American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes, explores the ideology of the American Dream and by doing this forces the audience to consider the flaws embedded within contemporary American society. Mendes portrays the sad reality of materialism and denial through his depiction of a dysfunctional American family, the Burnham�s. Lester Burnham, as the nominal �head� of the family, is the catalyst for this consideration. In American Beauty many of the characters mask their reality with an illusion to prevent any of their flaws from being discovered. This illustrates the theme of appearance versus reality and from this portrays the timeless message that �things are not always as they seem�, hence the slogan of the movie �look closer�. A classic example of this is The Burnham�s. The Burnham�s appear to be a typical American family living the ideal American lifestyle. Carolyn and Lester Burnham have well paid jobs, a nice house in the suburbs, all the material goods that money can buy and a daughter named Jane. A deeper insight into their lifestyle however allows the audience to see the impe......

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