We came out of the
cinema and within 10 minutes formulated
a theory which blew our
minds. The
gist of it is this:
American Beauty is a re-telling of the story of
Christ, with the appropriate
generic adjustments made so that it becomes a
religious text suitable for
our times.
Let's look at the characters one by one:
- Colonel Frank Fitts: Judas and the Romans, for obvious reasons.
- Angela Hayes: embodies carnal temptation and knowledge, Mary Magdalen if you must have a definite Biblical icon.
- Carolyn Burnham: embodies material temptation and avarice, together with Buddy Kane who also represents abandon and lack of temperance.
- Jane Burnham: the meek who will inherit the earth, with her quiet ways and simple, sincere pleasures, and most particularly her relationship with Ricky Fitts (more of that later).
- Barbara Fitts: the indifferent, jaded, lethargic masses who do not hear the voice of God.
- Ricky Fitts: God. He is completely detached from the weaknesses of this world - he never gets angry or vengeful with his father, he never displays overt lust for Jane, he doesn't seem to covet anything that he cannot provide for himself through his own efforts. Significantly, he creates beauty in his films, and strives to share that beauty with those who would listen - in this case represented by Jane. He creates Lester - through his guidance it is that Lester begins to free himself from the shackles of his life, and it is that first meeting between them that sets the events of the movie in motion.
- Lester Burnham: Christ. Is celibate throughout the movie, resists temptation in the form of Angela Hayes and embraces his killer in the form of Colonel Frank Fitts. Also accepts calmly the humiliation of his wife's betrayal and the degradation of working in the burger joint. It is noteworthy that the only two people with whom he actively seeks a meaningful relationship are his daughter (the meek, the pious) and Ricky (God).
Lester dies after suffering humiliations, passing the test of temptation and achieving a degree of enlightenment. If not a literal Christ, he is at least a symbol of the pure soul.