American BeautyEssay Preview: American BeautyReport this essayAmerican BeautyA Sociological Movie ReviewAmerican Beauty, a film that was written by Allan Ball and directed by Sam Mendes in 1999 is a unique piece that demonstrates many sociological themes throughout the development of the plot. The characters strive to portray themselves as the All American Family. They live in a nice house, drive nice cars and seem perfectly normal to the general public, but the audience is allowed to view the deep set issues that plague the main characters; Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), Carolyn Burnham (Annette Bening), Jane Burnham (Thora Birch), and Janes best friend Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari). As the plot develops there are many obvious parallels relating the lives of the characters to Mertons Strain Theory. As the plot unfolds and we begin to understand the values and emotions of the characters, they can each be categorized into one of the five modes of adaptation discussed in this theory.
Robert Merton was a sociologist in the 1930s who reintroduced Emile Durkheims ideas concerning anomie, but he applied these ideas to a larger scale rather than focusing on suicide the way the Durkheim had. Merton defined anomie as a “situation that occurs when there is a disjuncture between the goals promoted by society and the availability of legitimate means to achieve those goals” (McIntyre 247). His strain theory is based on this definition and it describes five Modes of Adaptation that people fulfill in relation to their goals. Merton felt that Western society possesses a disjunction between goals and legitimate means to reaching those goals, and under these circumstances “deviant behavior ensues on a large scale” (Merton from McIntyre 167). With these ideas it is easy to conclude that the idea of the American Dream, the belief that hard work leads to success, is in many cases, false.
When anomie occurs, people within society respond in many unique ways. Merton characterized the responses of the population into five Modes of Adaptation. The first is conformity. Conformists are the group of people who are accepting of the goals of achievement and the legitimate means of hard work even though they are not gaining from the completion of their goals. The second mode, innovation, differs from conformity. Innovators pursue societal goals but when they lack the means to legitimately complete their goals, they devise their own means which are not always culturally acceptable. Ritualism can be accurately depicted by the idea of just going through the motions and completing tasks without any effort or thought. Ritualists work within legitimate means but they are not goal oriented meaning that they care little about the tasks in front of them. Retreatists are described by their title. They do not accept goals or legitimate means, they retreat or seclude themselves from society. The fifth Mode of Adaptation in Mertons theory is the mode most feared by society, the mode of rebellion. People within this category rebel against goals and means and rather than conforming to the rest of society, they strive to change it to better suit their needs. All four of the main characters of American Beauty can be placed into one of Mertons Modes of Adaptation.
The Burnham family attempts to portray the image of the American Dream. Carolyn and Lester are successful with their jobs, they live in a normal suburban neighborhood in a beautiful house and they have a seemingly normal teenage daughter Jane. Although these three characters try to conceal their issues, with a slightly closer look it becomes apparent that the Burnham family is severely dysfunctional. This is also true of the Fitz family, but they do not portray a normal appearance as well as the Burnhams. Although we never get to see Angelas family, through her actions and conversations it becomes obvious that she is also dysfunctional. Through the actions of the characters and the events that take place throughout the movie the audience gets a sense of the characters goals and their means of accomplishing these goals. Through this we are able to learn which Mode of Adaptation each character fits into.
During the course of the film, Lester Burnham goes through a large change. When we first meet Lester he is living his life as a ritualist. He goes to work every day because that is what he is supposed to do, but he puts in little to no effort and he has little regard for the completion of his goals. He has no motivation. His marriage is failing and he has an empty relationship with his daughter. Lester says “both my wife and daughter think Im this gigantic loser, and theyre right, I have lost something. Im not exactly sure what it is, but I know I didnt always feel thissedated. But you know what; its never too late to get it back” (American Beauty). From this statement we can see that there is going to be a change in Lester over the course of the movie.
When he meets Janes friend Angela we can see an immediate change in Lester. He lusts for her constantly and his life becomes consumed by trying to spend time with her and help her to be attracted to him. He suddenly becomes more enthusiastic about life. He describes this as feeling that he had been in a coma for twenty years and he is finally waking up. After this Lester completely alters his lifestyle. He leaves his job, begins to work out everyday, buys his dream car and starts smoking pot with Ricky Fitz. Before he met Angela, Carolyn was in charge of everything that happened around the house and she made all of the important family decisions. As Lester is experiencing his awakening he begins to contradict his wife and stand up for himself when she tries to push him around. Rather than just floating through life and letting other people handle everything, Lester becomes his own man and is goal oriented again.
As Lesters lifestyle changes, his Mode of Adaptation changes as well. Instead of spending all of his time just going through the motions, Lester becomes set upon the idea of improving himself and his situation. His means of improvement are not necessarily socially acceptable or considered to be legitimate ways to accomplish goals. This places Lester in the rebellion mode. He is goal oriented but his goals are not those generally accepted by society and he uses unconventional and illegitimate means to accomplish his goals. Lester leaves his well paying job and begins working at Mr. Smileys serving hamburgers. He begins buying marijuana from the teenage boy next door and fantasizing about his teenage daughters best friend. The goals created by society for a man of Lesters background are no longer appealing to him so he begins to pursue
Happiness, or perhaps for a better name, a healthy life.
One of Dr. Lester’s goals is to grow the body, and he takes into consideration the needs of the individual and social group, rather than focusing on a single goal to achieve a single one. Although this is possible, he sees it as an illusion, and he does not want to let his actions or actions influence someone else’s goals.
This type of mental illness has a number of symptoms which the practitioner must deal with. He may try to make things worse by increasing some of what the patient already lacks.
A person who has difficulty coping with or maintaining weight for longer periods of time will often require longer periods of isolation or isolation with a drug or a psychiatric drug. These are often used to get people to tolerate the psychological challenges of trying to cut-off an escape valve.
Being too heavy will make a man’s body become too heavy for many to tolerate. This is an unhealthy outcome, for he’s getting pushed from his comfort zone.
One of his main goals is to break his body down into smaller parts which allow people to get to a safer place. He’s getting this done through exercises in which he can take off weights every 15 minutes by wearing a gym cap or a belt or a backpack to keep his body from moving and breaking into a state of hyper-vigilance. He’s also doing this by putting in weightlifting that is really strenuous when he is in pain and he’s not lifting weights with good physical control.
The more severe a person gets, the more problems that he can become. He begins to become addicted to drugs, and that keeps him from making enough progress on his own to live a healthy life for his family and friends.
The more complex an individual becomes in his struggle with self-control, his problems become more severe as their body is not as sturdy as it could be. Many of his struggles are more of a pain in your own body than a solution to his problems.
Lester makes an enormous mistake over these problems when attempting to control his body. This is an attempt to control him by using the power he has over it as his only natural means of control, but this is not a solution. However, not using this power as a means simply can not succeed and this can lead to mental illness.
You have a choice between self-reliance, personal liberty, and freedom of choice.
Escape From Escape is a psychological treatment that involves the removal of all restraints, by placing a rope in front of the door, hanging from the lock, or even attaching a rope to it. It involves the removal of the door from everyone’s view, allowing them to go wherever they want without fear of being caught.
The rope is also placed in front of the door where the door should be locked. This will prevent the door from opening and keep you from being able to enter. The rope then acts as an escape door, allowing you to stay close and avoid being caught. If someone is allowed inside safely they will also be able to access the door.
The most important part of escape occurs in the beginning of the procedure. The key is to make sure that everyone is placed in a logical state that notifies them