American Beauty
In American Beauty, 1999, directed by Sam Mendes, we are confronted with the
permeating images that have consumed mainstream American life. Mendes exploits these
images as constructions that we created around ourselves as a means of hiding our true selves.
Mendes is able to implicate us in the construction and make us active viewers by exploiting our
voyeuristic nature. In American Beauty Mendes uses the voyeuristic tendencies of the spectator
to acknowledge the permeating constructed images. Mendes, through the use of narration, the
mise en scene and cinematic techniques implicates the spectator in to using their voyeuristic
tendencies to deconstruct the images in order to reveal the true image. From the start of the film
the construction of images is evident.
American Beauty begins with the obvious constructed shot, shown through the use of a
video camera, of a young teenage girl. The narration reveals that she wants her father dead. The
image......
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