Where Lester Burnham Falls Down

Abstract

This article establishes the means by which Lester Burnham, the white, male protagonist in American Beauty, is able to indulge in trangressive and damaging behavior while remaining a sympathetic figure. Through an initial comparison with Falling Down, the victim politics at play in American Beauty are shown to be covert, non confrontational, and contained by the film’s domestic setting. However, close reading exposes the filmic strategies that shape Lester’s claim to victim hood and disguise the oppressive nature of his journey to reempowerment. Ultimately, Lester emerges as the victimizer rather than the victim, and the liberal pretensions of American Beauty are recast in terms of a conservative agenda.