Interpersonal Conflict in "American Beauty"

            I recently re-watched the 1999 film, American Beauty, on Netflix. This time around, I was able to analyze some of the film’s examples and concepts of interpersonal conflict, which we learned about throughout the semester. The story focuses on the lives of the Burnham family living in a suburban neighborhood. At the beginning of the movie, the father, Lester, finds himself in the midst of a mid-life crisis and married to a woman, Carolyn, of whom he now hates.

           The couple’s failing marriage is due to the fact that Carolyn seems to hold all the power in the relationships because of her aggressive tactics that she uses against Lester during their constant arguments. This relates to the concept of power struggles in interpersonal relationships and how when two people become involved in an escalating power struggle, both parties will often lose sight of their original interests. Because Lester has little to no power in the relationship, his behavior becomes that of a robot walking around mindlessly and serving every command that his wife gives.

            Another reason the marriage is failing is because of the lack of sense of belonging that both Lester and Carolyn have towards one another. When a married couple experiences a violation of their belongingness, negative emotions such as jealousy are often expressed. Lester and Carolyn experience this lack of a meaningful relationship. In the beginning of the film, Lester is experiencing a loss of self-identity because of the lack of freedom his given in his marriage.

            Caught in the middle of this nasty marriage is the rebellious daughter, Jane. She displays her fair share of negative qualities, such as self-absorbent behavior, mostly due to the fact that she feels invisible to her constantly bickering parents. Jane is able to find solace after developing a relationship with the shy next-door neighbor, Ricky. It is interesting to see how distances Jane is from her parents throughout the movie. Lester and Carolyn are constantly mentioning how they want to raise their daughter in the best way possible, yet lack a crucial element of responsible parenting, which is communication.

            In the attached clip, they family is gathered at the table for dinner. This scene, while not only being comedic, is a clear example to how Jane is caught in-between her parents’ failing marriage. This scene also is a turning point for Lester’s power in the relationship, who after quitting his job, is beginning to fight back in his wife’s aggressive and manipulative behavior which has forced the last twenty years of his life to be so miserable.