Queerness and Sexuality In American Beauty

American Beauty can be interpreted to have many messages. On the surface layer, the message is to live life without sacrificing your desires. Among these desires is sexuality. The film deals with repressed sexual desires of both Lester and Col. Fitz. Lester has a repressed desire for his daughter’s friend, Angela. Is this an example of the effects of the incest taboo we drew a diagram for in class? In the film, we see that Lester loves his daughter, but no longer feels close to her. Perhaps Angela is the sexual manifestation of his desire to reconnect with his daughter. Col. Fitz has repressed his homosexuality. We see hints of this first as he feels uncomfortable when speaking to his gay neighbors, complaining about it to Ricky in the car. “How can they be so shameless?” Col. Fitz asks Ricky, suggesting that Fitz feels shame for his own homosexuality. It is also apparent in his vast collection of guns, a phallic object. This repressed homosexuality culminates in him beating his son, who he incorrectly believes is performing sexual acts on Lester, and then kissing Lester during what seems to be a mental breakdown in which he is confronted with his homosexual desires. No doubt, Fitz coming from an institutionalized military background: the opposite of Lester’s ideal way of life (because it is regimented and you are told what to do), resulted in a repression of his homosexuality, while Lester’s refusal to be told what to do eventually caused the end to his repression and his pursuit of Angela. Indeed, Lester tells us that he felt like he “woke up” with his attraction to Angela, where before he felt sedated.

What message could this movie be interpreted to have about queerness? One of the refrains repeated in the movie, first told to us by Angela, is that there is “nothing worse in life than being ordinary.” This tells us that what the movie’s characters all share in common is a desire to not be ordinary, but with the irony that by and large, and especially Angela and Carolyn, they are extremely ordinary. Angela, because she exhibits all the typical behaviors of a suburban teen, and Carolyn because she is a realtor who has lost her happiness. These characters have the least power in the movie. On the other hand, Lester, who makes a successful attempt to avoid being ordinary, in the form of disregarding institutionalized forms of authority, like his job or his marriage. Ricky is of course, the most unique character in the movie, who ordinary Angela deems a “psycho” but it is he in fact, who is confident, while Angela is insecure. He is queer because he gives in to his eccentricities, as with his desire to videotape as much as he can in order to remember things, rather than his sexuality. He is our ideal character in the movie, able to see beauty in the world and be happy living life his own way, something Lester imitates. This movie places value on not being ordinary, and as a result, its queerest characters are its happiest.

-Ziev