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The Color Red In The Film 'American Beauty'

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American Beauty, is a film about a man going through a midlife crisis with a family who considers him to be a “chronic loser” (American Beauty Movie Review and File Summary). He finds himself growing a highschool crush on his daughters teammate/best friend, while his daughter starts falling in love with the new neighbors son. The central idea, or theme, that the director tried to portray, beauty can appear on the outside, but sometimes you need a closer look on the inside. Throughout the whole movie there were very important symbols, motifs and characters that displayed the directors overall message. The color red was very prominent in the film, probably one of the most important one is the red rose petals. The mother, Caroline, is all about image, she tends to her rose garden in the beginning of the movie with a smile on her face. It seemed as though everything was good in her life, but the first time you see what’s on the inside the house, it’s …show more content…

Caroline is so fixed on keeping up a perfect image that she misses out on the other, beautiful, things in life. In the beginning and end of the movie, there are family pictures all throughout the home. The whole family seems to be so happy and simple. At the end of the movie Lester takes a minute to look at one, reflecting on how the past was so nice and how the present is the complete opposite. They took those good times for granted. Motifs played a strong role in the movie. The was a certain soundtrack, with bells, that would play every time two of the characters were together and intimate. When Lester was with Angela, or when he was daydreaming, along with Jane and Ricky. This refers to their interconnection with each other, could also be a symbol for sensuality and obsession/curiosity for the other

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The barrier between her and the neighbours after her husband’s death forced her to become reserved and quiet. Her and her son only went into town if they had to. They preferred to stay close to the garden where they felt safe. The death of the husband is the cause of the mothers’ complete change in character. The death let the audience connect with her on a deeper level to understand her pain and suffering.

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The use of mainly red, in the undertones and background, represents pain and anguish. The painting also uses saturated colors in order to make the piece more

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The color red is intense; it is often associated with emotions that fall on opposite ends of the spectrum. Passion, desire, and love are polar opposite of fire, war, and blood. James Hurst used the color red throughout his short story, The Scarelt Ibis, to create literal and figurative symbols, which illustrated the dichotomy of the narrator’s memories of his younger brother, Doodle, to convey both beauty and tragedy. A reader is immediately introduced to the symbolism of the color red, and its beauty, the moment they read the title of the short story, The Scarlet Ibis.

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Because of this conditioning, Rose Mary does not feel obligated to take away time from her paintings to care for her children. Additionally, the semblance that her children are taking care of each other allows Rose Mary to reject the notion of her sacrificing her artistic passions to obtain a sustainable income. She praises herself for raising such capable children and continues to neglect her children’s needs. Rose Mary’s compassion towards her own negligence impairs her family's ability to

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She wasn’t thinking about what would happen to her after deciding to raise Phoebe, she just went for it. These decisions also supply a much deeper mean to the piece as a whole. When Caroline takes Phoebe with her to start a new life, they do not start with much. Even though life did not give them the best of circumstances, they still make due and they even eventually make a better life for themselves. It shows that anyone can change their current situation and improve it.

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