I had never seen this movie before this class, however I actually loved it. Though the movie had a few weird and awkward moments, all of those moments were necessary to lead up to the beginning and to explain why each character was making the choices that they made. I believe this movie has an overall positive messages; to see the beauty in life, do not let anyone take your happiness away from you, do what makes you happy, you are in control of your own life, etc. My personal favorite scene from “American Beauty” was when Ricky (Jane’s boyfriend) opens up to her about his filming hobby and explains exactly why he records so much of what he sees and what it all means. He admits to filming a dead old lady on the sidewalk who had frozen to death. At first, I had no idea what he would say to turn that moment into a positive perspective, but he certainly managed to make it positive. Ricky explains that when he saw the woman frozen, he stared at her and smiled because in moments like that it is almost as if God is looking straight at you. Ricky sees the beauty in everything and these feelings are almost so intense that he can not handle them without getting upset. I loved when he shows the clip of the plastic bag flying in the wind. One of my favorite things about fall is when the leaves all run into the air on a windy day and you can just stand still and appreciate the beauty of life as it swirls around you even when the leaves are not actually alive. This point in the movie was extremely important to show the real and honest relationship that Jane and Ricky were starting to develop, and why Jane was starting to fall in love with a boy who most people saw as insane. Ricky simply had a different outlook on life than everyone else at his age, and I think more people should think like Ricky does.
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