American Beauty

The Dordt College Faith and Film club was brought to life last year. I, along with a handful of students and a few community members, picked some films we thought were significant and once a month we watched one and discussed it. The club survived the summer, and now the students are in control. They have picked some good ones...

The first film chosen for the new year was American Beauty - which we watched last Tuesday - but not without controversy. Some on campus thought the film shouldn't be shown. There is vulgarity, violence, and sexuality...and, to be honest, the film is not easy to watch. But does this mean we shouldn't watch it?

Admittedly, the film is one of my favorites...so I'm biased. The reason for this bias is that I'm a father. I know this should probably put me on the other side of the debate...after all fathers are supposed to oppose such films that corrupt the minds of their children, but in my case being a father has caused me to embrace this film all the more. I can identify with Lester, the main character of the film. We are all seeking the big deal...we are all trying to make sense of the world, to find happiness and contentment, to find those things in life that will wake us up from the comatose stupor we too often find ourselves in. So we frantically look for the next big thing...

This happens in the Christian community as well. Our young people feel this need to move from spiritual high to spiritual high. They want to make a difference...which means traveling the world to bring the gospel to a people in desperate need. At our college campus it means being a part of praise and worship, prayer retreats, mission projects - the list could go on. For others in the church is usually manifests itself as the next big book or author with some new big idea. After all, Christians have been failing miserably in living out the gospel, we have failed miserably in carrying out the great commission...so these books and authors try to get us back on track with these grandiose ideas and spiritual exercises. So we go out and climb rocks...quit our jobs...beat our chests...watch Braveheart...go on retreats and mission projects - all in search of the next big deal.

This is what American Beauty is really about. For Lester, he is searching for meaning in sexual conquest, power, and drugs...but we are allowed to fill in the blanks for ourselves. The point of American beauty is that Lester doesn't "get it" until he has tried all of these things...and failed to arrive at contentment. When does he finally "get it"? Looking at a picture of his family. I'll admit...I am moved by the final scenes of American Beauty as Lester discovers meaning and purpose in the ordinary things of life. The leaves in fall, his grandmother's leathery hands, lying on his back and watching the stars...and Jane his daughter...and Carolyn his wife. When I see the shot of his daughter standing in the doorway with a princess costume on, I am reminded of my daughter fluttering around the yard with her Tinkerbell wings. I think of my son pretending to be a monkey on the rocks at Oak Grove...I think of my newborn daughter and the spiritual act of changing her dirty diapers. Here lies the meaning of life...too be found in the ordinary things of life. If we could only quit looking to the horizon, and look instead at what has been put right in front of us...that is the point of American Beauty. That we might finally give thanks for the explosions of grace and beauty to be discovered in the ordinary moments of our "stupid little lives."