Design Gilliam example essay topic

Beyond the exterior as the film progresses, all the faults and cracks in the family are revealed. Lester is rapidly beginning to realize suburbia has left him soulless. He realizes the lack of honesty in his life, the lack of communication. It doesnt seem to be a midlife crisis, but rather a short rebirth. He begins to realize how precious life is, a realization that is some ways too late. Left to obsessive masturbation by his frigid wife, Lester lusts over his daughters best friend, Angela.

Meanwhile Carolyn has an affair with The King, whose swagger and machismo she finds irresistible compared to Lester increasingly rebellious behavior. Mum and Dad, however, arent the only ones becoming unraveled. Jane, disgusted and alienated by her parents, finds solace in the unnerving calm of her new next door neighbor, Ricky. She is bitter about certain aspects of her life and disappointed by her parents, but she has qualities that slowly emerge that make her special and unique. Ricky has a fetish for video taping just about anything he can, and a seductive insight into whats real in the world, despite the beatings from his self-loathing, Marine Corps father. Ricky shows Jane that it is okay to be herself and be happy with who she is.

American Beauty forces society to confront the reality of our own life. It comments on the issue that society today is too materialistic, and we tend to leave behind the real necessities of life love, honesty and happiness. Success and Happiness are two features of modern society that are definitely questioned in American Beauty. It asks, Can we have both or do we have to make sacrifices? The characters of American Beauty have made their lives so career driven, their own personalities and the person they truly are being denied. Lester cant even see the woman he married in Carolyn anymore.

It seems people strive to hard to get a nice white picket fence. The film American Beauty is an artistic way of telling us money and nice things arent everything. Never has there been more prosperous populations like there are today, and never have people been so profoundly unhappy and unfulfilled by the things we think we need. Terry Gilliams science fiction satire, Brazil is a collection of eccentric architecture, lighting, costumes, and cinematography that endorse his unique luster. The film merges many of the century's troubles into a vast glimpse of Gilliams vision. Terrorism, bureaucracy, technology, industrialization, and love combine to produce a distorted reflection of society.

This reflection is supported by the overall design Gilliam provides within the film. The design of each individual scene can be depicted or illustrated by the scene itself. Gilliams overall satiric message is enhanced by the design of each scene, and seemingly the mood of the entire movie. The films content is saturated from the opening scene.

Gilliam maintains this saturation throughout the entire film. The audience is taken through the life of the main character Sam. His life sets the stage for Gilliams vision. The portrayal of the main character Sam and his world are the perfect combination for a satire.

The world created by Gilliam is ludicrousness. Gilliam gives the scenery a plain look with mostly dark colors to signify the corrupt world. The glamorous new-born ladies with their face-lifts symbolize materialism and the new unnatural reformation, while most everyone else is consumed in black and white. The only other brilliant actions in the movie ironically occur when a terrorist bomb goes off in the middle of the population. The buildings throughout the town although large, are quite plain and tedious. In this day and age a company is recognized by its appearance and design.

All together, the buildings seem to imprison the people of the city symbolizing the choke hold of the government. Gilliam presents Sams house with state of the art technologically. The simple ring of his alarm sets off and automatically accomplishes many of a persons daily morning chores, for morning without stress is virtually impossible. However, because of technologies biggest downfall, Sam finds his morning everything but ideal. Possibly the biggest farce in this disorganized and confused world is making the world appear disorganized and confused.

The duct work strung throughout not only the walls of each house, but also throughout the town symbolizes this disorganization and confusion. A scene doesnt go by where the backgrounds are not covered by the large prominent pipes seemingly stemming from everywhere. The duct work not only symbolizes this disorder but many other things as well. Pipes connected throughout the world symbolize the total control of the Central Service or the government and bureaucracy. The Big Brother theme instills a powerful message. The world at work is also used to portray Gilliams vision.

Although very similar to the regular world, its tastelessness adds to the satire. Hardly any color is shown throughout the offices or labor buildings, symbolizing that these buildings more than any other, are controlled by the single governmental force. The archive office where Sam first works is layed out like that of an industrial factory. With everyone working in succession, and the same cubicle-like area represents how restricted the population was.

The constant noise and flow of people running around like they have no purpose keeps one wondering if any kind of work could be accomplished?