I shall be analysing numerous aspects from a sequence in this film from choices that were made in pre-production, production and post-production that represent how the male gender is represented in this media text. The sequence I shall be analysing is between the second and ninth minute at the start of the movie.
In this short sequence Lester is seen getting out of bed, putting on his slippers and taking a shower. This is a normal day-to-day activity for men and it emphasises the repetitive and routine behaviour of men. For many men this routine is boring and mundane. We then see Lester masturbating in the shower which portrays men in a negative way because masturbation is associated with men who have a lack of sex and maybe lonely, unwanted or undesired. It also implies that men are sex driven and can’t function properly without performing a sexual act making men come across as primitive.
Another action in where men are portrayed negatively is when Lester leaves the house and walks up the garden path towards the car. At this point his briefcase opens and the contents cascade to the ground. The reason men are portrayed negatively in this action is because men appear to be nothing more than characters of mockery such as the class clown or a fool. Finally, when Lester is in the car he is in the back while his wife and daughter are in the front. This implies that the mature adults are at the front and the man is in the role of the child, who gets ignored, is in the back.
During this sequence we know that Lester is already dead and some of the dialogue is spoken as a voice over as non-diegetic sound. But whether the dialogue is diegetic or non-diegetic the pace and the tone is slow and mundane. This represents that men are bored with their lives and have no enthusiasm for what they are talking about. It is a sign of resignation and of someone who has given up looking forward to things in life.
As Lester looks out of the window while his wife is chatting to her neighbour he is dismissive of her. Lester’s comment: “I get exhausted just watching her” is an indication that men get worn down over the years of listening to their wives chattering about mundane things. This makes men come across as critical and unable to see the good in people. But also there is an element to men reminiscing about good times. Men look back on their past as opposed to looking forward in to the future or at the very least living in the present day.
The dialogue also makes men self-deprecating and resigned to the consciousness of their own short-comings. An example of this is when Lester describes himself as a loser after the contents of the briefcase spills onto the floor. Men would feel awkward and embarrassed and instead of laughing it off would punish themselves with negative affirmations. Lester also says that he feels “sedated” which implies motionless and a body that is in a “not-with-it” trance. When Lester is describing his daughter he says: “LIFE IS SHIT” represents that men have a view of life of someone who is in a rut in their lives in which they seemingly are unable to escape from and at this moment in time of their lives appears as “realism”.
When Lester is first approached by Brad at work, Lester sarcastically tells him that he has more time for him than he has been asked for. This indicates that men are bored in their jobs and the only way they can get through the day and are fed up with being run around. During the meeting through Lester’s character when men fear they are going to lose their livelihoods they get insecure and panic and feel like they are being backed into a corner. This makes men “come out fighting” and use whatever trick they can to make themselves appear important to save their employment.
In the car on the way home we hear Lester moaning and whining about his day at work. Stereotypically it is women that are perceived as the moaners and whiners but in this instance the roles are reversed. When men are going through a period in their lives they are capable of being the worst at moaning and this is a complete opposite to what is conventionally expected of a masculine male.
Around the dinner table Lester asks disinterested questions about his daughter’s day but has an expectation of his daughter showing an interest in his day. Men’s feelings are often overlooked and are unable to express them as doing so makes them appear weak. Because of this men are unable to show compassion and when they feel they need to go on a rant when expressing their views. Soon after he mutters under his breath in response to a comment from his wife. When he is challenged his is unable to answer and walks out of the room. This represents that men have no confidence to stand up to their wives, or women in general, and that they are spineless and pathetic.
Middle-aged men have been represented negatively by Lester’s character relating to his physical attributes: he’s not fat he has some extra padding and his body type is non-descript; his hair is slightly balding on the crown of his head which is another indication of a middle-aged male. Lester’s height also appears to be of average which is deemed to be of the norm in society as people only really take notice of others that are either unusually short or tall. All in all his appearance is stereotypically average and therefore is negative.
The costumes worn by Lester during this segment are consists of a grey drab colour. We first see him in his pyjamas and they are buttoned up tight. This represents that men feel restrained within themselves unable to express their thoughts and feelings. His suit that he wears to work is a dark with a white shirt and black tie. This gives a representation to attire that would be worn at a funeral and represents mourning – a loss of life – or in this instance a loss of living. When the family are having their evening meal Lester is wearing a grey cardigan style sweater. Often people wear colours to reflect their mood and grey has connotations with misery and boredom. The cardigan style sweater is what would be worn by older men such as senior citizens – men that are in the twilight years of their lives – and therefore not much to look forward to.
In the first shot where we see Lester he is filmed from above and is in the centre of the shot. This represents men as small and insignificant and has a disassociation which makes men unimportant. In the scene where Lester is masturbating in the shower he is representing men as exposed and vulnerable which is how women are usually portrayed. When Lester is looking out of the window as his wife talks to their neighbours he is framed behind a window in the centre of the shot. This gives a representation that men are imprisoned and confined within their lives and lacks the freedom they desire. When Lester is in the office facing the sack he is small in the frame. This indicates men are unimportant and can be disregarded of. This represents that men are dispensable and therefore easily replaceable reinforcing their unimportant role in the work place. The scene with the dinner table is a slowly dolly in shot. This represents creates and a tension within the family. In all the shots, apart from one, featuring Lester in this sequence he has been framed with fragmented body parts. Fragmented body parts mean that there is not a full body and it represents that he is not a full man. There is only one shot in this sequence where Lester whole body is in shot and this is when the contents of his briefcase cascades onto the floor.
The music that plays during the sequence is repetitive. This gives the indication that it’s just another day doing the same things. The sound of the shower connotes that Lester is washing his life down the drain. As Lester comes home from work with his wife they are discussing the issue with their previous neighbours about a sycamore tree. As Lester’s wife walks into the house there is a sound that represents a “here we go again” moment as if it is a metaphoric groan.
During this sequence a voice over by Lester is spoken. The tone and the pace of his voice could easily give a negative representation of men. He is mocking himself and being self-deprecating which can connote that men lack self-worth and self-respect. On the other hand, Lester is in control of doing the speaking in such a manner that is humorous and this can connote that men are able to make fun of themselves and appear comfortable in one’s skin. In this instance the voice over could therefore connote a positive representation of men. It could be that with the voice over being self-deprecating but told in a humorous way it cancels itself out and therefore is a neutral representation of men and whether it is deemed to be a positive or negative representation of men depends on the mindset of the individual viewer of this media text.
The sequence uses straight cuts in the editing. This gives the representation that all the shots or scenes are little insignificant snap shots of a mundane day in men’s lives. This creates a monotonous life whether that is at home or at work creating a disjointed relationship within the family and an unhappy working environment.
The mise-en-scene in most of the shots is low lighting in glum and gloomy rooms. This gives a representation that men’s lives are boring and depressing and the colour represents a prison like atmosphere. The framing of Lester sees him trapped. When he is at home he is framed behind windows, in the back of a car and at work he is in his booth. We see a reflection of him in the screen of his computer and the text runs vertically down the page making his seem like he is in a cell. A number of shots make Lester seem like he is in a cell of some description which represents that men are trapped and imprisoned within their lives and are always confined unable to live their lives freely. In the scene where Lester has his dinner with his family they are seated around the table but there is distance between them all. This represents that men are disjointed from their families and are emotionally unattached.
Although this sequence represents men in a negative way throughout the film the questions of whether men are represented positively or negatively are continuously challenged. Lester carefully crafts a payout from a job that he was likely to get the sack from. This represents that men are able to make good out of bad situation and therefore gives a positive representation of men. However, the way that Lester achieves this, by lying, is a negative representation of men. Now that Lester has enough money he purchases his dream car. This gives a positive representation that men should pursue what they want and get what they desire, but a negative representation as it is a selfish act motivated by ego.
As well as the conflict throughout the film’s positive and negative representations of men there are also issues that are raised that may concern legal and ethical factors. The first issue that arises in the film is when Lester is smoking drugs with his neighbour that he has met at a social event. To smoke the drug, which in this film was cannabis, there are ethical issues to whether people should be allowed to smoke it, although smoking cannabis is not illegal. Lester’s neighbour is also his “drug dealer” and this reflects legal issues as the selling of drugs is illegal. It is also Lester’s neighbour that secretly films Lester talking to his daughter. This is an intrusion of privacy that is illegal and may also have significant issues in regards to ethical behaviour.
There are also legal and ethical concerns in the film in regards to sex and sexuality. Towards the end of the film the father of Lester’s neighbour attempts to kiss Lester and this act raises the issue of homosexuality. Although the sexual act between two men is not illegal there are people that would argue that a homosexual act is unethical.
But the main theme in the film is Lester’s infatuation with his daughter’s teenage friend. In the film middle-aged Lester is in a passionate clinch with the 18-year old. The act of a middle-aged man having sex with an 18-year old is not illegal but social conventions would deem this to be highly unethical. Because social conventions deem things to be right or wrong it certainly does not make them right or wrong. It should be the choices of consensual adults of legal age. In this film the 18-year old, played by Mena Suvari, represents young women in a negatively. This is because her character has been sexually objectified. Her character often talks about sex and having sex and in one scene she is fetishised when she is lying down with only rose petals covering her modesty.
Sexual objectification is a theory by French feminist Simone de Beavoir. She suggests that in media people are viewed as subjects of sexual desires instead of people with any emotional and psychological needs and desires. In the film American Beauty the scene of when Mena Suvari is dancing as part of a cheerleading troupe and the focus of the cinematography is soley on her. Lester’s gaze is transfixed on her and he shuts everything else out in that moment. This represents that men create an ‘us’ and ‘them’ with men being the ‘us’ and women being ‘them’. It makes men the watchers and women the watched and this gives the representation that women aren’t fully human and therefore, instead of subjects, they become objects - primarily for sexual objectification through the male gaze.
The ‘male gaze’ is another feminist theory from Laura Mulvey. According to Laura Mulvey the default target audience for most film genres are heterosexual men and by the use of cinematography women are represented as objects of the gaze because of the use of the camera. The camera effectively plays the role of the eyes of the man and because of this many women that feature in films are shot in a manner where they are not represented as fully human, just as Lester is shot in the seven minute sequence I analysed.
In my opinion this seven minute segment is a true representation of men in the current world. The media is consistently man-bashing and because of this, men conform to a submissive role where they are not respected by their wives, society in general and more concerning - they don’t respect themselves. There has always been a debate if media represents society or if media creates society. Personally, I believe it is the latter!
In the sequence I analysed men have been represented in a regressive way. The film starts with men being represented in a mundane repetitive lifestyle and follows this daily pattern until he meets his neighbour at a social event. After Lester meets his neighbour he finds a new zest for life. He starts to live and feel young again. Lester also finds a backbone and becomes a “man” representing that men need to find themselves to be able to live their lives and to stop conforming. This represents men in a progressive way. I would have ideally liked to have analysed more of the film but was unable to do so to time constraints and word count limitations. But I would like to note that when Lester is shot in the head at the end of the film it is a representation for men not to act on their thoughts to try and improve their lives.
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