead body" position, arms at opposite angles, etcetera.).

He's also shown to be trapped physically by physical objects and visual elements: when he's looking out of the window at his wife, the window's frame looks very similar to a prison cell's bars; when in the shower, he's physically trapped by the shower door; in the first image when he's at work, the columns on the computer monitor have him behind them, representing (again) cell bars.

"How does the music add to the atmosphere and the character of Lester Burnham?"

One of the more noticeable aspects of the music is how repetitive it is, which adds to both the atmosphere and to Lester as a character: it represents Lester as a character, in that he's found his life to be repetitive, possibly to the point where it's become an annoyance to him; the atmosphere is made to feel out-of-place, or uncomfortable, with the pacing of the music not really matching the speed of the scenes - Lester doesn't move all that much, and the other characters don't walk fast either, so a repeatedly fast beat is very out place.

"How has the Mother been portrayed in the classic Father role?"

It's easy to see how the mother has been placed into Lester's rightful role - the stereotypical family hierarchy goes in the order of Father, Mother, Children, in descending order of control, whereas in the film it seems to have shifted the Father's control to the end, so that the other roles of the family have more control than he does. The film furthers this idea through several ways: having both the wife and daughter talk down to him when he's walking to the car, and portraying him as pathetic when he accidentally opens his briefcase; when he's forced to sit in the back seat of the car like a child, whilst the actual child sits in the front with the mother (the car scene also has him being "held down" by his briefcase, again showing how he's being portrayed as trapped). The wife is also up before the man, even though (stereotypically) it's meant to be the other way around - women take longer to get ready, etcetera.