My Understanding of the Beauty
in American Beauty
Abstract: American Beauty was the biggest winner of the 1999 Awards of the Movie Academy of America. It is the engagement with a host of controversial contemporary issues concerning the concept of masculinity in a post-feminist and post-industrial society. This paper tries to analyze “beauty” in the film. With the analysis of the material selection, the structure, the cinematography, and the symbol in it, this paper tries to discover the beauty in the movie. The movie stems from the most noble and honorable motives, which attempt to fulfill the ancient dictum that fiction should instruct as well as entertain, and which also help us to recognize a social issue that we might otherwise overlook. American Beauty shows much more than we can imagine. By learning from it, we know how to seek and appreciate the beauty of the life besides the drama.
Key Words: American Beauty; understanding of beauty; crisis
对影片《美国丽人》“美”的解读
摘 要：《美国丽人》荣获2000年奥斯卡最佳影片等四项大奖，该片涉及到后女权主义和后工业社会中一系列有关男性特征的富有争议性的当代问题。本文试图从“美”这一角度来解读该片。本文首先提出美的概念，并通过对电影的选材，剧本编排，导演和摄像的安排，片中象征意义的美和剧中人物对美的理解来解读影片的美，最后阐述作者对美的理解。影片的动机是高的，实现的虚构故事不仅有娱乐也有训诫的目的。总之，美国丽人一片所表现出的远比我们想象的多，它教会我们如何在戏剧之外寻找生活的美。
关键词: 美国丽人；美的理解；危机
CONTENTS
Introduction 1
1. Literature Review 1
1.1 Research on Crisis of Masculinity 1
1.2 Research on Spiritual Crisis 3
2. Analysis on the Beauty in the Content 5
2.1 The Content of the Film 5
2.2 The Concept of Beauty in the Film 6
2.3 Authentic Material Selection 7
3. Analysis on the Beauty in the Technology of the Film-making 7
3.1 Success in the Adoption of the Structure 7
3.1.1 Two “hooks” in the Layout 8
3.1.2 The Key Line 8
3.1.3 The “Inciting Incident” 8
3.1.4 The Three-Act Structure 8
3.2 The Shot 9
3.2.1 The Two Functions of Over Head Shot 9
3.2.2 Camera Angles 10
3.2.3 Symmetrical Composition 10
3.2.4 Cinematography 10
4. The Movie Itself Is A Kind of Beautiful Culture 11
4.1 The Medium As the Message 11
4.2 The Analysis of the Problem 11
4.3 Beauty Reflected in the Symbol--- The Rose 12
4.3.1 The Relationship between the Rose and the Character 12
4.3.2 The Special Meaning of the Rose in America 13
5. Conclusion 14
Bibliography 17
