A film directed by Sam Mendes

It is the idea that what we as an audience see is not necessarily true, real. The presentation being shown is just that. A show.

“Our marriage is just for show. A commercial, for how normal we are. When we are anything but.”

“My business is selling an image. And part of my job is to live that image—”

“Shut up. Stop it. You... Weak! Weak. Baby. Shut up. Shut up! Shut up!”

Carolyn wishes to project an image of perfection, stability and success. She also measures herself based on money and material possessions. Carolyn believes that by having others think she is the epitome of perfection and has ultimately achieved the ‘American dream’, that it will become true. So outwardly Carolyn is confident at parties, good at her job, a fantastic mother while inside she knows herself to be failing as her marriage falls apart, her daughter resents her and her real estate business is struggling. “This is just stuff. And it's become more important to you than living.” Through seeing these two distinctly different sides of Carolyn the audience is able to clearly see the difference between perception and reality. The Carolyn the world sees and the Carolyn Lester and Jane see are two separate notions. By seeing that Carolyn has achieved success in life, she has a white picket fence and “four thousand dollar couch”, yet is still miserable makes us as the audience question why. Why is Carolyn unhappy? Why does Carolyn act happy when she isn’t? This is all part of looking closer. In fact Carolyn pretends to be happy because she feels ashamed for not having created the perfect life.

“I knew guys at school thought about me when they jerked off… I liked it. And I still like it. If people I don't even know look at me and want to fuck me, it means I really have a shot at being a model. Which is great, because there's nothing worse in life than being ordinary. “

“This is my first time. I'm sorry. I still want to do it... I just thought I should tell you... in case you wondered why I wasn't... better.”

Angela Hayes comes across as self confident when really she suffers from deep rooted insecurities. Angela wants to be seen as attractive and anything but ordinary and the only way she knows to achieve this is to act in an overly sexual, flirtatious manner. So everyone around Angela sees her projected image of confidence, even we as an audience are fooled until the end of the film when she exposes herself as a virgin. And because of how people see Angela, stuck up and arrogant, she does not receive help from those around her to build up her true self confidence. “You've only been in Seventeen once, and you looked fat, so stop acting like you're goddamn Christy Turlington.” The purpose of Angela having such a misunderstood character is to make people question how they present themselves and how they treat others. By presenting a false face to the world Angela sets herself up for failure as no-one wants to befriend her, which spirals down to further depreciating her self esteem. This encourages the audience to look at how they present themselves and what that could mean. Angela also makes those around her uncomfortable which pushes them away. Again this could prompt members of the audience to think about their own actions.

“How come these faggots always have to rub it in your face? How can they be so shameless?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa... You got the wrong idea.” - Lester

To those watching the film Frank is an average, overly conservative army man who believes in strict rules and straight lines. Frank is comfortable putting forward his controversial opinions regarding homosexual relationships, using crass language and beating his child as a form of discipline, he even supports Nazi ideologies. However at the end of the film Frank releases his true feelings and makes a move on Lester. As an audience we see Frank as a hypocrite, feeling one thing while saying another. How can he show such anger towards others of the homosexual orientation when he secretly wishes to join them. The reality may well be that his staunch beliefs prevent him from doing so and by holding back his true desires anger builds inside him and the idea of others enjoying the life he wants is simply too much. “I'd rather you were dead than be a fucking faggot.” The purpose of creating an alter ego of sorts for the character of Frank Fitts was to convey the danger of repressed feelings as well as to perfectly show how things are not always as they appear but can be the exact opposite.

“We have a very healthy relationship.”

“I'm sensing a real distance growing between you and Jane. Growing? She hates me. She's just willful. She hates you too.”

From the outside the Burnham’s appear to be the perfect American family. They live in a nice home with a white picket fence and roses, have respectable jobs and a loving relationship. However if we delve behind the red front door on Robin Hood Trail we discover that the idyllic family presented is really falling apart. An unhappy marriage is paired with strained parental relations and each individual is dissatisfied with themselves and family life. They remain as a family due to a sense of duty, a duty to conform to a societal norm. “This hasn’t been a marriage for years.” The reason for the Burnham’s being a dysfunctional family behind closed doors is to make the audience question just how much society really controls us. Very few things in the Burnham’s life makes them happy but they continue with life as is in order to follow the unwritten rules of society.

The character of Carolyn appears successful when she really feels like a failure to mask inner shame. Angela’s character uses outward confidence to hide her real insecurities. Colonel Frank Fitts presents a straight laced conservative personality in order to disguise his true sexual identity which he finds unnatural and disgusting. The Burnham family as a whole is dissatisfied but conveys a normal lifestyle so that they appear to conform to the western norm.