After watching American Beauty for the first time, there were several things that I couldn't get out of my head. Kevin Spacey's voice throughout the whole really got to me, though he spoke with such simplicity. The classic angles of the shots of each scene made almost every moment look like a framed photo. The colors running throughout were like a perfect, unused paint palette.
When considering all of these pieces, it's easy to see that this seeming perfection and simplicity make a mockery of the ideology that the characters are supposed to uphold. The "perfect family unit" is irrevocably shattered by selfishness, isolation and unhappiness. The man who is supposed to be the breadwinner and head of the family lives under the psychotic perfection of his wife. He later breaks from her domination, but he is still content not being the main breadwinner as long as he has the freedom to do whatever he pleases. The young daughter separates herself from her parents and engages in a not-so typical relationship with the boy next door. The new suburban neighbors keep to themselves and hide secrets that are disturbingly deep and convoluted. All of the elements of the perfect family in the perfect suburb in America are there, but the people involved ultimately either refuse to adhere to the ideology that these elements are supposed to maintain, or work to keep up the ideology in ways that ultimately break it down.
On the whole, the movie seems to encapsulate the beauty of imperfection. We have a dominant ideology in the American culture that makes us believe that perfection is what breeds happiness and the ideal state. The pursuit of this perfection though, is too consuming for humans to handle all throughout their lives. As Ricky's movies in the film show us, by losing the focus of perfection and ideological restrictions, one can find beauty in almost anything.
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