American Beauty is about a 42 year old man called Lester Burnham. He states at the beginning of the film that he only has one year to live but he doesn't tell the audience the cause of his death or how he knows he only has one year left to live. A common theme seen throughout the film is the red rose and its petals. I believe the colour red represents both the danger and the love in the film and how it plays a large part of the film. Other themes that were discussed in the film were homophobia, pedopillia, drug abuse, drug dealing, prostitution, child abuse, red roses, denia and revenge. Homophobia is a theme I picked out of the film as I could very clearly see that the next door neighbour was homophobic as he tells his son, "I'd rather my son be dead than be a faggot". This quote shocked me a large amount as it would with every audience member. This quite was said after the man got the wrong idea, and thought that his son was meeting up with Lester to engage in sexual activities, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, but the son's father was extremely homophobic (or even jealous) and didn't like the idea one bit. Again, later on in the film the make is seen making a move on Lester and kisses him on the lips, before being told by Lester that he must have got the wrong idea as he was not gay.
Social Class
The working class is the main class seen and it is represented through the houses the characters live in, which I think are quite big and expensive looking. They're surrounded by white picket fences, and luxurious red rose plants. The idea of the white picket fence gives me the impression that the family was inspired by the American Dream and the aspiration to one day become one of the many people in America that are happy, successful and possibly rich. The main family type I found was the nuclear family, in which consists of the father, mother and child; though this family seemed incredibly toxic and unhealthy. The child was a rebellious teen who dispised her father and mother with a passion, they didn't get along and they rarely spoke and took interests in each other's day or anything they had to say for that matter. The second nuclear family that is seen consisted of a man that used to work in the armed forces for America and had very strict rules about, sexuality, drugs and the way his family should behave and look to other families.
Gender
The first mother, husband to Lester, is a successful real estate business woman and the mother who lives next door is trapped inside, and would stereotypically be labels as the housewife. She is controlled by the male who used to work in the military. Carolyn later on in the film is seen to have met up with the male real estate agent in which she is in competition with, and they have sex in a local hotel room. This angered me as when she saw her husband again the next day she didn't look the slightest bit quilty or affected at all by the event. Cheating is wrong, it doesn't matter if the relationship your in is really bad and toxic, you should never make your other half feel as if they weren't good enough. On the other hand, Lester didn't look surprised when he served them at a fast food restaurant, he actually seemed quite happy. The women were represented to be a mixture of emotional, crazy, drunk and demanding. At one point, Carolyn was described as a, "bloodless money-grabbing freak" by Lester, her husband. A sexist comment made by the man to Carolyn who works at the shooting club was, "When you first came here, I thought you'd be hopeless". As you may assume, this also angered me as the man simply just assumed that she wasn't capable of shooting a gun really well due to the fact that she was a woman; Carolyn proved him wrong and made the man eat his words when she shot at the target perfectly. Men in American Beauty are represented to be stalkers, sex crazed, controlling, care free and humourous. I am not generalising the entire male population, I am only taking the messages and ideas the film American Beauty has portrayed. The man next door to Lester is controlling as he was once in the armed forces and took the things he learned from that and treats his family as if they are his troops, for example, when he is arguing with his son, his son addresses him as 'sir'. The character, Lester, is represented to be very care free as he quits his high paying job to work in a fast food restaurant, does drugs and buys a car he's always wanted just because he can.
Age
As there is a range of ages represented throughout the film. The young characters are represented to be very rebellious, drug obsessed, and sex crazed humans. I feel like this in a way is unrealistic, it could apply to some teenagers however, but it is very generalised and makes the audience think that the entire teenage population is exactly like the teenage characters in American Beauty. There is some controversy as the blonde character does in fact turn out to be a virgin, even though she brags about sex quite often to her friend. Which I find the audience could relate to as there is so much pressure of young adults to be accepted and they feel that lying about what they do in their personal lives is the way to become "popular". There is nothing wrong with not having sex or having sex later on in your life as sex does not define a person or give others the right to comment on it. When Lester is having a job interview at a local fast food restaurant, the young male interfering him comments on his age and how it might affect the over all reputation of the restaurant and make him look a little silly. However, Lester didn't agree with this and felt that he should have just as much right and chance as to the job as anybody else, which by the way I completely agree on. The main character who is 42 years of age. At first he played a stereotypical middle aged male who sat at the table and ate dinner with his family, had an office job he dispised and just a regular day to day life that he didn't enjoy. It was once he met his daughter's friend that he decided to make a change. Such as, start running, weightlifting, eating healthily, speaking is own mind, buying new cars, quitting is job to work at a fast food restaurant etc. To put it briefly, he was having a mid-life crisis and in a way turned into a stereotypical teenager; and it was all to impressed his daughter's best friend. In fact she was attracted to Lester and noticed that he had been working out, even though she was an 18 year old female.
Four Weddings and a Funeral, released 20th January 1994, is about a group of men who go to four weddings and a funeral and Charles especially fall for American, Carrie. The first wedding in the film is of the characters Angus and Laura where Charles was the best man and he met Carrie for the first time. The paring of a beautiful American woman and a charming British man who sufferers occasionally with stutters and long pauses, creates the basis of a very unique and smart couple. The writer, Curtis, felt it was essential that he wrote this film due to attending 72 weddings in 5 years.
Social Class
The most common type of social class is the upper class and a quote a picked up, from the character Charles, while watching the film was, "I'm going to stay at a friend's house, well I think 'enormous castle' is a more accurate description". I believe this shows they are aware they're upper class characters and they indend to show it through objects and belongings. You can also see that most of the characters in the film are upper class through their dress codes, as they're wearing quite expensive garments and accessories, such as the large hats most commonly seen in the weddings scenes. Slang and cursing is used almost all the time by the upper class, again going against the stereotype of the upper class and showing the audience that this class aren't that 'posh'. The upper class, in Four Weddings and a Funeral, in particular believe that you should eventually get married and that it is the correct way to live. It is Charles that breaks this idea, becomes unconventional, as in the end he asks Carrie to not be his wife but still remain his partner for the rest of his life. The Scottish upper class and their weddings are represented to be quite loud and confident, they include a lot of dancing shoes, traditional clothing such as kilts and the bag pipes are being played throughout the Scottish wedding. The character Hamish is the most stereotypical Scottish character in the film and enjoyed drinking like the British.
Britain/British
The British characters are highly stereotyped and themes the British are often seen to be conforming to are lateness, heavy drinking, traditional weddings, cursing, use of slang and eccentric dress codes.
The lateness is performed by the character, Charles, as he and his friend Scarlett are late to every wedding, except from his own where he arrives very early and is waiting around for a long period of time. Heavy drinking is present throughout the film and the stereotypical Scottish Character, Hamish, is seen to be drunk everytime he is parent in a scene. The weddings are highly and exceptionally traditional; in which churches are the one place characters have a wedding, a white dress is worn by the bride, a choir is singing and there is also a lot of dancing involved. Slang and cursing is used almost all the time by the upper class, in fact, the film even begins with a swear word being repeated over and over again until their is actual dialogue and sentences involved.
And finally, eccentric dress codes are presented by Charles' best friend, Scarlett, as she arrives to the four weddings and funeral in unique dresses, further supported by unique accessories and short red hair.
America/Americans
The main American character is the film is Carrie and she is represented to be a smart and classy woman, however a British character is commenting on how many men she has had sex with, therefore she results in calling her a "slut". Later on in the film Carrie tells Charles about her sex life, while making a comment on each man and I felt like this made Charles feel insecure about how many women he has had sex with. Personally, I believe "slut shaming" is ridiculous and no one should have the right to comment on a man's or woman's sex life, it is personal and no one else's business. Of course it is perfectly normal to sleep with as little or as many people as you want, as long as it is safe and no one is getting hurt.
Gender
Almost all the women in Four Weddings and a Funeral wear very expensive designer brand clothing, accessories and own expensive things, therefore suggesting that they're of the middle/upper class. However, the women were seen at the weddings and the funeral most of the time so this may explain why they were wearing rather nice garments. The women are also represented to be quite feminine, loud and elegant. While watching the film, I noted that women are expected to one get married and if they've not been in a relationship or been seen with a male, they're assumed to be a lesbian. The main female character, Carrie, works as an editor for the very well known magazine and company, Vogue; this clearly shows that she is a very successful woman.
The Full Monty, released August 29th 1997, is a comedy based and filmed in the city of Sheffield, the home of steal works. It was directed by Peter Cattaneo, and it stars the Scottish actor Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer. The six men decide to form a male strip tease act to get enough money to do something else and for the main character, Gaz, to see his son. Four of the men needed the money as they were made redundant from the steal working company in Sheffield. The film discusses different subjects and themes such as homosexuality, depression, obesity, working class culture, fathers' rights, suicide and unemployment. I believe that this describes the atmosphere and the subjects that were being described at the time, especially after the redundancy of 90,000 of workers. The film was a huge success, it had an unexpected international commercial success and grossed a total $250 million. It was later adapted into a musical in the year of 2000 and then into a play in 2013.
Social Class
The working class in Sheffield in particular is frequently seen throughout the film and is represented to use excessive amounts of slang and swearing, rather than what other countries would stereotypically expect an person living in the UK to sound like. Unemployment is also seen within the film, such as the four males that lost their job in the steel mills. Therefore Gaz cannot afford to supply the funds for his son, take him on trips to see the football or even great his house. It is one scene in the film where Gaz's son is talking down to his dad and asking him why they can't do "normal things"; making Gaz feel useless. It was Margret Thatcher who brought this upon Sheffielf, though she was then replaced by John Major in 1990 and unfortunately didn't make any changes to Thatcher's dei-industrialisation, unemployment, low wages, and poor housing and education.
Gender
The Full Monty shows the female characters to play quite domestic roles, such as the stay at home wife, working in a sewing factory, cleaning and keeping the house tidy etc. Although the way in which they speak conforms against the stereotype of women as they are heard using slang frequently. The film also reverses the stereotypes of women, but they place it on the male characters as they are strippers and seen through, not the male gaze, but the female gaze and they are sexualised throughout which I don't believe is good. Women or men should not be seen as if they are just an object or a piece of meat. Another example of gender roles being reversed in the way that women are seen to be more financially stable and independent, therefore becoming the new breadwinners since so many men lost their jobs at the still mills. Throughout, the men are heard discussing their lack of self esteem, masculinity and confidence; an example of this would be when Dave is talking to the group about wrapping himself in cling film as it supposedly reduces fat. Another example of lack of body confidence is when horse in present in a phone box, talking on the phone and holding a tool that is said to make his genitals bigger. The the main example is seen in the scene where all the men are together in Gerald's house, and they're all self conscious about taking their clothes off in front of each other. Even though the theme of male insecurity and vulnerability is present all the way through the film, confidence and self esteem is then regained in the final scene where they all perform the full monty, and all men and women are cheering them on. UK (Sheffield)
At the beginning of the film, a clip is shown to the audience of what Sheffield used to be like, and it was described as a 'City on the Move' and once the clip had finished an image of the abandoned steal works appeared, showing the different between what sheffield once was 25 years before this. It was a very well known place, filled with amusements, shopping centres, parks and newly built buildings.
