If you asked me to analyse Sam Mendes' 1999 American Beauty in all it's detail I could go on for ages. There is a whole lot to pick out from this dark, romantic and sometimes hilarious drama which see's Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) fall in love with this daughter's best friend and undergoes a mid-life crisis that effects everyone around him. Whilst most of it's themes all interlink, I thought I'd look at a singular one, one which I noticed right away. Spectatorship. Within that, how we as an audience, and the characters view and see things - and what deeper meanings some of these things establish. The tagline for this film, 'look closer,' is possibly one of the most important tailgates I've seen for a film, and here's why.

'All that glitters is not gold.' I'm sure you've heard that before, and it relates to this movie in a ton of ways. It means that the things that may ideal and beautiful to us are actually flawed in certain ways, in regards to the film the rose is used to symbolise this. Beauty, romance etc are all things that come to mind when we think of a rose, but if you 'look closer' you'll see the rose's problems, thorns for example. With the linking of Angela and the rose, we see a similar theme. Angela may be beautiful, but she has many problems that cause Lester to be swayed against her at the end of the film. The fact we are reminded to look closer throughout the film may aid us in predicting how Angela will turn out, among other elements in the film.

If you look closer you'll see that the car, the workout, the easy job and everything else Lester possesses to make himself feel much happier is all worthless - materialistic things, no sense of worth and nothing to make him stand out from other people are no way to better yourself other than to feel good about yourself. How will other people see that? The couch that Carolyn loves so much is just an expensive ornament that serves no much more purpose than to be sat on. But spilling beer on said couch causes it to be worthless. What about it's true purpose? Look closer. Carolyn looks up to Buddy Kane but despite seeing him as a god she wishes to have and be he has internal issues he won't show. He even tells Carolyn he has to look successful to feel successful, to keep him in that mindframe and give him some bravado. But shouldn't we feel and be successful from where we are, not by how others see us? 

And as you look closer, you'll see so much more. This rose theory can be applied the other way round. Things that may seem ugly or off-putting have their perks and qualities, which Ricky see's in Jane for example, which blossoms into a romance between the pair of misfits. Ricky is a character who see's the beauty in the most simplest and most un-noticable things, e.g the plastic bag. If you look closer, you'll notice this too. 

Through Ricky, we see that he spectates too. He looks at everything behind closed doors, such as Lester's strange workouts and of course Jane. We see this through Ricky and his camera, he acts as our telescope. He see's issues in the people who truly have them but shake them off but see's the value in someone who may feel trapped, alone and scared. Mendes' smart cinematography is pulled off excellently in this film, there are many first person shots such as Ricky and his dad when they go through his drawers and of course the ones through Ricky's camera. Shots of Lester 'trapped' in his wasteful life (or behind bars if you examine the second picture) happen constantly, so it's not just what may seem obvious that you need to look closer at.

And by the end of the film, we look closer and closer, and see the true value in ourselves and Lester takes a page out of Ricky's book. He see's the true beauty in life and his family, behind the ugly side. It's important to spectate this film as close as possible to uncover what it really means - repeat viewings show more and more things that link to different meanings. There's a lot from American Beauty which we can take and use to understand other films as well. The tagline is somewhat just as important as the meaning of the film itself. Look closer.