contextual and critical study

1. ESSAY PLAN
MADELEINE ROSS

2. POTENTIAL QUESTIONS/
TOPICS
Portrayal of gender in
• Mustang- SURPRESSION OF WOMEN IN TURKEY, THE FIGHT BACK AGAINST
IT.
• 500 days of summer – MAIN CHARACTERS ARENT STERYOTYPICAL, MAN
AFTER COMMITMENT, WOMAN DOESN’T BELIVE IN LOVE.
• ALL about my mother
• Fish tank- COMING OF AGE, TEENAGE GIRL, INTERACTIONS WITH OTHERS
HER AGE AND HER SENIOR
• MONA LISA SMILE
• Whale RIDER- BEING A WOMAN IN A COMMUNITY
• AMERICAN BEAUTY- AMERICAN DREAM, WESTERN TAKE ON MASCULINITY,
FEMININITY ECT
• CLOSER- INFADELITY, TYPICAL ROLES OF MAN AND WOMAN.

3. HOW ARE GENDER STEREOTYPES
REINFORCED AND/OR CHALLENGED IN THE
1999 FILM AMERICAN BEAUTY?
Do the gender stereotypes from the 1999 picture
American Beauty still hold up in the modern world
of 2020?

4. THEORISTS-GAYE TUCHMAN
Tuchman's theory is known as symbolic annihilation.
Tuchman found out that men and women learned about their sex roles through the
mass media, and these definitions are passed from generation to generation
through the media. These sex roles, according to Tuchman, are “social guidelines
for sex-appropriate appearance, interests, skills, behaviours, and self-
perceptions.”
Until only a few years ago, women's representation on either film or television
were incredibly limited roles, or not even appearing at all. Tuchman believed that
'absence means symbolic annihilation'. Anything and everything that appears on
screen has a purpose. If women are left out or limited to certain roles, then they
either have no purpose, or their purpose is that of the task they are portrayed in.

5. AMERICAN BEAUTY
• It takes courage to openly admit that you have failed in almost every aspect of your life; and
that's exactly what the unhappy advertiser and self-declared loser, Lester Burnham, does: he
uninhibitedly embraces his failure as a father, as a husband, and as a professional. With
Lester's high-strung wife, Carolyn, and his always sullen teenage daughter, Jane, loving to
express their glaring contempt, the fond memories of a once-happy existence rapidly start to
fade; however, the fragrant apparition of Angela--an off-limits object of desire--reminds Lester
what life used to be, or better yet, what it can be. Now, for the first time, the unloved Lester
wants out of his endless suburban slumber, thirsting for a drastic change and a superbly
shameless transformation--all in the name of love, and above all, lost beauty. Nick Riganas
IMDB
• The film was directed by Sam Mendes, who won best director for his work, and written by Alan
Ball who also won an Academy Award for his work.
• Ball began writing American Beauty as a play in the early 1990s, partly inspired by the media
circus that accompanied the Amy Fisher trial in 1992. He shelved the play after deciding that
the story would not work on stage. After several years as a television screenwriter, Ball revived
the idea in 1997 when attempting to break into the film industry.
• Box office: $356.3million
• 1

6. ANGELA HAYES- YOUTH,
PROMISCUITY, SEX, ORDINARY
Angela is the kick starter for Lester's awakening, which is signified by the red roses that follow Angela
around throughout the film.
Up until the final 20 minutes of the film, Angela is represented as a promiscuous, seductive, and image
obsessed teenage girl. She is a stereotypical idea of a young and attractive woman.
To back up Tuchman's theory, we see that Angela is very set on male validation saying she “likes the
idea of men being attracted” to her when talking to Jane in the car. She wants validation from men, for
example Janes dad Lester, even though she knows it hurts her friend, because she has been taught
that’s what men want. We can see this during the conversation she has with Jane in the car after the
dance. “It started when I was 12” and “it means I have a shot at being a model” suggests that she has
been taught that to be successful and to be a high class model or get anywhere with a career, she has
to have sex appeal. (Models in the 90’s) Some 90’s super models were Cindy Crawford, Naomi
Campbell and Kate Moss. Within the film, its very rare to see the character of Angela not talking about
sex and promiscuity, however this could have been done to empathise the difference between her and
Jane, who show two different types of femininity. Throughout the film we could describe Angela as
sexually liberated, however in the final scene we see this story come tumbling down, suggesting that
even though these views and ideologies have been forced on her by the media, mostly the fashion
industry which came to popularity in the 90’s, that it’s deep down not what she believes and values,
which challenges this theory.
In this case, it does reinforce the stereotype that young attractive women are promiscuous and sexually
liberated, however in the final scene this stereotype is shattered when we find out that she is less
promiscuous as she has been saying. I think however it reinforces Tuchman's theory. (PRACTICE
PARAGRAPH NEEDS EDITING/REFINING)

7. THEORISTS- LAURA MULVEY
Laura Mulvey’s theory is known as the male gaze.
She says that in the darkness of the cinema auditorium, it is notable that one may look without being seem
either by those on screen or by other members of the audience. She also argues that various features of cinema
viewing conditions facilitate for the viewer both the voyeuristic process of objectification of female characters
and also the narcissistic process of identification with an 'ideal ego' seen on the screen. (1992)
“The conventions of mainstream film focus attention on the human form.” p61
“Among other things, the position of the spectators in the cinema is blatantly one of repression of their
exhibitionism and projection of the repressed desire onto the performer” p61
“The determining male gaze projects it’s fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly.” p62
“What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the one, or rather the love or
fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself
the woman has not the slightest importance.” (Budd Boetticher)
“According to the principles and ruling ideology, and the psychical structures to back it up, the male figure
cannot bear the burden of sexual objectification. Man is reluctant to gaze at his exhibitionist like. Hence the
split between spectacle and narrative supports the mans role as the active one of advancing the story, making
things happen. The man controls the film fantasy and also emerges as the representative of power in a further
sense: as the bearer of the look of the spectator, transferring it behind the screen to neutralise the extra-
diegetic tendencies represented by woman as spectacle.” p63
“A male movie stars glamourous characteristics are thus not those of the erotic object of the gaze, but those of
the more perfect, more complete, more powerful ideal ego.”p64
Feminist Film Theory- Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema:

8. THEORISTS- DAVID
GAUNTLETTE
How the representation of men and women has changed over time in the media.
'The traditional view of a woman as a housewife or low status worker has been
kick-boxed out of the picture by the feisty, successful 'girl power' icons.
Meanwhile the masculine ideals of absolute toughness, stubborn self-reliance and
emotional silence have been shaken by a new emphasis on men's emotions, need
for advice, and the problems of masculinity. Although gender categories have not
been shattered, these alternative ideas and images have at least created space for
a greater diversity of identities.’

9. FILM NOTES
AND
OBSERVATIONS

13. AMERICA IN
THE 1990’S
HTTPS://BOOKS.GOOGLE.CO.UK/BOOKS?ID=UMETAQP5ZJ8C&PRINTSEC=FRONTC OVER&DQ
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PAZCQ6AEWAXOECAEQAG#V=ONEPAGE&Q=FILM%20AND%20STEREOTYPES&F=TRUE

14. AMERICA IN THE 90’S
• The working population in the 90’s felt like a nothing generation, they felt as though
they had no purpose. The global fight over land and ideology was a thing of the past,
many felt the 90’s signified “The End of History”
• Many men in America at the time felt as though they were going through an identify
crisis. Due to third wave feminism, more and more women were coming into the work
place, taking up jobs that had once been reserved for the male population. What did
this mean for masculinity in the 90’s? Did men have less purpose?
• Films such as American Beauty and Fight Club addressed this crisis.

15. MAIN ANGLES
• Feminist Angle- Carolyn Burnham, Jane
Burnham, Angela Hayes, Barbara Fitts
• Masculinity- Lester Burnham, Ricky Fitts,
Colonel Fitts
• Family Dynamics- The Burnham’s, The
Fitts’, Angela Hayes
• Historical Context – 90’s

16. THIRD WAVE FEMINISM
Third Wave Feminism is an iteration of a feminist movement, starting in the 1990’s, finishing in 2010 to the
introduction of Fourth Wave Feminism. Born in the 1960’s and 1970’s (GEN X) third wave feminists embraced
individuality and diversity, seeking to redefine what it meant to be a feminist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-wave_feminism
“For more than a century, the median marriage age for women swung between 20 and 22, but in 1990, it nearly
jumped to 24. By 1997 it reached 25. Postponing marriage and kids liberated women sexually; it also gave them
increased economic power and paved their entry into male-dominated careers.”
“A quick glance back at the 90s would suggest that American women indeed made significant progress during
the decade. The 90s saw the first woman attorney general, secretary of state, president of an Ivy League
institution (University of Pennsylvania), and CEO of a Fortune 100 company (Hewlett-Packard).”
“Girl culture was reclaimed and celebrated by the Riot Grrrl movement, Sassy magazine, websites like
gURL.com, government initiatives, subversive feminist musicians and independent films.”
“As women gained power, or simply showed up in public, society pushed back by reducing them to gruesome
sexual fantasies and misogynistic stereotypes. Women’s careers, clothes, bodies, and families were skewered.
Nothing was off-limits.”
“Discrediting women based solely on their gender, sexually harassing them and reducing them to their
sexuality endures today from the school yard to the boardroom in part because this was, writ large, ubiquitous
and accepted behavior in the 90s.”
https://time.com/5310256/90s-gender-equality-progress/

17. MASCULINITY IN THE 90’S
“In the Clinton era, both academic and popular writers suggested that a -crisis of masculinity- had taken
root - one that had men questioning traditional male ideas and seeking new
identity”https://www.comm.pitt.edu/american-masculinity-under-clinton-popular-media-and-nineties-
crisis-masculinity
“(90’s)America prompted a second look at a generation of men who lacked the participation and
camaraderie of some heroic war or great artistic movement like their parents before them (the Greatest
Generation). These adult men lived in the (temporarily) prosperous and peaceful 1990s, where all around
them the landscape of modern masculinity was changing, the workspace was evolving and the new,
ornamental age was fraught with uncharted gender relations.”
“If the 1980s were the height of hyper-masculine action films, many of which glorified the blue-collar
"man's man" (think Terminator, Die Hard and Lethal Weapon), the 1990s, in contrast, saw a masculine
struggle against white-collar consumerism and ornamental culture.”
“According to an article written in 1994 by Richard A. Shweder, "In a post-modern world lacking clear-cut
borders and distinctions, it has become hard to know what it means to be a man and even harder to feel
good about being one.”
“The promise of a white picket fence was made good upon, but the subsequent feelings of inadequacy
and unimportance were not supposed to be part of the package.”
“In American Beauty, Lester Burnham turns to the physical body in search of reaffirming his masculinity
and confidence.”
“Both Fight Club and American Beauty offer an immensely interesting cultural and societal peek into the
male identity crisis of the late 1990s, and both are entertaining and even beautiful at times.”
https://guff.com/why-was-it-so-hard-being-a-white-dude-in-the-late-90s

18. THE FAMILY DYNAMIC
The Nuclear Family- Nuclear family, also called elementary family, is a group of people who are united by ties of partnership and
parenthood and consisting of a pair of adults and their socially recognized children usually one or more. The nuclear family, up
until recent years, was seen as the “perfect” family group, with the male being the bread winner, having a steady career and
providing for his family, with the woman a stay-at-home housewife, looking after the children, the home and domestic tasks. The
Functionalist View- Functionalists regard society as a system made up of different parts which depend on each other.
Functionalists see the family as a particularly important institution as they see it as the ‘basic building block’ of society which
performs the crucial functions of socializing the young and meeting the emotional needs of its members.
https://revisesociology.com/2014/02/09/functionalist-perspective-family/
George Murdok: The 4 essential functions of a Nuclear Family :
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 cannot continue.
3. Socialization of the young – teaching basic norms and values
4. Meeting its members economic needs – producing food and shelter for example.
Murdock theory however, received criticism from many feminist sociologists, who suggested that arguing that the family is
essential is ideological because traditional family structures typically disadvantage women.
(In the film American Beauty, in the exposition, we see that The Burnham’s are the typical nuclear family. Lester, the father and
only male figure in the family, is the bread winner, with a 14 year long career in the advertising industry. An office job. Then we
have Carolyn, the mother figure, who works as an estate agent, helping people find their dream homes for their dream future. As
the theory stands, Carolyn also takes care of the house and home, something we see as she tends to the roses throughout the
film. Finally we have Jane, the child of the family, the person to carry on the lineage of the Burnham’s. At the beginning of this film,
the family fit with Murdoks theory, the parents have done the essential jobs as society sees fit, have children, provide shelter and
food for that child (home) and teach the basic values. However by the end of the film, this family unit has broken down, and we
see that fallout throughout the film as they rediscover their masculinity, femininity ect.)

19. CAROLYN- THE MOTHER, THE
WIFE, THE HOMEMAKER
Carolyn goes through a large character arc as the mother and the upholder of the family values for the
Burnham's.
We are introduced to Carolyn as the home maker, in the first few minutes, when we see her tending the
roses in her white picket fence garden. On the outside the family and home look beautiful and perfect.
We can see this when the two neighbours ask “How do you make them flourish” which could be a
metaphor for how she keeps the family going and looking “perfect”. The red rose is a symbol of many
things in the film, however one big representation is of womanhood and femininity. Here we see that she
is cutting the roses, possibly implying that Carolyn isn’t as desired anymore, she has cut away her
femineity and passion for something else, a family. The theorist George Murdoch believed that for
society to function, the nuclear family had 4 important roles. Stable satisfaction of the sex drive, the
biological reproduction of the next generation, socialization of the young and meeting its members
economic needs. The Burnham Family in theory should do this, however it only keeps the people within
the family trapped. Many feminists argue with Murdoch however, stating that these functions can be
fulfilled outside of the Nuclear Family, and it is a construct that typically disadvantages women. Although
Carolyn is a homemaker and a mother, tending to the roses, cooking the meals, she is also a career
woman, who works just as much as her husband as an estate agent. During the 90’s third wave
feminism came into play, and more and more women were entering the workplace, and more were
expected to. We see the breakdown of the Nuclear Family when Carolyn becomes “the sole bread
winner” when Lester quits his job, which goes against the whole idea of the traditional family. Lester isn’t
fulfilling his role, and Carolyn is taking on too much for one person, whilst also having the added
responsibility of looking after the home.

20. LESTER- THE FATHER, THE
HUSBAND, THE BREADWINNER
Lester Burnham is the main character of the film, and we follow him as he goes from “sedated” and
unhappy family man, to a man more content with life and himself.
To begin with, Lester fits the male role within the Burnham family, he goes to work, which he states has
been a “14 year long career in advertising”, and by the way Carolyn is presented to us in the first 20
minutes, it’s suggested that Lester takes a less responsible roll in the house and home, leaving Carolyn
took cook for the family ect. Unlike with Carolyn, we never seen Lester doing anything at home other
than eating his meals ect, where as with Carolyn we see an enthusiastic cleaning montage.
According to Murdoch's main functionalist theory of the nuclear family, Lester should be happy with this
roll, as he is doing his job as the masculine figure within the family unit, however to back up the feminist
theorists that oppose Murdoch, Lester is extremely unhappy, and feels “sedated” within this role.
Although he is at his peak masculine function, providing for his family and having been able to produce
a next generation of Burnham’s, he is not in the place he wants to be. He doesn’t feel masculine, he
simply feels “dead already” one of the first things we hear when we are introduced to his character.
In the 90’s, there was 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
camaraderie that their parents had done before. In short, they had nothing to fight for, or against. This
idea I represented within Lester, a man who hates his job, feels unhappy within his marriage, lacks
connection with his daughter Jane and lacks an excitement from life. American Beauty as well as the
film Fight Club both take a peek into the male identity crisis, both main characters from the film looking
to focus on there bodies and physique to find confirmation of their masculinity.

21. THE OPPRESSION OF WOMEN
WITHIN THE NUCLEAR FAMILYMany women of the 20th century were discouraged from working outside the home, even as modern appliances lessened the
time required for housework. The transformation from agriculture to modern industrial jobs required one wage earner, usually the
man, to leave the home for work at a different location. The emphasis on the nuclear family model often meant that each woman,
one per household, was then encouraged to stay home and rear children. https://www.thoughtco.com/feminism-and-the-
nuclear-family-3528975 This new family placed new expectations on women in society. Where men were pushed to find a good
career, to go to school and seek higher education so they may provide for a family in the future, it was placed heavier on women
to BE the family, to strive for marriage and children, so that the men in the society needn't worry.
Feminists have been central in criticising gender roles associated with the traditional nuclear family, especially since the
1950s. They have argued the nuclear family has traditionally performed two key functions which oppressed women:
1. socialising girls to accept subservient roles within the family, whilst socialising boys to believe they were superior
2. socialising women into accepting the “housewife” role as the only possible/acceptable role for a women.
There are three types of feminists- Liberal, Marxist and Radical, and each have a different view on the oppression of women
within the “nuclear family”.
Liberal: Mainstream working culture which requires long and inflexible working hours which are still based on the idea of the main
breadwinner, Men refusing to pull their weight in relationships.
Marxist: Women reproduce the labour force – through their unpaid domestic labour, by socialising the next generation of workers
and servicing the current workers (their husbands!). Women are a ‘reserve army of cheap labour’ – if women’s primary role is
domestic, and they are restricted from working, this also means they are in reserve, to be taken on temporarily as necessary by
the Bourgeois, making production more flexible. (A dated view in the 21st Century)
Radical: all relationships between men and women are based on patriarchy – essentially men are the cause of women’s
exploitation and oppression. For radical feminists, the entire patriarchal system needs to be overturned, in particular the family,
which they view as root of women’s oppression.

22. VIDEO ESSAYS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvTwjusPAlM American Beauty- The Meaning of the Rose
• Red rose initially associated with Carolyn, we see her cutting a perfect red rose from its stem- symbol of growth cut from
it’s life force.
• Carolyn portrays the rosy looking life of a happy American woman, however inside she is filled with anxiety/ frustration.
She has lost the once spontaneous girl she once was, became a terrified woman afraid of natural wild growth. She keeps a
pruned image of herself, like she prunes her roses.
• Carolyn is a warning to us all, at what can happen when we look for beauty in the material instead of the present.
• Angela becomes associated with the red rose, and is ultimately revealed to be insecure, insincere and terrified of being
ordinary.
• Red rose is a symbol of Lester’s infatuation with Angela, the red-blood desire, the idea of deflowering.
• Repurposes the meaning of the rose- look past superficial appearance, avoid being brainwashed.
• Rose- false, surface beauty, nothing of substance inside. Unoriginal choice. Shows what beauty isn’t.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giiPpjNcr1g American Beauty- What it all Meant
• The film focuses on identity and beauty.
• Opening scene immediately establishes a world where purpose is unknown. The 90’s were seen as “The End of History”
where conflict over land and ideology globally was a thing of the past.
• Ricki is portrayed as having the answer- Lester sees Ricki as freedom, Jane sees him as real and genuine.
• Mr Fitts is a character who is unable to understand others, and himself.
• Characters going through an identity crisis:
• Teen Angst- Jane
• Mid Life Crisis- Lester
• Split persona- Ricki
• Put on a pedestal- Angela
SYMBOLISM/SIGNS

23. VIDEO ESSAYS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3lr1mCv0wQ Does American Beauty Still Hold Up?
• American Beauty was the winner of 5 Oscars- Best Writer, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Picture.
• Some embrace the suburban middle class lifestyle, others are miserable and fed up with it.
• Lester decides he doesn’t care about this lifestyle anymore, and is going to do whatever he wants.
• Why did I strike such a cord in 1999?
• Addressed both older and younger audiences, and the film gave both age groups pretty equal screen time and
representation.
• The film was made in a time when people felt they were a nothing generation.
• The film combined emotional technique as well as enough edge to make it feel more personal.
• Was a film with a strong message, however a relatively easy one to decipher, giving a new audience the sense of
accomplishment.
• People in the 90’s felt more comfortable watching Lester pursue a teenage girl- they new it was wrong, but they can
sympathise with him by seeing how he got to this stage.
• Some people saw the film as pretentious and preachy, scenes such as Ricki talking about a plastic bag being the most
beautiful thing he had seen, the narration over the top.
• In the 90’s it was seen as quite daring.
• American Beauty showed what middle class American were thinking and feeling at the time, it gave them someone to identify
with.
• Today, it is more easily accessible to create a distinct identity, with the global popularity of social media apps and the mass
media.
• American Beauty has become dated, as a product of 90’s America.
• Ultimately, it helped to give identity to people searching for one, weather that be for young people or working adults.
CONTEXT 90’s