Colours such as red and blue are seen frequently in the film and are used to symbolise certain aspects of the film. The colour red is used in almost every single scene in the film and acts as a central motif to contrast the families, to portray mood and theme, and to reveal each characters personalities and feelings. In the American culture, red is used to signify different emotions and images such as death, love, beauty, lust, power, hatred and danger. The main themes in “American Beauty” are hatred, love and power. At the beginning of the film, viewers are given a clear shot of the house. The colours of the house are important in conveying to the viewer an overall feeling of the household being overly neat and characterless. The house is white with blue shutters and a bright red door with red roses around the garden. The white and blue contrast with the red, emphasising to the audience that there is danger and hatred hidden behind the door.
The colours that the characters wear are cleverly used to suggest the characters personalities and feelings. Lester’s character is often seen wearing grey blue clothes, especially at work. In the scene at work where Lester talks to his new boss about the possibility of being fired, the blue colour of his clothes complements the rooms light blue tinge, these colours often symbolising tranquillity which is the opposite to how Lester feels about his work, conveying to the audience that Lester feels trapped in a life that he has lived in for too long and feels miserable. In this scene, Lester’s new boss, Brad, is dressed as a stereotypical work boss, continuing the feel of normality being dull. His shirt is also blue, complementing the light blue tinge of the room, emphasising the contrast between Lester’s hatred towards his work and the feel of tranquillity and ambience that the room creates.
Another use of colour Mendes has used is to show to the audience Lester’s change in feelings and thoughts as the film progresses. At the beginning, Lester is usually wearing de-saturated cold colours, suggesting unhappiness, lack of energy and a drained life. As the film progresses and Lester’s outlook on life begins to change, the colour of his clothes begin to change. Lester adapts a more carefree brighter outlook on life, and he starts to wear yellow and green. These colours portray to the audience that Lester is becoming more content and happier with his life. By the end of the film, Lester is wearing more red and black. His new job requires him to wear red, he wears a red tank top at home, and he even drives a red car. This is to suggest that Lester has finally regained power to his life by the end of the film. It could also be used to suggest to the viewers that danger and death is growing nearer for Lester by the end.
The use of colour is also used in the film "House of Flying Daggers", directed by Zhang Yimou in 2004. The colours in this film play a large part in indicating a certain feeling towards the audience. For example, the rich greens used in the martial arts fight scene in the bamboo forest contrasts with the silver knives which are thrown, emphasising the sense of danger to the audience and represent the film as a whole.
Mendes uses mise en scene in “American Beauty” to create symbolism and convey subconscious feelings and thoughts to emphasise the theme of the film to the viewers. Mendes has used everyday normal objects such as doors, flowers and windows to symbolise and convey feelings towards the viewers and to show the characters thoughts and feelings as well.
The red roses become an important motif in the movie to symbolise emotions and to reveal the characters personalities and feelings in their lives and towards each other. At the beginning of the film when Lester is introducing the audience to the characters, the roses in the front garden look orderly and look perfect, almost as if they are not real, and act as a representation of Carolyn. When Carolyn is first introduced to the audience she is tending to her garden and their neighbour compliments her roses. Mendes has cleverly used this to construct the audience’s first impression of her to be that she likes control and the audience can understand her later in the film at the work party when she forces herself and her husband to be falsely happy, the roses representing this as they look almost fake. The roses are red, and red often signifies power, which is what Lester's wife seems to obsess with. Lester's wife has power over the family and over herself and comes across to want everything to be in order or else it is not perfect, this could be because she has can not control her relationship with Lester which seems to be at breaking point at the beginning of the film.
The red roses also symbolise Angela's beauty, which is the stereotypical image of a beautiful American girl, and Lester's feelings towards Angela. Lester's fantasies of Angela always involve red rose petals, such as when he is lying awake in bed, he imagines her above him lying in rose petals and the rose petals start to fall on him, covering him, suggesting to the audience that he is overcome with lust for her, but not love.
Mendes has used the roses to also create a sense of danger and hatred towards the audience. Roses have thorns that can prick and hurt, and because roses are placed in almost every room in the Burnharns’ house, it suggests to the audience that hatred runs through out the relationships within the family and that this hatred could be dangerous.
Mendes made the front door to the Burnham’s house door become an important motif. The Burnharns’ house is often referred to as the house with the red door. The red door indicates to the audience that, despite every part of the garden looking orderly and normal, behind closed doors is a darker side to the family filled with hatred and love. It also creates a sense of danger towards the audience, suggesting that not everything is what it seems indoors.
The use of mise en scene to create a motif is also used in the 2001 film “Moulin Rouge!” directed by Baz Luhrmann. "Moulin Rouge!" begins with a conductor standing on a stage in a grand theatre. This signifies to the audience that the film is like a 'show' which links well with the idea behind Moulin Rouge. Behind the conductor, the curtains are red, and act as a motif in the film, and is used repeatedly throughout the film.
The windows of the Burnham’s house are another aspect of mise en scene used in the film to convey a feel of secrecy to the audience as to the relationships of the family. In the scene after the argument at the dinner table, when Carolyn slaps Jane, Ricky is recording it through his window. Jane then sees him recording her, and goes to the window. Just as this happens Ricky’s father, the colonel, bursts into Ricky’s room and hits him for going into his private room. This suggests to the audience that there are secrets that both families hide behind closed doors, and creates a sense of danger that they are trapped in there houses with the families they hate.
In conclusion, Mendes’s use of contrasting colours such as red and grey blue in “American Beauty” successfully convey thoughts and feelings towards the audience about the characters’ relationships with each other and their personalities. Furthermore, the use of colour and contrast in “House of Flying Daggers” is similarly used to create a feeling of danger to the audience. Mendes also uses mise en scene in every scene in the film to represent characters roles and personalities, to act as a motif and to portray subconscious feelings such as danger and hatred towards the audience. Mise en scene is also used in “Moulin Rouge!” to act as a motif, such as in the opening scene with the red curtains, which are used repeatedly throughout the film.
