Character In The First Two Minutes Of A Film

American Beauty (plot) tells the story of Lester Burnham, a mid-level ad man going through a mid-life melt down. Lester lives in the suburbs in a two story house surrounded by a white picket fence. But despite the exterior sheen, all is not well in the Burnham household. Lester is burned out, tired of conforming to the expectations of the American middle class. His wife Carolyn is an emasculating shrew, apparently more concerned about appearing "normal" than being happy. Their daughter Jane is a confused and embittered teen who is saving up for breast enhancement surgery despite already being well endowed. The neighbors on one side are the Fitts family, consisting of the Colonel, a homophobic ex-marine, his wife Barbara, a shattered person, and their son Ricky, a drug dealing video voyeur. On the other side live Jim Olmeyer and Jim Berkley, a gay couple who, ironically, are by far the most normal people in the neighborhood. Early in the film Lester meets Jane's friend Angela, on whom he develops a crush that becomes the catalyst for the remainder of the action.

In the first two opening minutes of the film, Lester Burnham comes across as a very pecimistic character, and does not speak greatly of himself. The film opens with an aerial shot of a suburban American landscape. There is music being played, this is called non-diegetic because the characters do not hear it, nor interact with it in any narrative form. An example of a diegetic piece  in a film would be, Lester Burnham turning on the shower, he can hear this because it is something that he is interacting with in the story.  Lester's depressing attituide is clear, as one of the first lines he narrates, he states he'll be dead in just over a year. The following scene opens with Lester lying face down on a bed, the bed is split in to two lights, his side being on the shaded side. It then shows his wife in a bright light, surrounded by a white picket fence, triming roses, this suggests the family is boxed in. The last scene with in the two minuets shows the family Lester, Carolyn and Jane going to work in one car. Carolyn and Jane are found waiting around for lester to get in the car, he then yet again delays time by dropping all his work papers, this again shows him in that pecimistic, sorry state. The car jorney shows Carolyn and Jane sitting in the front of the car and Lester sitting in the back with his head resting on his hand in a semi-concious state, showing a seperation with in the family.

Jerry Maguire: A 1996 American Romantic Comedy starring Tom Cruise as Jerry Maguire, a successful sports agent. From the first two opening moments of the film, Tom Cruises' character comes across very job orientated always mentioning numberz and data, and speaks very little of his family. He plays a smooth talking, hard-working sports agent who suddenly finds himself with only one client.