American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes and The Virgin Suicides, direct

Reality. Merriam Websters Online Dictionary defines reality as something that is neither derivative nor dependent save exists necessarily. But what is real by todays standards? Does what appears to be normal equal reality? By looking at two different films it seems that the old cliche stands correct. Things arent as they appear. American apricot and The pure Suicides give classic examples of how normal and happy suburban life is anything but. American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes (1999) and The Virgin Suicides, directed by Sofia Coppola (2000), touch many of the same themes even though the plots are contrasted. Underneath the layers of white picket fences, beautiful houses, and safe neighborhoods, lies a truth. A truth so unconsolable that it leads to the destruction of many images in both of these movies.The first element that must be looked at is the imprisonment of the characters in both films. The main character of American Beauty, Lester Burnham, is the man whom feels t he burden of imprisonment the most. He is in an ongoing marriage that should be coming up to the red light. He is also stuck in a job where he feels under appreciated and not well respected. He has been at this job for fourteen years. That is fourteen years of being in jail. It is kind of evident that he is not happy. Who would be when you know that your wife and you daughter think that you are a gigantic loser (American Beauty)? Lester is not the only character who suffers from this. His wife Carolyn and daughter Jane both know what it is like to feel trapped in an unhappy life. Carolyn is engrossed by image. She has the notion that she cannot be happy unless everything appears as perfect. And Jane, feeling the weight of her parents, wants to break off from her prison, her home life. She like most teens views her parents as weird and wants out of that life.In The Virgin Suicides the characters that are the most imprisoned are the five Lisbon sisters. After the youngest sister plu nged to her death during the first party they were allowed to have, and Lux came home late after the homecoming dance, their parents literally dour their home into a prison. For most children, mothers and fathers set boundaries for the Lisbons, its iron bars (Berardinelli). They were not allowed out, had the tree cut down that was near their window, and even had true(a) bars put on the window... ... Youre not even old enough to know how hard life gets, he tells her. Obviously, doctor, she says, youve never been a 13-year-old girl. No, but his profession and every adult life is to some degree a search for the happiness she does not even know she has. (Ebert).BibliographyBerardinelli, James, Review American Beauty, http//movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/a/american_beauty.html, 1999Berardinelli, James, Review The Virgin Suicides, http//movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/v/sirgin_sucides.html, 2000Bowman, James, Suffering Poses, American Spectator, Jun 2000, Vol 33, Issue 5, p. 66Ebe rt, Roger, American Beauty, Chicago Sun-Times, http//www.suntimes.com/cgi-bin/print.cgi Ebert, Roger, The Virgin Suicides, Chicago Sun-Times, http//www.suntimes.com/cgi-bin/print.cgi , May 5, 2000McKittrick, Casey, Shaping Pedophilic Discourse or so American Beauty Happiness. Velvet Light Trap, Spring 2001, Issue 47, p 3-12.Scott, A.O., Film Review Evanescent Trees and Sisters In an Enchanted 1970s Suburb, The New York Times, http//movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/review.html Viner, Russel, The Virgin Suicides, Student BMJ, Jul 2000, Vol. 8, p 254