American Beauty (1999) Lester Burnham is a middle-aged man going through an intense midlife crisis; he's grown cynical

and is convinced that he has no reason to go on. Lester's relationship with his wife Carolyn is not a warm one; while on the surface Carolyn strives to present the image that she's in full control of her life, inside she feels empty and desperate. Their teenage daughter Jane is constantly depressed, lacking in self-esteem, and convinced that she's unattractive. Her problems aren't helped by her best friend Angela, an aspiring model who is quite beautiful and believes that that alone makes her a worthwhile person. Jane isn't the only one who has noticed that Angela is attractive: Lester has fallen into uncontrollable lust for her, and she becomes part of his drastic plan to change his body and change his life. - Rotten Tomatoes

Alexa Lubin CMST 134 The Male Gaze: American Beauty This infamous scene from American Beauty perfectly employs the male gaze.

The scene begins with a shot of the films heterosexual male protagonist, Lester Burnham, as the central subject of the spectators view. Lester is breaking the fourth wall by looking out of the frame, as if at the viewer, in what could be considered a direct or extra-diegetic address to the viewer. This demands that the viewer, as the object of his gaze, enter a parasocial relationship with Lester. Seated beside him is his wife, Carolyn Burnham, whose arms are crossed and whose intra-diegetic look is fixed on Lester, whose gaze is averted from his wife. It is through these factors and the look of the camera which portrays Lester as the saddest sardine in the tin that we come to understand the melancholic expression on Lesters face and identify with him and his characters perspective.

As the dance routine begins, the spectators gaze shifts from Lester to the group of cheerleaders before him. The look of the camera focuses on his teenage daughter, Jane, and follows her through the routine. In conjunction with the previous establishing shot, these shots establish Lester as the perspective through which were to view Jane, who appears to be the object of his intra-diegetic gaze. Janes averted gaze indirectly suggests that while she is the object of Lesters gaze, he is not the object of hers. The spectators gaze then shifts from Jane to Angela, implying by proxy that Angela is now the object of Lesters gaze. Angelas gaze looks out of frame, as if directly at the viewer, in a direct or extra-diegetic address that demands the viewer enter a parasocial relationship with her character. This places us directly in Lesters perspective as he gazes at Angela and she gazes directly back at him. This is reinforced by alternating cuts between Lesters direct address and Angelas direct address. The shots slowly zoom in on Angelas intense stare, which we immediately perceive as provocative from the heterosexual male perspective, and Lesters mouth, which now hangs agape. The look of the camera briefly reiterates the notion of something happening between these two characters, and these two characters alone.

The sexual objectification of Angela begins as a spotlight illuminates her and only her. Her dancing seems more provocative as the swaying of her hips is played out in slow-motion. She turns around and the camera slowly pans the curvature of her body, focusing on her short skirt and only returning to her face to emphasize her pouty expression. Suddenly, the whole thing is a wildly and shamelessly erotic striptease.

The continued extra-diegetic gaze of Lester as he directly addresses the viewer is characterized by his expression of stunned arousal, reinforcing his perspective as the one through which the viewer perceives Angela, the object of his gaze. Angela is thus characterized as an object of desire. The sequence that follows is indicative of the male gaze, as it clearly elicits identification of the viewer with the heterosexual male protagonist and the objectification of the female character. This is achieved through sharp editing that feels trance-like, building in tension and eroticism. A close-up shot of Lesters eyes shows a shift in his brow and an expression that implies total sexual arousal, before the final shot depicts the infamous visual metaphor of rose petals flowing out from Angelas naked body as she unzips her jacket. The whole sequence is reminiscent of sexual release. Response I believe the male gaze was indeed at work, as detailed above. I related to the spectators look to quite an extent, even as a heterosexual female. I attribute this to the way the editors and the director assembled the sequence so that identification with the male protagonist felt natural. However, while I was able to relate to the protagonist and identify with him on principle, it was more of a theoretical sort of identificationif that makes any sense? I think the director was primarily response for the

visible text and both the director and the creator were responsible for the representation of men and women in the text, which is especially evident in other scenes from the film.