In the film “American Beauty”, directed by Sam Menes, the characters become conscious of the fact that they could not be more unhappy with living in there fake utopian society and are trapped inside of there own prisons. Throughout the movie, the director uses repeated images and symbols of what appears to be like bars from a prison cell. This imagery is only the beginning to the suburban prison these characters are forced to live in. This concept of everyday utopia and the Paradise Spell presents itself in David Brooks essay “Our Sprawling, Supersize Utopia” and Michel Foucault’s essay “Panopticism”. In both these essays the desire to have everyday utopia is driven by the unrealistic urge to live in a perfect society. While “American Beauty”, …show more content…
Throughout Brooks’ essay he talks about the rise and expansion of this society within suburbia and the extent these people will go to, to be seen the way society imagines them and the fantasy they have within themselves. The Paradise Spell controls a person’s happiness and everyday life. The American mentality on the Paradise Spell has them living in the future, rather than the present but maintaining “everyday utopianism” (Brooks, 66). This suburban America shows how many boring-looking people there are who are dreaming of what’s in the future and are inspired by opportunity rather than focusing on the now. Their everyday utopia is nothing but a mirror image of the exact opposite of a utopia. Much like the Paradise Spell and everyday utopia is, the beginning 2-minute scene in “American Beauty”. The characters in “American Beauty” at first are seen as the perfect suburban family. It is within seconds in the beginning of the movie that we soon find out that the image presented at first is clearly not there reality. Both Lester and Carolyn could not be unhappier with their lives. The difference in the dialogue and the actual symbols and images in this scene helps clarify the reality of their lives. In “American Beauty” and “Our Sprawling, Supersize Utopia,” suburban families are trying to glorify themselves and their homes to try and dignify their everyday utopianism. These people are stuck looking in the future expecting it to alter their happiness while maintaining a fake front in the