American Ugly
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If television shows and movies properly depict family life, then our country has taken a drastic turn for the worst since the mid to late 1900's. Shows in the 60's and 70's entertained their audiences with a fairly average family's everyday trials and tribulations that they, the viewers, could easily relate to. What ever happened to shows like the Brady Bunch, or Leave it to Beaver, or Andy Griffith? Nowadays, in our technologically advanced society, everything is being modernized and updated. This now applies to the concept of family life, where the days of packing lunches for school and being home on time for dinner at 5 have been replaced by deceiving lies and ludicrous behavior. The modern clich of "when family life goes wrong" is especially noticeable in the 1999 hit American Beauty, which bases its plot solely on this idea. American Beauty fails at properly depicting the life of a normal family because of its wild plot twists and extreme circumstances.
Lester Burnham begins the movie by revealing its ending, which still turns out to be a surprise later on. He seemingly is a happily married middle-aged man with a respectable job and a teenage daughter. His wife Carolyn is at first portrayed as a successful real estate agent and loving wife and mother...