Sam Mendes' captivating film, "American Beauty," reveals that the white picket fence of the American dream does not necessarily bring happiness to life. Full opportunity and social success, the exact concept of the American Dream, is the particular state of mind that destroys life's most important goals; happiness. This film takes prospectors on an emotional journey through the inner relationships of a suburban neighborhood, where success is measured by the number of decimal places on a bank statement. The idea that money is everything is prevalent in this environment, and this is how it managed to tear apart an already broken family, create monsters of materialistic lifestyles, and induce a need to be living up to false appearances and images. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an Original Essay While the American Dream believes that success equates to money, Mendes challenges this belief by showing characters with and without money, then displaying their well-being. throughout the film. For Lester's wife Carolyn, money represents a new beginning, full of hope and luxury. She goes after the top real estate agent to gain power and confidence. Although Carolyn discovers pure happiness from government-printed pieces of paper, she ultimately returns home to her family, representing what the true American dream should be, which is what really matters. With Lester, the lack of stable income makes his inner fire spark. He burns away loneliness, hatred and resentment and replaces them with his true aspirations and vulnerability. However, these two quickly diverge paths because Carolyn is hungry for money and Lester is new to life. Although all the characters in this movie have their own weird materialistic ways, the basic idea they all have is very similar. Another part of the American dream is to fully enjoy the luxuries of life, and yet all of this happens in negative ways. . Each character had valuable possessions that they considered extremely relevant to their lives. Colonel Frank Fitts was proud of his choice of weapons, exactly what killed Lester. Ricky, the colonel's son, was proud of his camera. Without his camera, he would never have remembered the beauty of life. Carolyn was proud of all her possessions, obsessing over a couch or her clothes, which added to the makeup of false appearances. And while pursuing this fantasy of an American dream, we sacrifice what we actually live for. Along with this comes the fantasy of keeping up with the Joneses, which is evident in the film because of where these characters live, they cannot show their true souls without being ridiculed or even killed. The gay couple next door, the secretly gay colonel, the virgin slut, and the unhappy wife, all have a similar set of common laws that they follow in order to match their false appearances. The theme that nothing is what it seems comes from these ideas. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay White, Suburban America Is Destroying the Reality of the Real American Dream, "American Beauty. Seeing all things beautiful, from a paper bag struggling against the wind, struggling to play with leaves, to 'to a naked female body that shelters future generations life is about the subtle things, everyday beauty in the foundations of this world and money is not one of them Money can buy a materialistic lifestyle though. creating fake..