Abstract
This paper provides a psychological assessment, from the existential and Gestalt schools, of the character of Lester Burnham in the film "American Beauty". The paper focuses on Burnham's transformation as he takes charge of his life.

From the Paper
""American Beauty" focuses on the transformation of Lester Burnham, played by Kevin Spacey, from a miserably unhappy married suburbanite whose professional life and marriage have simultaneously turned sour, to what film critic, Vincent Hausmann, has characterized as a reborn essentialist male taking control over his own life. At issue in this report is the application of two distinct schools of psychology to an analysis of this character. The theories chosen for this analysis are existential theory and Gestalt theory, both of which can..."

Tags:psychology, film, Gestalt, existentialism, American Beauty

Abstract
The paper examines the decision of Claudia MacTeer from "The Bluest Eye" to become a better person after she recognized her part in destroying another human being's life. The paper contrasts this choice to that of Lester Burnham who is dissatisfied with life and slips into apathy. The paper emphasizes how Claudia represents how we can derive something good out of a negative experience or a bad choice while Lester shows how one can simply give up and live a worthless life.

From the Paper
"Toni Morrison maintains that a life of worth is something for which we must work, noting that a life of worth is filled with intricate, interesting work. She suggests that a life of worth is up to the individual and every choice along the way takes one in a positive or negative direction. Two characters that illustrate opposite extremes of this gamut are Claudia MacTeer from Toni Morrison's novel, The Bluest Eye, and Lester Burnham in the film, American Beauty. Both characters experience challenges and both face crossroads but they handle them differently and we discover that how challenges are handled makes more difference than the challenges themselves."

Tags:challenges, experiences, apathy, guilt, shame, proactivity

Abstract
An examination of the wealth of symbolism in the movie "American Beauty." The writer shows that one of the main motifs of film is the exposure of the American dream for what it truly is--a pursuit of happiness through material objects. It examines the various characters and how they represent and symbolize this false dream, as exposed through the life and transformation of the main character, Lester Burnham.

From the Paper
"Winner of 5 Academy Awards, American Beauty captivated audiences with its stunning screenplay and cinematography and its stellar acting. Sam Mendes executed Alan Ball's script with flair, and the film is accompanied by an indispensable score that accentuates its darkly humorous mood. The title of Sam Mendes' 1999 film American Beauty seems slightly ambiguous, as it refers to a multitude of meanings and symbols in the picture. However, the theme of beauty, and specifically American beauty, emerges through all of the main characters in the movie. The American Beauty could be the sultry teen Angela, the epitome of blond American sex appeal. Carolyn's obsessive tending her rose garden is a pervasive and double-sided symbol of beauty, as her flowers are a thin cover for the ugliness in her life. Perhaps the greatest messenger of beauty in the film is Ricky Fitts, the eccentric pot-smoking teenager who through his camera lens perceives beauty everywhere he looks, so much beauty that he feels his "heart is going to cave in." Regardless, beauty is found everywhere in this film and is portrayed by various characters, symbols, and scenes."

Tags:lester, burnham, dream, materialism

Abstract
This paper uses social work data collection on the fictional Burnham family, from the film "American Beauty." The paper presents a Genogram for the Burnham family which shows Lester Burnham represented by a square box, with 42 in the middle, and a X crossed over the box to indicate his deceased status. Carolyn Burnham will be represented by a circle, with a 40 in the middle. A line will connect them. From this line, another line will descend to a circle with 16 in the middle, representing their daughter Jane.

From the Paper
"The Genogram for the Burnham family will have Lester Burnham represented by a square box, with 42 in the middle, and a X crossed over the box to indicate his deceased status. Carolyn Burnham will be represented by a circle, with a 40 in the middle. A line will connect them. From this line, another line will descend to a circle with 16 in the..."

Tags:data, collection, family

Abstract
This essay provides a considered historiography of the Prohibition. The common theme that emerges through this study is that the era of Prohibition spanning the 1920s served as the incubation period for modernity. In other words, the old morality based on Protestantism and nativism gave way for a new order based on relativism, egalitarianism and faith in the free market. The early histories are shown to concentrate on the Temperance Movement, its progression towards prohibition legislation, and its impact on American life and politics. Hofstadter and Gusfield are shown to highlight social class antagonisms, with the subtext being that Prohibition was a staggering failure. In contrast, Burnham is shown to focus on the positive results of the Prohibition, and how it relates to the modern efforts to control drugs and firearms. More recent histories are shown to concentrate on the political players and the mechanics of the movement.

From the Paper
"The principal argument brought forward was that Prohibition laws were being widely flouted, and that this was causing a general and widespread disregard for the law. The contention was that drinking had in fact increased since Prohibition, and that the criminal underground had swelled in order to supply for the increasing thirst for alcohol. Burnham challenges both these points, that alcohol consumption had increased, and that there was a concomitant crime wave. He contends that the increase in consumption was limited to the urban middle class, and especially their younger members. Due to its being outlawed, alcohol acquired prestige value for this group, and the speakeasies that mushroomed in the cities largely catered to this clientele. The journalists and commentators who reported these social effects of the prohibition belonged to the urban middle class, and therefore projected a biased view of a minority. Burnham demonstrates that alcohol consumption actually decreased among the working classes, and therefore Prohibition was successful exactly where it mattered. Criminal behavior too was on the decline, Burnham contends, and insists that the situation in Chicago and New York cannot be taken to reflect the national situation."

Tags:speakeasy, Capone, liquor trafficking, flapper, Charleston, Lindy hop, great depression

Abstract
The paper discusses how the ideas of marriage in the movie "American Beauty" are perhaps right in that both people act selfishly, and undermine traditionalist beliefs of marriage in our American culture. The paper describes how both Lester and Carolyn Burnham go through quite a bit as a couple, and Fossett's beliefs deconstruct the relationship.

From the Paper
"Sam Mendes' film "American Beauty" explores the power dynamic and rationalist turns of marriage explained in Charles Stephen Fossett III's "Marriage Brokers and Heartbrokers". The film itself exposes the underlying problems of the Burnham family, an upper middle class white household that seems "perfect" in terms of how society measures perfection: high-paying jobs, an affluent household, an unbroken marriage. Still, not all is what it seems in the Burnham's perfect life: Lester Burnham quits his job and becomes a model of impulsivity, passivity, and unapologetic depression."

Tags:marriage, relationships, american beauty

Abstract
The paper shows the relationship between corporations and the general public has always been somewhat of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, individuals purchase goods and services from corporations and invest in stock in hopes of reaping financial benefits as well as stimulating economic growth. By contrast, corporations employ individuals and must also please Wall Street analysts as well as meet their own financial expectations. The paper discusses how over the past two decades, numerous high-profile corporate scandals have occurred that have weakened the public's trust in corporations, beginning with the savings and loan scandals of the 1980 involving Charles Keating, and the insider trading and leveraged buyout scandals of the late 1980s involving Drexel Burnham and Michael Milken. During the 1990s, it seemed as if corporations could do no wrong, minting tens of thousands of millionaires (employees, executives, investors) while reporting unprecedented profits. The paper explains however, that as the accounting scandals and ensuring bankruptcies of Enron, Global Crossing, WorldCom and numerous other high-profile corporations indicate, there was much deception and smoke and mirrors behind their seemingly invincible exterior.

Part II of the paper discusses the reasons for Enron's downfall in light of the auditing business. In Part III, Enron's law firms' role in the collapse is outlined. Part IV reviews Enron's lack of 401(k) diversification. Part V outlines proposals for restoring corporate integrity. Lastly, this paper concludes with proposals for restoring integrity within the American business arena.

From the Paper
"As Enron's chief outside counsel, Vinson & Elkins billed Enron for $36 million last year, about 7% of the law firm's revenue. (Mason). In addition to testifying before House lawmakers, Vinson & Elkins has been subpoenaed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which also is investigating Enron. (Mason). Lawmakers in both House and Senate committees have criticized as inadequate the firm's review of allegations Watkins raised last year. (Mason). Vinson & Elkins was tapped by Derrick, former Enron general counsel, and former Chairman Ken Lay, to conduct a limited investigation of Watkins' allegations of questionable accounting and conflicts of interest in Enron financial practices. (Mason). Watkins maintained that because Vinson & Elkins had worked on some of the company's problematic off-the-books partnerships, another firm should investigate the practice. (Mason)."

Tags:Vinson, Elkins, Securities, Exchange, Commission, pension, WorldCom

Abstract
The paper explains the aspirations behind the development of the Monadnock building and the design of the architects Burnham and Root and later, Holabird and Roche. The paper also looks at later design assessments of the north and south parts of the Monadnock building. The paper relates that, today, most architectural historians believe that it is the north half that has no equal in high office buildings.

Outline:
Period
Precedent
Later Citations
Lasting Influences

From the Paper
"The aspirations that brought the building into being were artistic as well as commercial--to create an architectural spectacle and also draw tenants and make revenue for the Boston-based developers brothers Peter and Shepard Brooks. The Monadnock's period and design locate it at the tail end of 19th century architectural grandeur, because of its impressive size and its elaborately crafted south half. But its older northern half, with its subtly curving lines and faint traces of Egyptian architecture act as a harbinger of the later modernist period and the Frank Lloyd Wright Chicago School. The lack of breaks and projections and utter continuity of line makes this part of the building look much younger than its construction date (Roth 176)."

Tags:design, construction, proportions, materials

Abstract
Discusses the series of crises experienced by the Burnham family. Discusses three psychological concepts and relates them to the central characters of the film. Examines depression and the husband and the passive-aggressive personality.

From the Paper
"Critic Gary Hentzi (2000) suggested that the film, American Beauty, encompasses an explication of the emotional sleepwalking that passes for life in the typical middle-class and upper-middle class American ..."

Abstract
This paper examines the film "American Beauty" which offers a picture of the modern American family as a dysfunctional institution and a gender-unequal one as well. It discusses how it is one of many films in recent years suggesting that the ideal of the suburban way of life is false. It looks at the central issue of male-female relations in the film and how the two main characters are a husband and wife in a disintegrating marriage. The Burnhams barely speak to one another most of the time and when they do, they fight. It evaluates how the way the story of the Burnhams plays out says much about the state of family life in America today, about the social and sexual pressures which divide people and also about the roles of men and women in this society, both in terms of what seems to be expected of them and what they may really decide they want.

From the Paper
"The family described by Crittenden fits this pattern quite well. She makes the point that without the strong tradition of keeping the family together, husband and wife will remain together only so long as they still have "the very tenuous bonds of affection and sexual attraction" (Crittenden 70), which for Lester and Carolyn are bonds that no longer hold them together. Indeed, all that binds them together is their own inertia about making a move to change their situation. Each is looking elsewhere for what the marriage once gave them. Lester at the beginning of the film still holds the traditional role as breadwinner, but he abandons this when he is fired. He does get another job at a fast-food restaurant, but his wife has been pursuing a career in real estate at the same time, showing that she wants to assume the role of breadwinner and may soon not need Lester at all."

Tags:sexual, pressures, family, suburban, life