genre and narrative analysis of the opening sequence inAmerican Beauty
Directed by Sam Mendes ‘American Beauty’ is a very character motivated film. ... The film focuses on a suburban, American family portraying its characters’ dysfunctional relationships as a direct symptom of their conceptions of beauty. As the title implies the film asks the question ‘what is American beauty?’ The film doesn’t give a definite answer but implies many things such as the roses grown by Carolyn, Angela who seems to be the perfect American Beauty, the American Dream or to what we ourselves conceive to be beauty. ... In the car journey the voiceover continues, Lester states that he feels ‘sedated’ and he then says ‘its not too late to change’, this makes the audience expect a narrative disruption, a complete change in Lester’s personality. ... We are not sure why Lester visulises the roses- they could be a connotation of American beauty and what Lester associates with beauty. ... As we get to know her through the sequence we discover that she is obsessed with her image of success, to be well respected, wear the right clothes and have a nice garden etc. ... Watching films such as ‘The Truman show’ and ‘Blue Velvet’ may also help the audience to relate to the melodrama genre and understand the film more. ... The first 15 minutes of the film has introduced us to three central characters and provided us with enough information about them to help the audience develop narrative expectations.