Very good movie. We watched it in our movies class in college. There are 7 layers of meaning in the movie......Too bad I can't rember them since it has been a few years.
I thought this was a great movie filled with a lot of different meanings and symbols.
I don't know if these are the 7 Meanings you are talking about dirk, but I found these on wikipedia.
[SPOILER - highlight to read]:
- Lester, during his narration, claims to be dead inside long before his physical death. He begins to enter a midlife crisis, slowly exercising some of his real personality and feelings in his life, and finds that he likes being able to express himself again after yielding to Carolyn's personality for so long.
- Carolyn yearns for success and the image thereof, so much that she refuses to acknowledge that she and her husband are having a fundamental disconnect in their marriage. Her image of perfection is so ingrained that she cannot accept the changes Lester wishes to make in his life and in their lives together. She eventually has an affair with a more successful real estate broker, obtains a gun, and acquires self-help tapes, unwilling to admit until Lester's death that her life is unraveling before her eyes.
- Jane's transformation through the film is subtle, but noticeable. She has a cheerful, colorful room, wears makeup and is a member of the cheer-leading squad at her high school, as well as being friends with Angela, a supposedly more beautiful and popular cheerleader. After meeting Ricky Fitts, Jane slowly begins to move away from the 'normal': she wears less and less makeup, challenges Angela's behavior and attitudes, and embraces that which makes her different from others.
- Frank Fitts is a staunch Marine Colonel whose militant attitude and insistence upon discipline and order in his house even includes having his son's urine tested. He has been repressing his homosexuality for many years, denying what he deems to be unnatural about himself, and, after Lester spurns him, he kills the man who rekindled those feelings.
- Barbara Fitts, for reasons unknown throughout the film, seems to have a fundamental disconnect with reality. Whether through the abuse/repression of her husband, a traumatic event from her own past, or the side-effect of some form of medication, Barbara seems to have lost all connection to whatever personality she might have formed growing up. She looks lost and uncertain in all scenes where she appears.
- Ricky Fitts is forced to hide his artistic nature as well as his marijuana dealing due to his father's militaristic rule over the Fitts home. He connects to Jane initially by filming her, learning her name from Lester, and has a tender, shy nature until the end of the film. When Angela confronts Jane about leaving with him, Ricky shows his more forceful nature and defends the girl he loves.
- Angela Hayes, like Carolyn, has adopted a self-confident, haughty and promiscuous exterior to hide her own insecurities. She lies blatantly to fellow students about sleeping with fashion photographers, brags to Jane that men have been ogling her since the age of twelve, and acts the coquette towards Lester, whose attraction to her is obvious. Her sexpot image derails when she admits to Lester that she is a virgin after being told by Ricky that she is 'ordinary', which to her is the worst thing in the world to be. She is wiping the smeared makeup from her face in the bathroom when Lester is killed, which can be viewed as removing the mask she has been wearing all along.
Gender: Female Location: And Why is It Important to you?
i just saw this movie a few days ago and saw this thread and said..errie. i love the subtle symbolism in this film..well worth it's award of best picture
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~LunaLoveG~, Fawne, Maple Sugar, Susan-Storm, Kairiminé
please, it kicks magnolia's ass. one of the best films of the past ten years (in my personal opinion), and it is exceptional in every major aspect of film-making. Great story, wonderfully written, dynamic intyeresting characters, brilliant photography, strong directing, superb acting from all major characters, and not a bad musical score either.
i think maybe a 9.6 out of 10
__________________ christmas... christmas dinner...dinner means death... death means carnage... CHRISTMAS MEANS CARNAGE!!!
I have to say, I enjoyed it. I'm not usually into dramas, but Spacy's character made the film much more interesting. Hell, without him, I doubt it would've been as good. Also, a very quotable film.
I find it unsatifying at the end, though. I mean, after years of repression, he finally stands up to his wife and finds self-contentment and as he's amiring the family (although flawed) he has made and thinking how awesome his life really was... BAM! Sad.
Gender: Female Location: And Why is It Important to you?
hell without him the movie wouldn't have much of a point..without his character that is. but your right..no one else but spacey could have potrayed lester
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~LunaLoveG~, Fawne, Maple Sugar, Susan-Storm, Kairiminé
KMC Community Forums
Nov 7th, 2006 11:16 PM
Now a nice person!
Being John Makovich was good, but compared to American Beauty.....it had no chance for Best Picture.
