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Film director Steven Mendes very skillfully employed the tactics suggested by Kirk and Madsen when making the Oscar-winning film American Beauty. The only normal people in the film were the gay couple next door, and typical middle-class Americans were portrayed as being depraved evildoers.

Black is white; up is down; evil is good; wrong is right.

..........Film director Steven Mendes........the Oscar-winning film American Beauty...........

I remember shocking some friends at a polite dinner party who asked me what I thought of the movie (BTW: They thought it was very 'cutting edge') when I replied................

That I "feel that a movie made by a homosexual British writer/director whose point was to lampoon America's middle heterosexual class had very little to offer me as far as valid criticism and insight into the current state of U.S. affairs".

Needless to say, a few jaws dropped and the conversation was changed very quickly.

Film director Steven Mendes very skillfully employed the tactics suggested by Kirk and Madsen when making the Oscar-winning film American Beauty. The only normal people in the film were the gay couple next door, and typical middle-class Americans were portrayed as being depraved evildoers.

I have heard several people say this, but I do not agree. First, the queer neighbors were very minor characters in the story. They were basically used to communicate the marine dad's "feelings" to the audience. And note, it does turn out that the marine is a "repressive queer" or whatever, and is not the slightest bit normal. In addition, Kevin Spacey's chracter was not protrayed as a "depraved evildoer". He was just someone(like many Americans) who one day realizes he has done nothing over the past 15 years of his life and finally "wakes up".

I agree with your review of American Beauty. I'd seen this movie, oh I'd say atleast 10 times (Kevin Spacey and Annette Benning were EXCELLENT in that move) because it is funny and entertaining. The last time my husband and I were watching it, it dawned on me. The underlying message in that movie is that society's insistence that homosexuality must be repressed leads to nothing but pain and anger. In the end, the military father goes nuts. If only society had been more accepting and not insisted that he live a lie based on some imagined sense of morality. He is a victim of society not a psycho killer child abuser. It is society's fault for their homophobia and prejudices. Also, the two middle class traditional families are betrayed as totally dysfunctional while the homo neighbors are portryed as happy and functional members of society, a doctor and a lawyer, health buffs, kind, friendly neighbors. American Beauty is definitely has a pro-homsexual message, IMHO. That being said I will probably still watch it again, it is just entertainment. My views on homosexuality have not changed even after seeing the movie 10 or more times.