The American Dream Within American Beauty and Citizen

Citizen Kane of 1941 and American Beauty 1999 has very similar yet opposite meanings. Both movies portray what it means to have superiority and shows its high low, in and outs.


                   Both Citizen Kane and American Beauty's opening scenes reveal what we the audience believe is the climax. In Citizen Kane we first discover a mansion with a No Trust passing sign and in it is a older man holding onto a snow globe. Kane being the man, then says his last words "Rosebud" the only one to hear Kane's last words is his nurse who then reports it to press and becomes the center of attention. Who is Rosebud? What is Rosebud? What does it mean? The entire movie focuses on Rosebud and its significants.

                                           

 

Through out the movie we learn about Kane's life and we look through the eyes of others to tell us his story and what Rosebud could possibly mean. Though in his life many people just looked at his money more than they did he. By the end of Citizen Kane we view his things burning and learn that Rosebud was his sled and its significance is him not being able to have a childhood, which was the one thing he truely missed and wanted. Once his childhood was taken innocence and happiness was gone too, his life raised into money forced him to be this way. This movie also says to the audience materialistic things does not matter but more what u do with yourself and how you let those materials affect your life.

                  In American Beauty we see a different approach about death and power. In this movie the protagonist is Lester Burnham, Lester is literally crying out for help, his life has fallen from its climax and at a crucial stand still. To change it another character who also finds Lester's daughter his main interest begins to bring his youth back which also comes with pride, and hope with a side of fries. 

Lester begins to take life not as serious, and begins doing things he use to want to do but never had the chance to. 

We also know Lester will die by the end of the movie but we don't know how 

 "My name is Lester Burnham. This is my street. This is my neighborhood. This is my life. I am 42 years old. In less than a year, I will be dead. Of course, I don't know that yet, and in a way, I'm dead already. Look at me, jerking off in the shower. This will be the highlight of my day. It's all downhill from here. That's my wife Carolyn. See the way the handle on those pruning shears match her gardening clogs? That's not an accident. That's our neighbor, Jim, and that's his lover, Jim. Man, I get exhausted just watching her. She wasn't always like this. She used to be happy. We used to be happy. My daughter, Jane. Only child. Janie's a pretty typical teenager - angry, insecure, confused. I wish I could tell her that's all going to pass, but I don't want to lie to her. Both my wife and daughter think I'm this gigantic loser. And they're right. I have lost something. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I know I didn't always feel this -- sedated. But you know what? It's never too late to get it back."

As we see Lester moving himself past his midlife crisis we also see his death, the one happy part where we the audience thinks about him changing is the part where he dies. An average man who gained confidence just getting use to his life. 

The design elements of both movies together suggest that we play mind games with ourselves, making our own labyrinth in our lives, bars and columns were very excessive in both movies having the feeling of being trapped.

We also see the different meanings for colors:

Red- flowers in the black and white film,Citizen Kane, and red in American Beauty all represented DESIRE and LUST

Blue- seemed to have an ENLIGHTENMENT feeling on each character.

White- the white bag....represented freedom a sense of mortality. 

Mise en Scene in Caligari and Edward Scissorhands

     In The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari the silent horror movie with only disturbing music and captions, is based upon character Francis's memory of his "betrothed" he begins to tell his experience right after we see Jane, Francis's fiance, who walks awkwardly past Francis and his dear friend Alan. The scene fades out and we get a view of their town which is unrealistic, which sets the audience to believe something mysterious is going on and adds the first element of fear. We then learn that there is a creepy doctor wanting to be at the fair with a Somnambulist who will tell peoples futures, the doctors' name is Dr. Caligari and the sleeping guy who has been sleep for 25 years is Cesare. At the fair the setting looks a bit too small for people to fit and average doors had unusual slants that were either too big or too small. The distorted set intrigues the viewers mind to see whats next. little did we know Cesare would be in this mummy type coffin and be awakened by Caligari. Alan then asks Cesare when he die and the answer was at dawn. We then witness the shadow of the murderer killing Alan.................The setting and costume affects the story greatly by adding a hint of fear, and abnormality. 

         In the story of Edward Scissorhands, we are introduced with an elder woman and what looks to be her grandchild, who questions where the snow comes from. We then go back in her past with an over view of the neighborhood with snow and soothing Christmas music, she tells a brief story of the inventor and how he had died before finishing the man, who now has scissor hands.

         Edward had lived in a castle which was believed to be haunted by its look, he himself looked ghostly with pale sickly looking skin, he wore an all black pleather outfit. In the movie we first see the Avon lady trying to sell her products to her average/basic/plain/boring looking neighbors whom have the same routine everyday with the stereotypical women of society. Since no one was buying from her she chose to go up the big mountain (which looks scary), and once she gets there she goes past the gates and sees amazingly trimmed bushes shaped to animals. When continued on and first saw Edward she noticed of course his Scissor Hands but more so his scars and offered a cream for it. Then invites him home with her and everyone  well every female is extremely nosey. The Jesus freak suggest that he is evil and a monster, everyone ignores her remarks, as Edward does great deeds for the town, though when the sister persuades him to break and enter her boyfriends dad's house she leaves him hanging and the town begins to look at him in different eyes. 

   Edward was looked at like a monster for his differences in this community he did a ton of good but when one thing went wrong it all went down hill. color is very symbolic in this movie being that edward was the only one with the absence of color, showing how lonely he was, and that everyone else was in their own little happy worlds before he came.  http://ffilms.org/edward-scissorhands-1990/