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Where Lester Burnham Falls Down

Exposing the Facade of Victimhood in American Beauty

University of Nottingham

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.

Key Words: American Beauty • Falling Down • victimhood • culture of complaint • white male backlash • crisis of masculinity • misogyny

Men and Masculinities, Vol. 7, No. 2, 127-143 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/1097184X03257512


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