“American Beauty” has not aged well: Reconsidering the film, 20 years on

“In American Beauty, Lester Burnham’s rebellions seem adolescent and immature because that’s all he’s got. His world is so stultifying that you can either be a walking-dead adult or a footloose and fancy-free teenager. In retrospect that seems sad rather than triumphant.” –Kevin Smokler

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Kevin talk about how American Beauty, a movie that seemed dazzling when it was released, eventually came to feel less original and interesting (2:50); which elements in the movie are still effective after 20 years (8:00); how the movie’s sour take on suburbia was not all that original by 1999 (16:30); how Lester Burnham’s epiphany at the end of the movie feels adolescent and regressive (30:00); the ways that many of the movie’s themes don’t fully jibe with the human motivations of the characters (38:30); and the movie’s take on the isolations of American masculinity (50:00).

Kevin Smokler (@weegee) is a writer, public speaker, critic, and author of Brat Pack America and Practical Classics. He speaks on the future of media and culture and his written work has appeared in such publications as the Los Angeles Times, Buzzfeed, and Vulture. He previously appeared as a guest on Episode 33 of Deviate, Why 1980s coming-of-age movies matter., and Episode 60, Celebrating the best travel movies ever.

Notable Links:

• Sam Mendes (director)
• Alan Ball (screenwriter)
• Annette Bening (actress)
• Kevin Spacey (actor)
• Double Indemnity (1944 movie)
• Sunset Boulevard (1950 movie)
• Revolutionary Road (2008 movie)
• The Ice Storm (1997 movie)
• …Baby One More Time (Britney Spears song)
• Six Feet Under (TV series)
• Fahrenheit 451 (dystopian novel)
• Wesley Morris on Deviate 
• Jack Tripper (fictional TV character)
• Blue Velvet (1986 David Lynch movie)
• Chris Cooper (actor)
• Allison Janney (actress)
• Amy Fisher (1992 attempted murder suspect)
• In the Company of Men (1997 movie)

This episode is brought to you by AirTreks, an industry leader in multi-stop international travel. If you’ve ever planned a trip with multiple stops, you know that finding the right flights can be difficult. Between balancing travel logistics and cost, it often becomes impossible to build an itinerary that matches your travel goals.  AirTreks is a distributed travel company with employees working from all corners of the world to help with your flight planning, specializing in complex routes with up to 25 stops. The AirTreks website offers suggested pre-planned travel itineraries to help you get started, but can customize to fit your journey.

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at [email protected].