American Beauty - a Sociological Movie Review
American Beauty
A Sociological Movie Review
American Beauty, a film that was written by Allan Ball and directed by Sam Mendes in 1999 is a unique piece that demonstrates many sociological themes throughout the development of the plot. The characters strive to portray themselves as the All American Family. They live in a nice house, drive nice cars and seem perfectly normal to the general public, but the audience is allowed to view the deep set issues that plague the main characters; Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), Carolyn Burnham (Annette Bening), Jane Burnham (Thora Birch), and Jane's best friend Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari). As the plot develops there are many obvious parallels relating the lives of the characters to Merton's Strain Theory. As the plot unfolds and we begin to understand the values and emotions of the characters, they can each be categorized into one of the five modes of adaptation discussed in this theory. Robert Merton was a sociologist in the 1930's who reintroduced Emile Durkheim's ideas concerning anomie, but he applied these ideas to a larger scale rather than focusing on suicide the way the Durkheim had. Merton defined anomie as a "situation that occurs when there is a disjuncture between the goals promoted by society and the availability of legitimate means to achieve those goals" (McIntyre 247). His strain theory is based on this definition and it describes five Modes of Adaptation that people fulfill in relation to their goals. Merton felt that Western society possesses a disjunction between goals and legitimate means to reaching those goals, and under these circumstances "deviant behavior ensues on a large scale" (Merton from McIntyre 167). With these ideas it is easy to conclude that the idea of the American Dream, the belief that hard work leads to success, is in many cases, false. When anomie occurs, people within society respond in many unique ways. Merton characterized the responses of the population into five
A Sociological Movie Review
American Beauty, a film that was written by Allan Ball and directed by Sam Mendes in 1999 is a unique piece that demonstrates many sociological themes throughout the development of the plot. The characters strive to portray themselves as the All American Family. They live in a nice house, drive nice cars and seem perfectly normal to the general public, but the audience is allowed to view the deep set issues that plague the main characters; Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), Carolyn Burnham (Annette Bening), Jane Burnham (Thora Birch), and Jane's best friend Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari). As the plot develops there are many obvious parallels relating the lives of the characters to Merton's Strain Theory. As the plot unfolds and we begin to understand the values and emotions of the characters, they can each be categorized into one of the five modes of adaptation discussed in this theory. Robert Merton was a sociologist in the 1930's who reintroduced Emile Durkheim's ideas concerning anomie, but he applied these ideas to a larger scale rather than focusing on suicide the way the Durkheim had. Merton defined anomie as a "situation that occurs when there is a disjuncture between the goals promoted by society and the availability of legitimate means to achieve those goals" (McIntyre 247). His strain theory is based on this definition and it describes five Modes of Adaptation that people fulfill in relation to their goals. Merton felt that Western society possesses a disjunction between goals and legitimate means to reaching those goals, and under these circumstances "deviant behavior ensues on a large scale" (Merton from McIntyre 167). With these ideas it is easy to conclude that the idea of the American Dream, the belief that hard work leads to success, is in many cases, false. When anomie occurs, people within society respond in many unique ways. Merton characterized the responses of the population into five
Bibliography: 1. Sociology at Hewett, Merton 's Strain Theory, 1999 2. Crimetheory.com, Robert K. Merton 's "Dream Machine", 1985 3. Structural Strain Theories, 2003 4. American Beauty, 1999 5. Chicago Sun Times, American Beauty, 2004