『미국적인 미』에 나타난 삶의 의미 = The Meaning of Life in American Beauty

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The family are Lester Burnham, Carolyn, Jane. Lester's wife, Carolyn, regards Lester with contempt, his daughter, Jane, thinks he's a loser, and his boss is positioning him for reduction of the staff. Lester's awakening is prompted by two people. They are Angela and Ricky. After meeting them, Lester goes through a complete reconstruction of his personality and outlook on life. As the conflict between the Dionysian and the Apollonian or the conflict between freedom and domination, Lester clashes with Carolyn and Frank, Ricky's father, who regards structure and discipline as important. And the moment Lester becomes a true father in the dialog with Angela is the scene of Reversal and Recognition. But Lester is killed because of Frank's fallacy that thinks Ricky a homosexual. And this film ends through the peaceful narration of Lester who recognizes a family love.
In Death of a Salesman Salesmanship implies a certain element of fraud. Salesman may be an indictment of the American capitalist system which values machines more highly than men. In American Beauty the unhappiness and hypocrisy hiding behind the pretty white picket fences of American suburbia are the chief targets. Lester and Willy Loman face a tragic death after realizing to play a father's part as the commonest of men may experience to the extent of his willingness to throw all he has into the contest, the battle to secure his rightful place in his world. Lester is destroyed in multi-capitalism called post-modernism as Willy is ruined in a urbanization of the industrialization and materialism.
Lester seeks a desire through the alienation in company and family. He works a desiring machine by means of meeting Angela and Ricky. So Lester becomes a desiring machine. And Deleuze and Guattari state that there is a clear collision between a desiring machine and a body without organ. The body without organ is a capital and a despot. The capital stands for Carolyn and the despot Frank in American Beauty. Lester experiences a new becoming as Deleuze and Guattari explain that the new conjunction between the desiring machine and the body without organ comes into being a new human beings or organ.
The relation between Ricky and Jane in contradiction to their parents' collision is a peaceful coexistence. Ricky and Jane perform the principles of rhizome. Deleuze and Guattari state that the principles of rhizome are connection, heterogeneity, multiplicity, cartography and decalcomania. Ricky and Jane like the connection of a rhizome understand each other, and they interact with peaceful minds and share their thoughts. So they can understand each other and their parents. The beautiful conjunction of Ricky and Jane may show the method to purify a corrupt society caused by power and money.