『아메리칸 뷰티』의 다면적 수용: 주제, 내러티브 구조, 시각적 내레이션의 분석

Abstract

Most film critiques are usually focused on either theme/story or form of film. In this respect, studying the theme, narrative structure, and visual narration of American Beauty together will be contributive to expanding the receptive horizon of the viewer and enriching his/her appreciation of the film. The theme of American Beauty may be about the singularity of beauty, which is manifested in the narrative of Lester, who finds singular beauty of trivial things in life after his conflictual journey against social mores and ideology. This theme is also clearly represented by Ricky, who discovers beauty in the things that seem to be ugly to the eyes of the established ideology of beauty. American Beauty has a variation of the classical Hollywood three-act narrative structure, according to which the Lester narrative presents normality, two disturbances, and a turning point in Act 1, the complication of conflicts and a turning point in Act 2, and a turning point, two reversals, climax, and denouement in Act 3. American Beauty does not present only the hero Lester’s narrative but those of the other characters such as Carolyn, Jane, Angela, Ricky, and Frank. However, the narratives of the minor characters are so effectively organized around that of Lester that the unfolding of his narrative provokes more interests to the viewer. The cross-cutting transitions between scenes are made unabruptly or smoothly by the effective uses of the camera, which enables the viewer to be more easily absorbed into the unfolding of the diegetic world.