American Beauty-Scene Analysis

Representation:
Lester is represented as a non-stereotypical 'Alfa male' character, as usually men are in charge of the house and they protect their family. Whereas he is very submissive, he is not in charge of the house, he gets told what to do and bossed around by is wife, Carolyn, he also gets treated like a child. Lester is an unhappy and depressed character and it really shows through by the way he acts and talks on a day to day basis. It comes across to the audience that he's not even allowed to talk in his own house about how he is feeling as he mutters under his breath quite a lot in the scene. As he gets treated like a kid he also acts like one as he is quite argumentative. The way Lester acts and is presented makes the audience kind of feel sorry for him as we, as an audience, know that he has depression therefore there is a reason for him to act in such way and his wife and his daughter, Jane, don't know what the audience know. This is called dramatic irony. It also makes you feel sorry for him because it is shown that he doesn't have a good relationship with his wife or his daughter so he might feel like he can't talk to them about what he is going through and explain the reason why h is acting like that so that they can understand him and there is no affection between him and his wife. Carolyn is presented as a bossy and rude character as she acts like she is in charge of the house and she tells everyone what to do and has an aggressive manor. She is also presented as a cold character as she doesn't seem to notice that Lester is unhappy and she isn't doing anything to help him. However, she is also presented as a character that cares about her appearance and how things are presented as she dresses very formal for dinner and she makes a huge amount of effect with the dinner and how she set out the table which shows that she could still care deep down. Jane is presented as a stereotypical teenager as she is very moody and sarcastic and she also dresses quite scruffy and doesn't seem to care about her appearance. Jane is also quite rude and argumentative with her parents which again is a stereotypical teenager thing to do. The boy with the video camera looks confused when he is first shown to be watching Lester and Jane, and then when the audience see his face again he looks creepy and like he's going to do something bad. He is presented as a weird and odd character but the audience don't see him until the end of the scene so we as an audience do not know his name yet. The facial expressions on the boy look like he's concerned and creepy, the family are very vulnerable at this point as they do not know they are being filmed and this makes the audience think 'what is he going to do with it?'

Mise-en-scene:
The house is old fashioned inside and it has very simple decorations which could show that the family are quite boring and depressed. Around the house the lighting is dull and dark and there is just a few candles around. When the family are around the table the candles are in front of Jane the daughter and not in front of the parents therefore, Jane is in the light and the parents are in the shadow which could suggest that she is more important that them. There are also red roses in the middle of the table which links to the title of the film as that is a type of rose. Roses also feature on the costume that Jane wears, she has a top on with roses on it. Jane's costume is quite gothic and her makeup is also gothic. Her clothes are scruffy which is stereotypical for a teenager. Carolyn has a formal and business like costume with bright colours. However, Lester's costume completely contrasts with this as his is dull and bland with not a lot of colour and is quite old fashioned. Lester says he feels like he's dying and that he's depressed which could link to the fact he dresses like this. There are old family photos shown, at the start of the scene, around the house and in these photos they are very happy and look like they all have close relationships and some of the photo look like they were from not long ago as they look the same as they do now. This suggests that the family used to be really happy and now it is clear to the audience that it has changed dramatically.

Camerawork:
There are lots of different camera techniques used in this scene, one of them is a zoom. Zooming slowly is used a lot throughout the scene which is used to make the audience focus on certain things that it zooms in on, it also draws us in as an audience and it created as sense that we are intruding their home. The way the family are sat around the dinner is reminiscent of the theatre. Cross-cutting is also used in this scene; it cross-cuts between shot-reverse-shot and two shot. This is near the end of the scene when Lester and Jane are talking in the kitchen and they are getting videoed by the boy hiding in the bushes and it cross-cuts between them both. This makes you feel like you are watching both of them and from both of their perspectives. There is also close ups used through out the film, for example when Lester and Jane are talking to each other which shows the audience their facial expressions and the detail on their faces. An extreme close up is used of the boy videoing them which creates tension and suspense and also shows his facial expressions which adds to the creepiness of his character.

Sound:

At the start of the scene there is diegetic sound which is the music the family are listening to around the dinner table. The song is called 'Bali Hai' and it is from a musical called South Pacific this shows that the mother, Carolyn, has old fashioned values and that she misses the past and how the family used to be. However, the daughter, Jane, compares the song to 'elevator music'.  The song is soft and very melodic which contrasts with Carolyn as she is rude and dominant. Near the end of the scene there is non-diegetic sound being used. This is when Jane and Lester are being filmed by a boy that the audience haven't seen before and don't know. This music is also soft and melodic but it is also creepy and odd as he is filming them in the dark and hiding in the bushes.