American Beauty

Throughout the movie American Beauty roses are a huge symbol. The rose throughout the movie brings out each characters role in society. Carol in this movie likes to be perceived as perfect and everyone but her family sees her this way. The roses she grows in her front yard represents her because roses are known as the perfect flower which is what Carolyn truly wants to be. Also, Angela throughout the movie is covered in roses or there are always roses near her because it stands for lust, which is her role in this movie. Everyone only sees her in that way and that is what attracts Lester to her.

Another thing that roses symbolize in this movie is happy moments. Whenever something good happens to someone in this movie a rose is always present. For instance the picture that Lester is looking at in the end of the movie is the perfect picture of his family and represents when they were happy. Also, in this picture roses can be found. Also, when Lester “comes to life again” all he can see are roses and Angela because of lust and happiness at the same time.

Roses also symbolize beauty in this movie. They are known to just be this perfect beautiful flower that everyone loves. Therefore, throughout the movie the rose symbolizes what beauty means for each individual person. For example for lester beauty is youth therefore when you see Angela there are many flowers, or Carolyn thinks perfection is beauty therefore she tries to be perfect and that’s why she grows the best roses. Roses are symbolized in many different ways throughout this movie.