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1. How does the 1999 film American Beauty perpetuate
gender roles within the family, and how has representation
of the family change in 2020?
INTRODCUTION
The 1999 picture American Beauty (Sam Mendes) was an absolute hit, gaining
5 Academy Awards for Best Writer, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Picture.
Italso raked in $356.3 million in the Box Office, an astounding number!The
film was made in a time when the working American public felt as though their
lives weremeaningless, with the Clinton era bringing nothing but prosperity for
middle class America, the film doing a good job at reflecting the thoughts and
feelings of the time. But the film was also made in a time of changing social
structures, mostnotably the gender roles and stereotypes within family
households, the workplaceas well as normaleveryday life.
INTRODUCTION TO STATEMENT
Over the years, fromthe firstemergence of popular Hollywood cinema in the
1930’s, to the beginning of New-Wavecinema in the 60’s, and to the
convergenceof popular film genres such as Sci-Fi and horror in the 80’s, men
and women have been portrayed very differently within cinema and in the 90’s
we saw this happening rapidly with new typecasts for men and women
developing and disappearing. In this essay, using sources from theorists such
as Laura Mulvey, George Murdock and a series of online written articles and
video essays, I amgoing to specifically look at how those gender stereotypes
are perpetuated within the family unit, and comparethe family unit from the
mid 20th
century, to the time when the film was produced, and today in 2020.
To begin with, I am going to take a deep look into how family dynamics have
affected gender roles within the American family, and therefore the characters
in the film, this ideal model being known as The Nuclear Family. The American
anthropologistGeorge Murdock broughtforward thefour essential functions
of the family unit and believed that they all needed to be presentotherwise
the people within could not function and grow into society properly. These
four functions were as followed:

2. 1. Stable satisfaction of the sex drive – within monogamous relationships,
which prevents sexual jealousy.
2. The biological reproduction of the next generation – without which
society cannotcontinue.
3. Socialization of the young – teaching basic norms and values
4. Meeting its members economic needs – producing food and shelter for
example.
He also theorised that this had to be conducted by a heterosexualpairing,
mother, and father, and that the older male figure or the Father was head of
the houseand the breadwinner. The mother should be second in command,
taking responsibility of socialising the young, or “teaching basic societal
norms”, so that the next generation can continue the cycle in their future. This
theory gained criticismfrom feminist theorists, as it is a model that typically
disadvantages women, and giving morepower to the male/s within the
household. Does American Beauty perpetuate these roles with the Father
Lester, The Wife and mother Carolyn, and the Daughter Janie?
The first character I am going to be discussing, is Carolyn Burnham, the
protagonistLester Burnham’s Wifeand mother to their daughter Janie. Carolyn
goes through a large character arc from the start of the film to the end,
regarding who she is as a woman, and the gendered roles shetakes on
throughoutthe film because of that. In the opening scenes of the film, we are
introduced to Carolyn as the homemaker, when we see her tending to the red
roses within her white picket fence garden. Looking closer, we can also see her
cutting the rosefromtheir stems, their rooted life forceto the ground. Seeing
Carolyn in this stereotypically female position, seemingly happy, the director
gives a positive connotation towards the Nuclear Family roles. Carolyn knows
what shemust do as a woman, and that is to make the home, and her being
solid in that knowledgeand knowing the extent of her role, keeps her happy.
She is fulfilling her duty as a mother and wife. It is suggested that Carolyn is
happy, due to her smiling and effortless frameas she tends her roses, as well
as her enthusiastically answering the question from her neighbour, who is in a
gay partnership and doesn’tfit the Nuclear Family model, “how do you make
them flourish?”. This question could be a metaphor, asking in fact how Carolyn
makes her family flourish, and how she keeps her family contently and firmly in
the societal family unit. However, in the symbolism of her cutting away the

3. roses, it could be suggested that she is cutting away her own life forceas a
woman, and her chance at having her own life away from society and the box
they have put her in as a female. The cutting of the red roses symbolises how
Carolyn is no longer desired by society or her husband, shehas done her job. It
also symbolises thecutting away of her youth, of her hope and vigour, a
different very picture to the one she puts out to the world. This firstimage of
Carolyn in the beginning is reinforcing the female stereotypeof mothers and
wives being the only person to take on the task of homemaker, however the
cutting of the rosesymbolismtells us that it is not a positivestereotype for
Carolyn, and the dangers of these gendered roles within the family that
Murdock initially theorised, trapping women in a life they may not have felt
content with.
Next, I will discuss our protagonistin the film, the head of the houseand the
father, Lester Burnham. In the beginning of the film, Lester fits in with
Murdock’s functionalistview of the Nuclear family, being the breadwinner, his
job supplying food and shelter for the next generation that is Janie. In the first
quarter of the film, we are shown scenes of Lester at work, and we hear him
state that he has a 14-year career in advertising. Wesee him sitting in his
cubicle, bored and talking to a customer with false enthusiasm. In the
reflection of his work computer, wesee his face mirrored in what looks almost
like prison bars, suggesting to the viewers he feels entrapped in his work,
which like Carolyn’s roses, telling us a different story to the one he is putting
out whilst talking to the customer. The same as his wife, Lester knows that,
according to Murdock, his role as the male in the Nuclear Family is simple: To
be the breadwinner and supply his family with a home and food. He should be
happy, he is fulfilling his role and has been for the last 14 years, however its
almost immediately clear that he is deeply unhappy in his role that he only
feels he must take and not the one he wants to. Lester’s thoughts and feelings
here reflect how many working men felt during this time. In the 90’s, therewas
a working generation of men, who unlike their fathers and grandfathers before
them, lived in the relatively peaceful suburban settings of the 1990’s. The
modern landscape of masculinity was changing, with young men not going off
to fight wars or partake in the heroic camaraderiethat their parents had done
before. In short, they had nothing to fight for, or against. To Lester, his life and
work aremeaningless to him, and they only keep boxing him into the expected
role of the Breadwinner, forcing him to partakein a career that brings him little

4. joy. Justlike with the character of Carolyn, on the outsidehe is preserving the
stereotype and social normof the 90’s thatthe male is the breadwinner,
providing for his family, however with the film being about Lester’s hatred of
this role he must play, his hatred for his job, his loveless marriage, wecan see
the director isn’t shedding light on this stereotype, and portrays it as
something negative and harmfulfor the character of Lester Burnham.
To counter arguethese last points, it could be stated that this is entirely
wrong, and that these characters do not portray a stereotype, however, just
reflect the period. For example, yes Carolyn is the homemaker, keeping her
garden tidy, cooking the meals, and keeping her home presentable, however
Carolyn justlike Lester also has a job working as an estate agent. We can also
see that this is a job sheis passionateabout, shown in the sequence whereshe
prepares a housefor viewing. In this scene accompanied with someanimated
cleaning, we hear her repeat “I will sell this house today!” Unlike when we see
Lester at work, Carolyn genuinely seems interested in doing well in her career,
in her desperation to make this houseclean and presentable as well as selling
it completely. According to Murdock’s theory, Carolyn doesn’tneed a job as it
is her husbands roleand duty to do that, however this displays a positive
stereotype of Carolyn breaking the mould and doing something for herself not
justwhat the Nuclear model requires. During the 90’s America saw the
emergence of third wavefeminism, these women embracing individuality and
diversity, redefining what it meant to be a feminist. This time saw more and
more women fromnot justworking-classbackgrounds, butmiddle-class
backgrounds maketheir way into the workplacefor the firsttime, somewhere
only men had gone before. We can see here that this is demonstrated in
Carolyn, taking the reins of her own life. Looking at this evidence, it could be
said that the character of Carolyn Burnhamdoes not fit the stereotypeof the
Nuclear woman, career focused and ambitious.
Although Murdock’s theory is an important one, discussing a family model that
has lasted generations, it is a dated theory today, and even in the 90’s during
the production of American Beauty, it would have been obsolete. In 2020,
twenty years after the film’s release, we can see a much wider variety of
ground breaking family representation within the media and the real world. A

5. popular American TV sitcom that does havethis new representation, is
Modern Family.
Modern Family is a great marker of justhow far gender representation of the
family has come, showing three different types of the “modern family”. In the
show wehave representation of the typical Nuclear Family, we have
representations of 2 gay men raising their adopted Vietnamese daughter, and
we also have representations of older parents and age gap marriage. Unlike
media from 20 years ago, that werenot perhaps as progressiveas they are
now, the show is unbiased and shows theups and downs, the struggles, and
rewards fromall three types of family, the creators not putting their agenda
into the show. Within the Modern Family, we can see over the 11 seasons it
ran for, from 2008 to 2019, how the characters live and how the roles they
take reflect the times they werebroadcastin.
During the 90’s, itwas a strangetime for masculinity and men’s roles within
society, both academic and popular writers suggested that there was a crisis,
men questioning traditional male ideas and trying to find their place in the
world. Due to more women than ever entering the workplace, men of the time
had never been in this situation, and they wereconfused at what their role
was. Women could also work now, women could also be the main
breadwinners, did they havea role as men anymore? Films such as American
Beauty, and another popular film Fight Club explored this masculinity identify
crisis felt by working men nationwide, giving a commentary to the thoughts
and feelings during the period. We can see this reflected in the male characters
of American Beauty. Our protagonistLester Burnhamgoes through whatcould
be considered a masculinity crisis, understanding his role as a man, however
not finding joy and happiness from this.
Although this would have been considered a crisis in 1990, and women
becoming sole breadwinners in the 1950’s being unheard of in middle America,
in 2020 women taking a more active role in making a living, and fathers staying
home to look after the children and the house, is becoming a lot more popular
and normalised.
In the book The Family on the Threshold in the 20th
Century written in 2013, it
states that “The number of house husbands and stay-at-home-husbandshas
gradually been increasing especially in Western Nations…they are a testimony
to the changes occurring in gender identities”. Although we do not see this
completely in American Beauty, we do see Lester break the mould and leave

6. his job to go work in a profession with less financial benefits for his family. This
is a topic that is poached a lot however, in Modern Family, morethan once
over its 11 seasons.
Cam, one half of the same sex couple, for mosttheir daughter’s early years, is
a stay-at-home-husband, and Mitchell continuing with his law career. We also
see it represented in the stereotypical way with the nuclear family The
Dunphy’s, Clairea stay-at-homewifefor the firstfew seasons, beforebreaking
the mould completely and taking over her fathers’ company later and
becoming the highest earner within the family. The book Family on the
Threshold states, “Employment has for a long time played a key role in the
construction and reproduction of masculinity. For example, traditionally male
jobs became a proving ground for masculinity, and organisationalstructures
and practices provided the means to demonstrateones virility” and that
“Women’s careand supportin the household wereseen as necessary pillars of
that identity.”, however evidently from the changing world around us
represented in Modern Family, this is no longer a problem for the men and
women of today, as it is widely accepted that men can have a spot in the
working world, butdon’t need it to know they are the epitome of masculinity,
and also know they have a larger role within the household. As well, women
can stay home and look after the children, but also know that there is a place
in the working world for them to explore whatmakes them feminine and a
woman further creating a new meaning of what it means to be a woman, a
wife, and a mother in the 21st
century. Thesetopics within the show aregood
at representing the constantly changing and developing family unit, without
enforcing strict gendered roles and stereotypes.
In conclusion, I believe that overall, American Beauty for the time it was
created in, when there were vastchanges and developments being made
inside and outside of the home quickly, its not justas simple an answer of
“yes” or “no” regarding how it perpetuates gender stereotypes within the
home. Carolyn is represented as a working woman, who still retains her
femininity in the formof her dress, in the form of her interests in keeping her
garden fresh and keeping her family flourishing. Lester is a working man, who
breaks the mould of the male father figurehead, rejecting it almostcompletely
by the end of the film, but at the sametime this creating a new form of
masculinity within him. The film American Beauty is no whereas progressive

7. with representing gender roles and stereotypes as Modern Family only
released eight years after, however these two pieces of media together is a
usefulindicator of how far society and America has come since Murdock first
pitched his Nuclear Family Model in 1947.