Sam Mendes' gripping film, “American Beauty,” reveals that the white picket fence of the American dream does not necessarily provide happiness in life. Full opportunity and social success, the exact concept of the American dream, is the particular mentality that destroys the most significant goals in life; happiness. This film takes seekers on an emotional journey through the internal relationships of a suburban neighborhood, where success is measured by the number of decimal points on a bank account statement. The idea that money is everything is prominent in this environment, and this is how it has managed to tear apart an already broken family, create monsters of materialistic lifestyles, and induce the need to live up to false appearances and images . Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayBecause the American Dream believes that success equals money, Mendes challenges this belief by showing characters with and without money, then showing their well-being throughout the film. For Carolyn, Lester's wife, money represents a new beginning, full of hope and luxury. He chases the best real estate agent to gain power and trust. Although Carolyn discovers pure happiness from government-printed pieces of paper, she ends up returning home to her family representing what the true American dream should be, the things that really matter. With Lester, the absence of a steady income lights a spark in his internal fire. He burns away loneliness, hatred and resentment to replace them with his true aspirations and vulnerabilities. However, these two paths are quickly separating as Carolyn is hungry for money and Lester is a newfound enthusiast for life. Although all the characters in this film have their own strange materialistic ways about them, the basic idea that they all have is very similar. Another part of the American dream is to fully enjoy the luxuries of life, but all of this is done in a negative way. . Each character had valuable possessions that they felt were extremely relevant to their life. Colonel Frank Fitts took pride in his choice of gun, the same thing that killed Lester. Ricky, the colonel's son, was proud of his camera, without his camera he would never remember the beauty of life. Carolyn was proud of all her possessions, she was obsessed with a couch or her clothes, which added to the false appearances. And as we pursue this fantasy of an American dream we sacrifice what we truly live for. Along with this comes the fantasy of keeping up with the Joneses, which is evident in the film due to where these characters live, they cannot show their true soul without being ridiculed or even killed. The gay couple next door, the secretly gay colonel, the virgin slut, and the unhappy wife, all have a similar set of common laws that they abide by to match their false appearances. The theme that nothing is as it seems comes from these ideas. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay White, suburban America is destroying the reality of the true American Dream, “ American Beauty. To see all the beautiful things, from a paper bag struggling against the wind, struggling to play with the leaves, to a naked female body that houses future generations. life is about the subtle things, the everyday beauty underlying this world, and money is not one of them. Money, however, can buy a materialistic lifestyle by creating false emotions and misleading happiness.