Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Amanda Dunman
Ventura College
May 4, 2005
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“American Beauty,” the 1999 film directed by Sam Mendes, is a motion picture in
which its characters struggle to control their destiny and find freedom, in different forms,
within their own constructed world of dysfunctional perfection. The tag line “look closer”
suburban families depicted in the film, the Burnhams and Fitts’. The fathers of these
families, Lester Burnham and Colonel Frank Fitts, appear to be polar opposites – the
former suffering from an adjustment disorder with disturbance of conduct, the latter from
severe internalized homophobia and anger management issues. One man is attempting to
escape his stressful life events through reckless behavior, while the other tries to
safeguard himself through military control and a deep-seeded, personal fear. However,
when we do look closer, the viewer realizes the significance and parallel in one of
Lester’s statements: “[We are] a commercial for normal when we are anything but.”
The first character introduced to viewers is Lester Burnham, a 42 year old male
who is generally depressed about every aspect of his life. He is married to a career-
obsessed Carolyn Burnham who is the major breadwinner as a real estate agent, has spent
fourteen years as a “whore for the advertising industry,” and has a teenage daughter
whom he believes hates him. In one symbolic car scene we recognize his situation:
Carolyn is driving (just like she “drives” the family), his daughter Jane is next to her, and
Lester sits slouched in the backseat, avoiding further argument with his wife, visually
becoming
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unhappier and more desperate every second. When he goes to work he is asked by an
efficiency expert to write a job description to justify his position at the company. This is
Lester’s final straw. The threat to his job security was the stressful event that led to his
maladaptive behavior, which was set to begin once the scene ended.
Two catalysts that aided in and reinforced his acting out were Angela, Jane’s
sexually preoccupied friend, and Ricky Fitts, the son of the new neighbors Colonel Frank
and Barbara Fitts. When Lester is forced to attend Jane’s cheerleading event he is taken
aback by Angela, who along with Ricky represents his yearning for freedom, respect, and
beauty. When at another event he is forced to attend by his wife, he meets Ricky who
reintroduces him to marijuana and self-determination by witnessing him casually quit his
job. Angela’s flirtation and Ricky’s confidence advances Lester’s emotional reactions to
his problems into active manifestations of his desires. Lester starts working out to
impress Angela after eavesdropping and calling her and hanging up, smokes marijuana,
blackmails his way out of his job into one with “the least possible amount of
The combination of Lester’s excessive behavior after the events of perhaps losing
his job and existing family stressors, the significant impairment produced by his
behavior, and the duration of his symptoms are implications of an adjustment disorder
usually begin within three months of the stressors and last no longer than six months.
work performance (quitting his job), reckless behavior, acting out, and relationship
problems (further driving a wedge between him and his wife and daughter) (“Adjustment
diagnosed with adjustment disorder, however we see Lester identify with adolescence so
much through his thoughts and actions in the film that this seems appropriate. The
which for Lester includes nearly every act he took in reaction to his stress: lusting after
the underage Angela and later nearly having sex with her, buying drugs, and
Since a time frame within which the story takes place is not specified – except for
Lester mentioning in the introduction that he will die in less than a year – the ability to
diagnose his disorder as acute or chronic is rather dubious. Acute adjustment disorder
lasts less than six months while chronic adjustment disorder may last six months or
longer (PsychNet-UK, n.d.). The chronic specifier is only used in response to chronic
events or stressors which, in this case, could be applied to Lester since he already had
It would be tempting to say Lester had a midlife crisis and leave him
undiagnosed. For two reasons this is incorrect. First, the notion of a midlife crisis as its
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own mental disorder is unfounded. There was a debate in the making of the DSM-IV to
obviously did not happen. If it had, a midlife crisis would still be considered an
coping challenges brought on by fears and anxieties about growing older”; more than
twenty-five percent of Americans over age thirty-five think they have had a midlife crisis,
but more than half of these were stressful life events (Susan Lang, “CU researcher finds
'midlife crisis' is less common than many believe.” Cornell Chronicle, 2001).
Had Lester not been murdered, treatment for his adjustment disorder would be
disorder, a therapist would help the patient learn new ways of coping with stress, better
n.d.). Since Lester was concerned with the ability to control his life how he saw fit and
his personal desires, individual sessions every other week of reality therapy may have
been a good match. Reality therapy, established in the 1960’s by Dr. William Glasser,
focuses on the human as a social being that is driven by our wants, not so much thinking
about our needs (Padraig O’Morain, “Reality Therapy and Choice Theory.” n.d.). The
three questions to ask the client are: What do you want? What are you doing to get what
you want? Is it working? The therapist would then implement a workable plan to address
these three areas. Though Lester was getting what he wanted, what he needed to do was
examine his life more closely to realize where his problems were coming from, and try to
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deal with them more directly rather than turn to outside influences that harmed his
Next, the viewer becomes acquainted with the Fitts family, the new additions to
the neighborhood headed by Colonel Frank Fitts. Right away the viewer realizes the type
of man Frank is: haircut reminiscent of his days in the armed forces, ultra conservative
dress, and glasses set low on his nose - his face revealing an expression of criticism as he
reads the daily paper. This is not a man with whom to have an argument. He has clearly
been married for many years to Barbara, a woman who has evidently detached from her
surroundings a long time ago. Later in the film we see glimpses of his study adorned with
an impressive gun collection and military memorabilia, most notably a piece of Nazi
dinnerware.
As quickly as we are able to visually assess Frank, the doorbell rings with two of
the most unwelcome type of people standing on Frank’s doorstep. At first he does not
comprehend that they are a homosexual couple that live a couple houses away. He
proceeds to question them about their business with a suspicious eye, until a look of
realization glazes over his face. We curiously do not see his reaction until later when he
drives Ricky to school: “How come these faggots always gotta rub in your face? How can
they be so shameless?” When he later watches Jim and Jim running with Lester he cannot
refrain from commenting “What is this? A gay pride parade?” These are not genuine
questions, but accusations representative of a man who finds so much comfort in the
control he believes he has over his family, that he is distressed and fearful about the fact
that he does not have the same control over the world outside his home.
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Ricky Fitts perfectly sums up the situation observed in both families when he
exclaims: “Never underestimate the power of denial.” Denial is a recurrent theme in the
film that can be applied to all of its characters, but is a concept especially relevant to
Colonel Frank Fitts. He denies the true nature of his 1950’s-like nuclear family he has
tried so hard to preserve; Frank is in denial about his son, his wife, and his sexuality most
men are supposed to deny and conceal their emotions. As a man whose parents most
likely rigidly enforced masculine virtues of strength, physical toughness, and obedience
to authority, anger became the only outlet for Frank. This explains why anger is the only
way Frank reacts to situations in the film. This anger is only second to the fear of his
sexuality, which is why Frank joined the military, has the quintessential manly gun
collection, and never fails to reassure people of his masculinity as he finishes every
introduction with “United States Marine Corps.” When we see Frank react to watching
Ricky’s video of Lester and later on kiss Lester, they are moments he is frantic to erase
the physiological and fearful reactions of a specific phobia (Keith Taylor, “No fear factor
in ‘homophobia,’ study claims.” The Washington Blade, 2002). However, other studies
insist that “there is a particular fear and animus toward homosexuality” and even the
researchers that claimed homophobia lacks the fear criteria, still found close associations
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between homophobic tendencies and worries of physical and moral contamination (Keith
originates from contempt (a more appropriate term for the majority that have it) and
opposite sex. Colonel Franks Fitts’ hostility towards homosexuals originated from the
dread of his own sexuality. As he watches the video of Lester working out and
misinterprets Lester and Ricky together, he is facing his worst fears: confronting his
sexuality and believing Ricky to be gay. When he screams at his son, fists in from of him,
“I’d rather you be dead than be a fucking faggot” he is telling it to Ricky, but also to
himself.
If Colonel Franks Fitts had received gay supportive therapy when he was younger
to help him understand the causes of his psychological distress, he might have become a
probably would not have died. The combination of the behavioral therapy technique of
reducing connections between upsetting situations and habitual reactions plus altering
thought patterns, characteristic of cognitive therapy, has been proven to be very effective
Therapy: The Basics.” 2004). Individual sessions every other week combined with group
therapy would have helped Frank to resign the fear of his sexuality and avoid aggressive
outbursts.
psychological problems, are overwhelmed by their poor choices and the costs associated
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with the consequences. Two of these characters, Lester Burnham who experiences an
adjustment disorder with disturbance of conduct and Colonel Frank Fitts, an internalized
disorders. If these two men had received the treatment they needed, much unnecessary
Lang, Susan. (2001). CU researcher finds 'midlife crisis' is less common than many
http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/01/3.22.01/midlife_crisis.html
O’Morain, Padraig. (n.d.). Reality Therapy and Choice Theory. April 29, 2005.
http://www.angelfire.com/ab/brightminds/tReality.html
http://www.psychnet-uk.com/dsm_iv/adjustment_disorder.htm
Taylor, Keith. (2002). No fear factor in ‘homophobia,’ study claims. The Washington
http://www.tampabaycoalition.homestead.com/files/703NorFearFactorInHomophobiaSt-
udyClaims.htm
http://www.unitedbehavioralhealth.com/pdf/Adjustment_Disorders.pdf
Winston, John. (2004). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: The Basics. April 30, 2005.
http://www.cognitivetherapy.com/basics.html