*american beauty*

..see nO~dukEhear nO~dukE talk nO~dukE..
From: "duke" <jazzdinny@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue Nov 16, 2004 6:29 pm
Subject: [radioliner] *american beauty*

my name is lester burnham. this is my neighborhood;
this is my street;this is my whole life. i am 42 years old.
in less than a year i will be dead. of course, i don't know
about that yet .. and in a way .. i'm dead already.
mewakili sebuah krisis (pasca menapouse? pria?), lester
adalah sosok gelisah yang rentan memasuki persimpangan
babak baru dalam kehidupan. tampak luarnya, ia pria 'mapan'
yang cuma 'tinggal menjalani' sisa kehidupan dalam rutinitas,
walau berbagai konflik berkecamuk silih berganti. rada sia-sia
bangkit, karena 'dunia' terlanjur mengurungnya dalam sangkar
emas dan terus meyakini .. 'everything just be fine, rite!'
both my wife and daughter think i'm this gigantic loser and
they were right, i have lost something. i'm not exactly sure
what it is but i know i didn't always feel this .. sedated.
but you know what? it's never too late to get it back ..
ok .. ok, ternyata opung lester begitu menyedihkan. dikelilingi
aktivitas rutin, rekan kerja yg memuakkan, karir dan kelakuan
istri yang 'seperti naskah iklan' (i will sell this house today)
ditambah anak perempuan yang puber dan krisis idola dan tak
segan mencibirnya di depan sahabat karibnya. namun seperti
katanya barusan, he will be back, siap merebut lagi supremasi
kehidupannya. ia melek dan bangkit seperti masa jayanya dan
itu karena sahabat anaknya, puber kedua, rock'n'roll ..
jane: could he (bokap) be any more pathetic?
angela: i think .. he's sweet. and i think, he and your
mother have not had sex in a long time ..
american beauty bukan potret keluarga asing, merk kosmetik,
citra sukses bahkan istilah buat tabiat orang aneh. ia mewakili
kita, manusia. mahluk ajaib dan kompleks yang sering bingung
dengan harapan juga ilusi. beauty .. cantik, adalah preferable.
angela: if people, i don't even know, look at me and
want to f&#k me, it means i really have being a model.
menjadi cantik, identik dengan fisik menarik sekaligus perasaan
confident, memang universal tiap kalangan. bukan faktor gender,
golongan umur or strata. semua menikmati 'being beauty' serta
'seeing beauty'. ketika 'cantik' diimbuhkan menjadi 'kecantikan',
kadang juga mendapat pergeseran nilai subjektif menjadi unsur
objektif berupa etis hingga estetis. kecantikan bukan lagi soal
'hanya indah' namun telah dipahami sebagai standard.
ricky: i was filming this dead bird.
angela: why?
ricky: because it's .. beautiful!
memang perlu semacam rangsangan untuk memulai tindakan.
status, motivasi, tantangan, berontak, pengakuan even sacrifice,
puber serta .. ganja dan aprodisak lain. semua memperjuangkan
sebentuk eksistensi dalam skala dan cara berbeda namun tujuan
yang sama, 'menjadi beautiful'. dengarlah lester bernyanyi lega
setelah memecatkan diri serta memergoki istrinya yg serong:
american woman, stay away from me
american woman, mama let me be
don't come a hangin' around my door
i don't wanna see your face no more
i got more important things to do
than spend my time growin' old with you
now woman, i said .. stay away
american woman, listen what i say-ay-ay ..
pernah denger eksploitasi: she's young, beauty and dumb? ato
buat pria: something beauty in men who are ugly? ok, mungkin
sinis, harus seimbang dengan frase optimis: 'inner beauty' ato
minjem kalimatnya arsitek modern, ludwig mies van der rohe:
'less is more' or 'simplicityis beauty'. maka bisa ditemukan arti
kesadaran 'beauty is not only selling values beside face n body',
juga gak cuma pemenuhan kebutuhan aspek kecantikan berpikir,
kedalaman jiwa, kekayaan maupun faktor genetis (terlahir cantik,
gift or lingkungan). urusan cantik menjadi amat tipis dibandingkan
dengan hal bahagia. maka ada terjemahan kayak 'being different'
untuk memanipulasi. jujur deh, term 'inner beauty' sesungguhnya
adalah 'a defense from them who are not beautiful'. itu baru satu
contoh klise pada semboyan duniawi: 'physical appearance is
the first thing's look'. sebuah manifestasi kompromi manusiawi.

ricky: it was one of those days when a minute away from snowing
and there was electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. this bag
was, like .. dancing with me. like a little kid begging me to play with
it, for about fifteen minutes. that's the day i knew there was entire
life behind things. this incredibly benevolent force that wanted me
to know there was no reason to be afraid .. ever again. i need to
remember, sometimes there's so much beauty in the world i feel
like i can not take it .. like my heart's going to cave in ..

apakah definisi 'cantik' begitu absurd ato berupa racun? well like i
said, i love being beauty and seeing beauty though. tapi setidaknya
yang telah menggangguku, melalui film ini, yakni 'knapa lantas jadi
repot mengurusi soal konsep yg selalu berkembang, berubah serta
unik buat satu lainnya?'. hidup ini nyata indah, terlalu berharga untuk
dibandingkan saat mengorbankan hal lain demi menguak indahnya.
life it-self is too beautiful to be kept in those things; c'est la vie!
menghidupi kehidupan adalah keindahan, if we understand what
beautiful really means. yakinlah, tuhanpun pasti tersenyum ;o)
ricky: it's like god's looking right at you, just for a second
and if you're careful you can look right back.
jane: and what do you see then?
ricky: beauty!
------------------------
american beauty (1999)
- lester burnham (kevin spacey)
- carolyn burnham (annette bening)
- jane burnham (thora birch)
- ricky fitts (wes bentley)
- angela hayes (mena suvari)
- colonel frank fitts (chris cooper)
directed by sam mendes
*n.p: american woman ____ guess who
-duke-