Day 5: Resolution Scene

[Lynn Vincentnathan]

AMERICAN BEAUTY

WATCH 1ST TIME FOR:

BASIC SCENE COMPONENTS

–SCENE ARC – from just dying to a happy and peaceful transition into death

–SITUATION – someone (? his wife) has just killed Lester, but weirdly there is an epilog

–CONFLICT – conflict is over for Lester now — it’s all peace, satisfaction, happiness in death: “gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life.”

–MOVING THE STORY FORWARD – we’re wondering where this weird movie is taking us, like into weirder territory

–ENTERTAINMENT VALUE – the movie is entertaining, and the ending fits the movie

–SETUPS/PAYOFFS – seems this is just the big final payoff for the movie.

WATCH 2ND TIME FOR:

HOW DOES THIS BRING THE MOVIE TO A CONCLUSION?

— The movie starts with Lester’s daughter’s friend offering to kill him. And him saying he’s going to die within a year.

I’ve been told the ending should be like the other bookend, somewhat mirror or addressing the beginning. This ending proves that out. He dies, but this last series of shots is very weird, tying up Lester’s search for beauty and happiness.

HOW THIS SHOWS THE NEW STATUS-QUO.

— ?? only in death we get peace, as in Rest In Peace ??

HOW IT IS A SATISFYING ENDING.

— We expected it to be a tragedy, but it isn’t quite that, so it’s satisfying. He’s grateful for his life. Mainly, he is no longer obsessed ?? Life means obsession, in death there’s release from this ??

DELIVERING CHARACTER.

— He’s having a mid-life crisis and this show that he’s overcome it.

INTERESTING DIALOGUE, ESPECIALLY THE LAST LINE OF THE MOVIE.

–he tells us what the moment of death is like, “it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time.” Then the last line: “You (the audience) have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry, you will someday (like when we die).”

This is a fitting ending to a man obsessed with finding beauty, including an affair with his daughter’s beautiful friend. In the end he finds that beauty and weird satisfaction.

[Ann Marie]

The resolution scene in American Beauty sums up the life of the Protagonist metaphorically and literally and is a very powerful, satisfactory conclusion to a story about a man who has lost interest in everything in life and is looking for something new to experience. As he lies in a pool of his own blood, he realizes in those final seconds all the beautiful moments in his life and is so grateful for every single second of what he calls his stupid little life. This closing scene is in stark contrast to the opening scene of a man bored with life, who finds no joy in anything and who has lost any meaning or will to live. The resolution not only answers the opening scene (what is the purpose of my life) it shows us, the audience, the beauty, even if in the inconsequence of ones own existence, to appreciate every single moment because these are the moments that have true value in the end.

What I learned is that my resolution scene must resolve the main conflict of my story in an enlightened, imaginative and unconventional way, that satisfactorily answers all the questions raised in the story while leaving the audience with an elevated understanding of what it was I wanted to portray.