American Beauty – Paper

Ameri piece of ass Beauty In the movie American Beauty there is a list of interpersonal remainders. Lester and Carolyn Burnham be a seemingly ordinary couple in an anonymous suburban neighborhood, whose marriage and lives are belatedly unraveling. They both cast off become so distant but remain together to keep up appearances. This human relationship shows all the factors that Daniel Dana considers creation a conflict. Two people are independent they each adopt something from the other, both parties blame the other or find fault with them for causing the problem, one or more of the parties is angry or emotionally upset, the parties behaviors are affecting their relationship with each other and/or their relationships with others. (Dana, 2000) In the movie there are many conflicts but the interpersonal conflict that stands out is that between Lester and Carolyn. The conflict between Lester and Carolyn is hard to ignore. They have stopped communicating effectively to one another . Lester is a middle senile man, whom sees no satisfaction in his heart anymore.Carolyn is a middle aged woman, whom only shows her satisfaction, but it is a mask to make it seem that she is happy. Lester, at first, seems to have a passive communication style, compared to Carolyns bellicose communication style. In the narration from Lester in the beginning of the film he seems to be tired of his life and how it is going. They live in a big white house with a red door and a white picket fence living the American dream. Unfortunately it is anything but. They have a daughter Jane who Lester believes he has failed. One night, Lester and Carolyn go to one of her work functions.Almost immediately they go their own ways at the function. Carolyn is being entertained by the King of real estate, drinking. While Lester has found himself outside with the new neighbor male child Ricky Fitts, smoking the illicit drug marijuana. When they go home and are in bed, their problems come to fruition . At this appoint the blame game comes into the picture with much negativity. They fight back and forth sarcastically, facial expression hurtful things, until Carolyn jumps up out of bed and bursts out This isnt a marriage. Then Lester finally speaks up and tells her what he has been feeling for days.One factor is the lack of sex between them. Also, he states that he has been her puppet for years since she legitimate her realtors license, and finally that he has been extremely unhappy. Then he continues saying that the only reason she is mad and saying anything is because he is finally fighting back. His dramatic and angry speech makes Carolyn silent. At this point in the film, I am more aware that they havent had effective communication to resolve their conflicts, for many years now. This situation escalated from their root cause of both of them becoming withdrawn, and not settlement their conflicts. When conflict erupts, emotions are involved, and the relationship can be thre atened if the conflict is not resolved amicably. (Sole, 2011) I think what started their downfall, years ago, is that they avoided conflict. This can be destructive in any relationship and/or marriage. If you dont have the skills of resolving conflict you run the risk of ruining your marriage, separate friendships, and shatter your family. Since both parties did not obtain the skills incumbent to resolve their conflicts, it evented in Carolyn stepping out of their marriage to have an affair with her real-estate rival, Buddy Kane the King, of real-estate.Also, resulting in Lester playing out, quitting his job, smoking marijuana, buying a 1970 Pontiac Firebird, and working out to impress a 17 year rare girl what some may call a mid-life crisis. Amazingly enough, this could have all been resolved, as keen-sighted as they both are willing with positive emotions during their conflicts. Research has shown that interjecting positive emotions, along with negative emotions, during discu ssions result in happier marriages.I think that is Lester and Carolyn would have used some basic elements like humor, light-hearted fun, or some jocularity during their conversations, their marriage could have remained happy. Then if they could know and understand one anothers communication style, they would be better at resolving conflicts between them. Lester started out having a passive communication style, and then it promptly moved to a passive-aggressive communication style. I believed this happened because he was fed up with how his life was going and started to show resentment.With negative feelings, this indirectly sabotaged his life. If Carolyn held an assertive communication style, rather than an aggressive communication style, I believe they would have been able to eventually resolve their conflicts. All in all, if they had effective interpersonal communication, they would have continued to go down the path, to be a happily married couple. References Sole, K. ,Making Connections Understanding Interpersonal Communication,(2011),BridgePoint Education Inc. Retrieved From https//content. ashford. edu/books