Jane Relationship With Lester example essay topic

AMERICAN BEAUTY: LIFE THROUGH A CHILDS EYE The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm (qty. In Eli bron). These are the words spoken by world-renowned author Aldous Huxley, whose words have made a lasting impression on Hollywood. Movie producers try to incorporate this child spirit into their movie characters.

However, as movies are a parallel to real life, this childlike characteristic, would naturally mislead people into thinking they are dealing with a child. A situation which manifest itself in American Beauty, where the lead character Lester Burnham happens to be a typical middle-aged, free willed man, but one who is given treatment equivalent to that of a child by his family. Caroline, Lester's wife emphasizes her supremacy over her husband throughout the movie. Mirroring a relationship that an over powering mother would have with her child. Lester's mistreatment by Caroline is none so more apparent than at the banquet scene of the movie.

Where Caroline gives specific instructions to Lester on how to act towards her business rivals, acting as if she were taking to a child. Caroline corrects Lester on every opinion he expresses, and if he says anything that she does not approve of, without hesitation, she pulls him aside and makes her thoughts clear. Like a well-trained child Lester is told what to do and expected to follow Caroline's orders without any questions. Disobedience will result in a severe punishment for Lester by Caroline, who has special ways of dealing with mischief.

These unjustly punishments that Caroline gives to Lester take place inside their home. This is where Caroline shows no affection towards her husband. Instead she reprimands Lester by seeking love elsewhere, due to his purchase of a new automobile without her approval. An argument soon ensues with Caroline lecturing Lester on the value of the money, this is undoubtedly a parallel to a mother reprimanding her son for his actions. In addition to the lectures, Caroline verbally abuses Lester at the dinner table, when he tells her that he quit his job.

Without a second thought as to why Lester quit his job, Caroline starts yelling at him, showing no respect to a grown man decision. Ironically, even though Caroline shows little respect for Lester, she demands respect from him, just as parents would from their children. Lester being the submissive man that he is forced to show a lot of respect for Caroline, much like most children do for their mothers. Caroline receives much of this respect at the dinner table, where Lester has no choice but to listen to the classical music Caroline plays, even though the distasteful look on his face makes his true feelings obvious. Furthermore, there are no conversations during dinner, so Caroline can enjoy her music; Lester knows he can only speak when spoken to by Caroline. However, it is not only Caroline who mistreats Lester, his daughter Jane, has a relationship with her father that is similar to one that a sister would have with her younger brother.

Lester points out early in the movie the type of bond he shared with his daughter Jane what happened, we used to pals, but as siblings drift apart as they get older so do Jane and Lester. They become isolated from each other to the point where Jane does not tell Lester about any important events in her life, such as her cheerleading during the high school basketball game. Instead she tells her mother, who drags an uninterested Lester, much like a younger brother forced to attend by his parent to watch his older sister perform. Nevertheless, it is only when Lester attends does he get infatuated by Angela, Jane's best friend, like a typical na ve younger brother he thinks it would not be inappropriate for him to try and win over Angela's affection. Lester does not attempt to hide his feelings for Angela, making small flirtatious passes towards her.

Nonetheless, most daughters would never want to accuse their father of inappropriate acts such as Lester's, regardless whether it is true or not. This is where Jane relationship with Lester is clearly different from most father daughter relationships. Jane makes her feelings to Lester obvious, were as most daughters would shy away from taking about such controversial topics with their parent, but Jane has no problem, because she sees Lester as a younger brother not a father and therefore he should be treated like one. The treatment Jane gives Lester is similar to how Caroline treats Lester. Apart from the distance she keeps from Lester and the confrontations between the two, Jane also has little respect for Lester. Shown through her instantaneous decision to leave with the neighbor without even thinking of how it would affect her father, treating him as a child, who does not have any authority over her decision.

Jane's care for Lester deteriorates as the movie proceeds, to the point of sibling rivalry, for the attention of the common friend between the two, Ricky (last name). Having a friend who is also your dad's friend is rare, but in the case of Lester, he looks up to Ricky as a role model. Listening to Ricky's advises and following it through, Lester smokes marijuana and quits his job. He idealizes Jane's friend, a very common practice among young children, to choose a role model that is close to their older sibling. Lester may have different relationships with his wife and daughter, but both of them see him as a child, rather then a husband and a father. They fail to realize the childlike personality within him is the genius side of him showing.

Instead, his family decides to exploit this characteristic, only to have Lester truly become a child.