Existentialism: American Beauty

Existentialism Ameri bum lulu American smasher is a movie that sets in suburban America. The story is about Lester, whom is a elder writer work in a powder store company. He was having a mid lifespan crisis where he felt only(a) and numbed by continuous unchanging bout of his popular life. In the movie, his wife portrayed as a winning real estate agent, but she was as well as sledding through her throw midlife crisis in twain her career and personal life. Lesters daughter, Jane Bumham had estrange her parents and was going through puberty.They exhaust a invigorated neighbor who is a U. S. Marine Corps Colonel frump Fitts, and he has a son, Ricky Fitts, who is a drug dealer. Lester was going to vex fired from his company that he had worked for fourteen year. Lester hu macrocosm beingsaged to make out a deal by threatening the theatre director to give him a years outlay of lucre or else he would distribute the blurt news, which would sabotage the company. One da y, he and his wife went to empathise their daughters cheerleading dance and during the performance Lester byword Janes friend Angela Hayes. He indeed starts having fantasies of her.On the early(a) hand, his wife was also having an affair with a successful colleague. Disregarding his wifes life, Lester started to make changes in his life later tasteing Angela complimented him and suggested that if he worked out, she would wish well him relegate d profess more. Therefore, he started working out after being fired from his course, and got a new job at a fast food restaurant. During work, he build that his wife was having an affair and he asked her for a divorce. On the some other hand, the marine corporal, Frank, has trust issues with his son, since Ricky had a history of using drugs (smoking weed).One day, Frank starts to get fishy about Rickys actions. Then when Lester called Ricky to get more marijuana, Frank saw them acquire together in a room. He thought that they w ere sexually involved. In reality, they were respectable smoking weed. When Ricky went home, Frank ab utilise him and erroneously believed that he was homosexual, which caused him to kick Ricky out of the house. So Ricky fixed to ask Jane to runoutside with him to New York. At the a wish(p) time, when Lester and Angela was getting intimate with each other, she suddenly confessed that she was a virgin.Lester realized that he shouldnt be fetching advantage of her and Angela started crying, so he comforted her. by and by the incident, both of them bonded and shared their problems. On the last image of the movie, it showed Lester holding an old picture of his family reminiscing the past whence Frank suddenly showed up with a gun for hire and shot him. The movie, American Beauty, portrayed many another(prenominal) experiential musical shanks from philosophers give care Franz Kafka, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jean-Paul Sartre. In the beginning of the movie, Lester indicates he humpd like a dead man.He goes through the same routine everyday, which is interchangeable to Franz Kafkas tone Gregor Samsa in the gip story Metamorphosis. Before Gregors variation into a metamorphosis, he was a salesman for a recollective period of time where he felt that had wooly his character, goals and even estranged himself from his family. Lester and Gregor have committed themselves to the ships company, which caused them to be alienated by their families. In the beginning of the movie, Lesters daughter critiqued her founding render as a also-ran and his wife also looked d witness on him.Gregor had similar situations, he was also alienated because his job necessitate him to travel, and therefore, he couldnt spend time with his family. jibe to Kafka, one has to go through alienation because that awakens us to blossom into a new life. He believes that an exclusive have to balance themselves between individuality and society. horizontal though Gregors transforma tion gave him a new life, it was too late for him to live for himself. On the other hand, Lester was lucky enough to experience the change when he heard Angelas suggestion to get fit.This cap encouraged Lester to adjust his dull and melancholy life. He starts working out and live for himself, instead of life history up to other peoples standards. Kafkas view of existentialism is that an individual has the responsibility to limit balance between leisure and work. Lesters character has some similarities as Kafkas life. Kafka was employed at an insurance company, where he had experienced the suffering from working in the dull cubical office. He used writing as a way to consort from the tedious life he had, and it was the only rule that could explore his creativeness. regular though Kafka was not an existentialist, his writing render many existential ancestors and shared similar thoughts with other philosopher like Friedrich Nietzsche. Friedrich Nietzsche is a philosopher in the late eighteenth century. He has a great impact towards existentialism. His existential theme is about individuality and constructing identity. Through his go for called Gay Science, Nietzsche indicated that there were more liberation and granting immunity after religious wars and persecution ended. He believed that people were getting detached with religion.Even though the movie American Beauty did not have any religious relate themes, it still portrayed the theme of liberation. It was freedom that deliver Lester from being drowned by his scummy life, especially when he was being disregarded by his wife and alienated from his daughter. In addition, in the end of the movie, Ricky Fitts, the neighbors son was released from his father because of a misunderstanding. He was detain under his abusive fathers rules and control. When Ricky was liveliness under his father, he was like the last man in Nietzsches short story therefrom Spoke Zara consequentlytra.The last man lacks passi on and has no drive they do not like to hear the world contempt applied to them. Let me then address their pride. Let me speak of them of what is the most pitiful but that is the last man (Soloman, 73). Lester also has similar characteristics of the last man. Before his transformation, he even confessed that he was living a life of a dead man. Nietzsche saw the last man among the middle class and he was afraid that they would be suffocated by the dreadful office space. This greatly relates to Lesters working environment and the suburban area where he lived.Everyday felt like yesterday, nothing changes. There is no creativity or passion in Lesters life and Nietzsche believed that people should be pushed and encouraged to exhibit the cycle. Lesters transformation speaks of Nietzsches existentialist theme we philosophers and free spirits fell, when we hear the news that the old god is dead. As if a new get across shone on us (68). The new dawn that Nietzsche mentions in his throw have similar portrayal in the movie, which is Lesters transformation of his new life. From a miserable and coward person, Lester changed into a new courageous and free farinaceous individual.He was able to confront his wife and make his own terminations without being afraid of her looking down on him Its a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself. Makes you wonder what else you can do that youve forgotten about (American Beauty). Overall, Nietzsches theme reveals that people have the ability to make their own decision and put their destiny into their own detention just like what Lester did with his life. Similar to Kafka and Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre also emphasized the splendour of individuality.He believes that existence comes before essence, people creates their own destiny and it is not divinity fudge that controls our fate (206). He also explained that human nature did not come forward because God created us. Sartre did not believe in God therefore, he believed human created the existence of human nature, like how Lester altered his life. Sartre also indicated that individuals should need responsibility towards their actions. Lester broke away from the society and left his past life to construct a new character without other people to disapprove his decisions. and, he also threw away all the responsibility as a father and husband. Lester quit his job and got a lower salary job, which left his wife in charge of the mortgage. Even before the transformation, the relationship between Lester and his daughter drifted by causing them to ignore each other. He failed to take a responsibility as a father and nurture his child instead he well-tried to flirt with his childs friend. From Sartres book Existentialism is a Humanism, he wrote Our responsibility is thus much greater than we had supposed, for it concerns mankind as a whole (208).He believed that an individuals action could have a huge impact on others, just li ke how the neighbor, Colonel Frank Fitts gobble uped Lester at the end of the movie. Frank has to live carry that guilt forever. It was his decision to kill and therefore it would be his responsibility to accept the blame. However the movie did not indicate what consequences Frank allow for be facing, or what kind of responsibility he will get after the murder. The director leaves the decision to the audience to decide what his fate is going to be. Lester did atomic reactor up his family and take no responsibility during his corporeal and mental transformation.In the end of the movie, when Angela, his daughters friend, told him that she was a virgin, he realized that he could not take advantage of her. This message reminded him that she was just a teenager that needed attention. He took a parental responsibility by comforting her and explored her frustrations, which applied to Sartres theme of taking responsibility while making alternations in life. Through out the movie, Ameri can Beauty, it has exposed many existential themes that connected to multiple philosophers including Franz Kafka, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jean-Paul Sartre.All of them emphasized the importance of individuality, passion and creativity, which was depicted in the movie, especially on the main character, Lester. He altered his life and aged his mid-life crisis. It was through existentialism where he was released from the trap of society and the controlled environment. In the end of the movie, every character found an answer towards the purpose of life. Even though Lesters life ended getting shot in the head, he was actually happier than he was before and managed to live the life he wanted. Reference Solomon, Robert C. Existentialism. 2nd. New York, NY Oxford University Press, 2005. Print.