American Beauty (1999 film) his family in happier times, and dies having had an epiphany that infuses him with "wonder, joy, and soul-shaking gratitude"—he has finally seen the world as it is. According to Patti Bellantoni, colors are used symbolically throughout the film, none more so than red, which is an important thematic signature that drives the story and "[defines] Lester's arc". First seen in drab colors that reflect his passivity, Lester surrounds himself with red as he regains his individuality. The American Beauty rose is repeatedly used as symbol; when Lester fantasizes about Angela, she is usually naked and surrounded by rose petals.
Carolyn Rouse in the people around her, which prompted a turn toward documentary film, then eventually a master's in visual anthropology and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Southern California. Rouse's siblings are both academics; her brother is a professor of physics and her sister, Cecilia Rouse, is the dean of Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Rouse's brother-in-law (Cecilia's husband) is Ford Morrison, son of Nobel Prize-winning author and Princeton professor emeritus Toni Morrison. Carolyn Rouse Carolyn Moxley Rouse (born c. 1965) is an anthropologist, professor and filmmaker. She is Professor and Chair of the Department