Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron
December, 2006
AUTHOR:
Jessica L. Papajcik
ABSTRACT:
Released a few months from the turn of the twentieth century, the Oscar-winning film, American Beauty (1999), depicts one of the central cultures in America today, suburbia. Not only does the film illustrate the largest growing segment of U.S. population, it also illuminates the social controversies and crises of contemporary suburban America.
This thesis explores the values, value system and ideographs embedded in the film American Beauty, in an attempt to discover the definition of the suburban culture they collectively embody. It will be argued that the values, value system and ideographs revealed are used by viewers to familiarize themselves, rationalize their decisions, and define their culture and attitudes towards the external world. Hence, American Beauty not only critiques contemporary suburbia, it also shapes the way in which we, as human beings and as Americans, understand it.
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