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Running Head: BEAUTY THROUGH TEXT AND FILM

BEAUTY THROUGH TEXT AND FILM

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An Essay on Beauty through Text and Film
Metropolitan State University
Philosophy 102, Section 01, Spring 2021
Mark Matthews, Ph.D.

Describing beauty in a philosophical sense is a complex and intricate practice. There are many interpretations of what beauty is and is not. A further complicating factor is the inclusion of beauty as a key tenet in the meaning of life. In the following essay an attempt will be made to derive a definition of beauty and its role in bringing life meaning. This will be done by identifying the argument provided in the article, “American Beauty: Look Closer”, by George T. Hole, followed by a short summary of the film
American Beauty
. Connections between both the film and the article will be made to fully capture one sense of what beauty is. The essay will conclude with a brief criticism prior to highlights and takeaways. Again, when writing on beauty in a philosophical sense, it is important the reader, thinker, and intellectual note its complexities and know there has yet to be one distinct definition. This essay offers the framework and perspective from select text and film examples, it is by no means an argument of universality, however it is a theory to consider. Comment by [email protected]: Excellently crafted introduction. It is good that you have chosen to be a major in philosophy!
George T. Hole provides an analysis of the movie
American Beauty

. In their analysis they further highlight and explain the philosophical qualities and themes found throughout the film. In the second paragraph George T. Hole writes, “It [the movie] offers us a philosophical challenge, not simply to intellectualize about the meaning of life, but to examine our assumptions about the meaning of our own lives.” The following paragraphs appear to be written as follow-up to this statement, leading the reader to surmise the authors purpose or main argument to be an effort to exemplify the ways in which the movie offers a philosophical challenge regarding life’s meaning. Comment by [email protected]: Some sort of citation is needed here.
One example of a philosophic theme is the notion of, “a life behind things.” Hole provides a quote from the film which is stated by one of the main characters Ricky, the character speaks about a video he had taken of a plastic bag “dancing,” in the wind. He further describes the video as a day in which he “knew there was this entire life behind things, and… this incredibly benevolent force.” Hole uses this excerpt to explain another theme, one of “transcendence,” and how the movie suggests a different version of it, suggesting, “a redemptive possibility through beauty, here, in this life as it is.” He goes on to describe beauty as “pervasive and powerful.” The concept of beauty leads Hole into topics surrounding “something beyond,” and the concept of “form” both explained using Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, as well as highlighting, “truth,” as a, “distinction between appearances and reality.” The primary philosophical challenge offered here is how one comes to understand the nature of beauty as applied in the meaning of life.
In later paragraphs Hole analyzes concepts of beauty provided in the film. Material beauty, surface level beauty, and conventional beauty are described as disillusionments. He further emphasizes that we have been taught our judgments of what is beautiful versus what is ugly as cultural truths. He describes beauty as having redemptive powers as well as the ability to heal; quoting the film, “it’s hard to stay mad, when there is so much beauty in the world.” Other insights provided by G. T. Hole include the notion of “stepping back and watching” in order to explain beauty. He uses examples from philosopher Immanuel Kant and highlights the adoption of an attitude of disinterestedness (separation from our desires, likes, dislikes) as an essential process for viewing true beauty. He also touches on the concept that genuine beauty requires our imagination to enter free play, “being creative with our experience,” and again he relays back to Kant and the notion of “purposiveness without purpose.” Comment by [email protected]: Good work here.
In G. T. Hole’s conclusion, he explains the harm in trying to hold onto things such as experiences, wisdom, and beauty and how it ultimately destroys the thing you are trying to keep. He references both Buddha and the film as support in this notion. Hole explains that Buddha, “did not make his own enlightenment something personal, as if by holding onto it he would be special and entitled to claim for himself some privileged center of existence,” followed by one of the main characters of the film, Lester, stating, “And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold onto it, and then it flows through me like rain.” He ends his article by asserting that the film American Beauty offers a philosophical framework for beauty, life, and meaning, concluding that “Meaning, like beauty, is always accessible in our lives, if we take a closer look, with beginner’s eyes, and experience our lives with deep gratitude.” Comment by [email protected]: Some sort of citation is needed here. Comment by [email protected]: Citation needed.
The film mentioned above, American Beauty, is a 1999 film starring Kevin Spacey, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, and Mena Suvari. The film offers insight into two families:, the Burnhams , and the Fittses. It portrays their suburban or middle-class economic status accompanied by their discontent, superficiality, dysfunction, and ultimate unraveling. The Burnhams family consists of Lester, who is depicted to be a middle-aged, un-dramatic, office working husband and father. His wife Carolyn is a more intense, real estate agent, who matches her rose trimmers to her gardening gloves and talks with the neighbors about trivial matters seemingly engrossed and passionate. Jane their daughter is depicted to be a typical teenager, somewhat of an outcast, rebellious, insecure, angry, and confused. The film follows the family though Lester’s transformation and “awakening,” and ultimate death, Carolyn’s break down and infidelity, and Jane’s love interests and growth. Ricky Fitts is the new neighbor to the family whom Jane begins to find interest in, he has a peculiar hobby of videotaping things he finds odd or interesting. Ricky is assertive, unique, and unbothered by how others perceive him. The film highlights concepts of perception as it relates to reality and life’s purpose or meaning. It accomplishes this by satirically portraying the material American dream against the dysfunction of the families and people behind the illusion. A few prominent themes include beauty, transcendence, and appreciation. The film concludes with Lester’s voice, after having been murdered, expressing gratitude for and contentment with, “every single moment of my stupid little life.” His voice over continues to extend the notion that there is something we, as viewers (or people who are still alive), don’t understand yet, finally assuring us that, “you will someday.” Comment by [email protected]: What is ‘unraveling” here? Referent is not clear here. Comment by [email protected]: Well done plot summary!
The article written by G. T. Hole was written in response to watching the film American Beauty, as such there are many correlations and connections. One prominent correlation is G. T. Hole’s interpretation of the “dancing bag” scene. In this paragraph Hole quotes Ricky Fitts as he explains his reasoning for taping the plastic bag in a scene shared with Jane Burnham. Ricky explains the day in which he filmed the bag as being “one of those days when it’s a minute away from snowing and there’s this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it,” he further describes the bag as “dancing,” and “begging [him] to play with it.” Ricky considers this video to be one of his best, as well as one of his most beautiful. This is highlighted when he states, “Sometimes there is so much beauty I can’t take it. Like my heart is going to cave in.”
G. T. Hole describes this scene to be “most enigmatic,” of the theme beauty. The concept of a floating piece of trash, surrounded by a gray dismal day, and contrasted against a plain brick wall, doesn’t often strike the mind as something beautiful. That is a part of the challenge the film offers. Looking closer at seemingly mundane experiences, stripping away predetermined concepts of beauty, and allowing one’s mind to play and exercise imagination. This is the framework supported by both the film and G. T. Hole in their description and understanding of beauty. In this sense, beauty is something objective, something constant, and something which can be found in life as it is. There is no need to transcend to a different consciousness, no need for following societal guidelines, or theistic orders, one can find beauty in things by simply looking closer at the world around them.
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is another notion which is both explained in Hole’s article as well as portrayed in the movie. There is a scene that shows Ricky’s retired military, homophobic father watching his son as he walks over to the Burnhams house. The viewer of the film can see what Ricky and Lester are doing (exchanging small talk and performing a drug deal), while Ricky’s dad is seeing the events unfold from a different perspective, one which is interrupted and distorted by windowsills and poor visibility. Ricky’s dad believes he watches his son perform fellatio for Lester and then hurriedly leave when his girlfriend Jane arrives home. When he confronts his son, Ricky is shocked by the accusation, however, quickly resigns from defense and instead plays along and dramatizes a story to match, further enraging his father.
This scene exemplifies the scenario which Plato describes in his Allegory of the Cave. In Plato’s example, prisoners are chained inside of a cave, their sole reality from birth has been the observation of shadows on the cave wall. From these shadows the prisoners perceive and believe in one version of reality. Their version is challenged however, when one of the prisoners escapes and sees the sun, the fire, and the actual forms which have been casting the shadows. When this prisoner returns to explain his experiences and challenges the still chained prisoners’ perceptions he is met with backlash and denial. The still chained prisoners had no concept for the reality the freed man was describing, like Ricky’s dad, having no ability to understand that what he saw wasn’t what he assumes it to be. Ricky appears aware of the losing battle and concedes before it begins, not even bothering to challenge his father’s perception. What this also shows is that perception and truth are very different things. Looking closer is one way that you can battle against faulty perception and seek clearer versions of what is true and real.
If, as the movie and article suggest, beauty is objective, always present, and always accessible, if it is the attempt to conceptualize beauty and hold onto it that diminishes and strips it away. , Hhow then is the concept of looking closer at things and not taking things personally satisfactory in capturing its nature? When one is looking closer, allowing their imagination to enter free play, are they not intentional about doing such? Are they not then seeking out beauty, and thus applying a concept or an order to something which can only be adequately viewed without conception or force? Immanuel Kant touches on this notion expressing his belief that “our repertoire of concepts is not adequate to account for the beauty we behold.
Another burning question under this framework for beauty is, if it is objective, if beauty is a constant which exists separate from anyone needing to view or experience it, what then would be the “beauty standard?” What would separate mundane, ordinary, and ugly things from themselves being beautiful? The article and film appear to argue, similarly to Plato, that there is this ultimate understanding of beauty which eventually comes, a “single science,” in Plato’s words, “the science of beauty everywhere.” I will leave you to ponder: if beauty is everywhere and everything, must we then describe it at all? Is there anything complicated in coming to understand that everything is beautiful? How does the notion of beauty being everywhere contrast with ongoing devastation and cruelty perpetuated across the globe? Is it humans alone that experience the dilemma of perceiving some things to be beautiful and others not? Will any definition of beauty be satisfactory universally?
Offered in this essay has been the identification of George T. Hole’s argument in his article “American Beaty: Look Closer,” followed by a plot summary of the film
American Beauty
itself. Connections between both the article and film were made as well as a section of criticism regarding the framework provided. Beauty is argued to be pervasive, powerful, objective, everlasting, etc., it is also explained as being everywhere, and we are encouraged to take a step back, look closer, not hold on, and not take things personally in order that we might view it more richly and authentically. This new, rich, and powerful experience is meant to provide us with an increased sense of meaning in our lives. Also exemplified is the continued complexity of attempting to describe, understand, and capture a universal theory surrounding either beauty or life’s meaning. A framework is offered, a theory to ponder, the rest is up to you.

References
Ball, A. (1999). American Beauty [DVD]. United States; DreamWorks.
Blessing, K. A., Tudico, P. J., & Hole, G. T. (2005). American Beauty: Look Closer. In Movies and the Meaning of Life: Philosophers Take on Hollywood (pp. 153–168). essay, Open Court.