FREE ESSAY ON AMERICAN BEAUTY - LESTER

AMERICAN BEAUTY - LESTER

American Beauty
In the movie American Beauty we see a commentary about people in 
contemporary society both as individuals and as members of families. I selected the 
character of Lester Burnham, played by Kevin Spacey, and did a psychological 
examination on him using the biopsychosocial model. 
I noticed many important details that had to be read under close evaluation which 
represented the heart of Lester. He is a man weighed down with a soul-sucking job as a 
corporate slave at a media marketing magazine. And he hates his life. He doesn't have a 
good outlook on much. He starts out as sort of a schlep with bad posture & is out of 
shape. He jump-starts each day by masturbating in the shower, and it's all downhill from

there. He masturbates because of the fact that he does not get sexually fulfilled by his

wife. Lester is slipping deeper and deeper into a hopeless depression, but ironically he
is 
downright lively about his own misery. He is so depressed but yet he has this feeling of

making a joke about it. I believe he is repressing feelings and trying to get others
around 
him to feel sympathetic. Biologically this depression could be from lack of serotonin 
produced by his endocrine system. Which his psychological stress brang about the 
neurotransmitter imbalance. Their could also be reasons for a genetic hereditary 
component for his depression which did not manifest until later in life. 
Many people would love to have the luxuries this man has and not think of the 
severe problems with his family communication. Today their is not a majority of people 
who do not live in a successful middle class society. Maybe his depression turned the 
wife off and their for he created his own downfall. 
His job of fourteen years is now letting him know how irreplaceable he is. 
This makes him feel worthless. Which decreases his self confidence also. This is one of 
Lester's first snaps to his change . His second snap is when he has an eye-opening 
encounter when he sees his daughter's cheerleader friend Angela. Instantly he's obsessed

with her and becomes fed up with his life. Ricky also has influences in Lester by turning

him on to some primo mind-altering marijuana. This pot might be a temporary biological 
condition to dramatically affect his functioning in behavior that he normally would not 
use. He provides an example for Lester on how to approach life. Lester calls Ricky his 
hero, when Ricky unemotionally tells his catering boss, Then don't pay me. Here, 
talking with Lester was more important to Ricky than a paying job. This gave 
Lester an example of how to view his horrible job. He even thinks back to his 
past on how happy he was getting laid and partying, how he did have his whole 
life ahead of him. But he remembers the feeling of irresponsibleness and not 
being nervous to not have stability. He now discovered that he no longer feels 
fulfilled in his job or his personal life and now attempts to make a critical shift in a

career and his lifestyle; A midlife crisis. The next day Lester snaps for good. He 
turns in a devastatingly honest job description, which results in forcing his corrupt 
boss to pay him a sizeable termination bonus. Facing a midlife crisis, Lester 
looks at his life and decides to live it the way he wants to, he no longer can live 
life like a prisoner: he quit his job and works at a fast food restaurant because of 
the lack of responsibility, starts smoking pot, and begins working out in a 
persistent hope to impress Angela. He sees in her something that has been 
missing in his life. His physical appearance I believe made him also feel less 
confident and had to do with his depression. As he became more fit he became 
more confident. He also purchases the car he always wanted. One of his 
dreams and fantasies coming to reality also like Angela.
He goes through a kind of decision to rediscover himself, he tries things 
he's never tried, or at least go back to things that he's long-since forgotten. 
Psychologically I believe in his unconscious mind is becoming more conscience 
when he fantasizes and dreams about Angela. These sexual feelings have been 
submerges into his unconscious thoughts and are now being repressed. They 
are life instincts which constitute his libido. But his id cannot take action. 
Eventually his ego is demanded by the id to move forward and make a pass to 
Angela. 
Over the course of the story, Lester Burnham transforms his middle-aged 
self into a lean and fit shadow of his former self. I think Lester is very much like a 
lot of men in American life, who start out having certain ideas about the kind of 
life they will have, but somewhere along the line, they get squashed down. I 
believe Lester grew up in a family where the husband had to have certain 
responsibilities to raise a family and be the breadwinner. He had viewed this 
either from his parents or society itself. Their is an expected role that people 
must play in society and Lester believed this until he suddenly realizes the lack 
of honesty in his life, the lack of communication - not being able to say what he 
feels and do what he wants. He's grappling with feelings that have long been 
dormant, but have been reawakened in him. He begins to realize how precious 
life is. A realization that's in some ways too late. He feels like he's been in a 
coma for about twenty years and he's just now waking up. His self-schema views 
him self and looks at his role in society. He uses accommodation to change the 
framework he is unhappy with. This is difficult and threatening, especially when 
important assumptions are challenged. 
Lester Burnham is suffering from a mid-life crisis that also affects the lives 
of his family. Lester and Carolyn Burnham are on the outside, a perfect husband 
and wife, in a perfect house, in a perfect neighborhood. They live all together 
behind a mask for society to view them as normal. They want to be part of high 
society but really they are not. 
Lester and Carolyn may have been in love once but now they've grown 
distant. It seems like when he was younger he fell in love with a fun and 
energetic women who changed substantially by life's responsibilities. They're not 
really communicating anymore. The wife sells real estate and puts a price tag on 
her feelings. She cares about objects to much. She is a little too wrapped up in 
her job and takes on an affair with business rival Buddy Kanes. The constant 
social adjustments demand a change that is also considerably stressful for both 
of them. Lester and Carolyn no longer have sex and this could be why he has so 
much hostility. Their is no sexual arousal ness, it is absent. Lester is treated like 
he doesn't exist and he doesn't even complain. He feels like he lives in hell. 
Lester then rebels, he wants to live life happy and no one is going to stop him. 
This shocks his family and particularly his wife. She usually has the upper hand 
in the family and I believe that was because Lester was brought up by his 
parents to be respectful to women and after time he let her rule his life. Until he 
snapped. Because of learned behavior he knows that the nice guy finish last so 
Lester changes. Because of Carolyn's strictness and emotional abuse Lester has 
become a victim and now he has the tendencies to become overly aggressive 
and angry. Which is exactly what happens. Carolyn really doesn't have any 
insight into what Lester's problem is, or for that matter, what her own problem is. 
It's no wonder that their sullen daughter, Jane has turned out to be one of 
those sulky, selfish teenagers. Jane has almost become to hate her father. Their 
is no communication their either. And when their is, he doesn't take into account 
his daughter's feeling. Therefore Jane freezes them out. She wants a role model. 
But she views him an angry, insecure, confused, and pathetic. He fells like he's 
not available for her. Even though, he does want to be. This parenting style of 
Neglectful-Uninvolved Parenting is going to effect Jane for the rest of her life. 
The consequences have proved in her low self esteem and their unavailability to 
attach. The way society puts members into roles, Lester and Carolyn have 
expected behaviors that will rub off on Jane and their for she will become just like 
them. Because of the mothers childhood of being brought up poorly she believes 
that Jane has a better life by having things at her age when really all she needs 
is some affection. Because of the lack of communication in her family life, Jane 
seems to fall in love with Ricky Fitts, the strange boy next door. 
He realizes how easy it is to get bogged down in the routines of trying to 
be successful, raise a family and keep things going. And that is exactly what 
happened with Lester. In the end I think he finds quite a peaceful place, and 
learns very important lessons about what's most valuable to seek. He knows that 
he cannot count on anyone except himself for his own happiness.
Bibliography
American Beauty The movie 1998 Lester Burnham