Chris ofili

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Chris Ofili .

I first came across Chris Ofili's work at the 'Sensation' art exhibition in the Royal Academy of Arts London. 'Space and 'Popcorn Tits' were among five of his latest works being shown in the gallery. These two paintings caught my attention immediately, as they seem to be very similar to the sort of images which I had taken an interest in during the last few years. Although much of his work seems to be 'in your face', bright, psychedelic and very detailed, there is a vast range of influences which one can see, when looking closely into an Ofili masterpiece. The sheer depth and detail is something which astonishes most people when seen first-hand, and these factors are what drew me to his work.

The second time I saw Chris Ofili's work was at the Southampton City Art Gallery. Here there was a much wider range of Ofili's work on show. As well as his paintings, many of his drawings and sketches were on display. Ofili uses a great deal of his drawings as ideas which like many others - he follows through in paintings. At Southampton works such as 'Blossom' were on view, as well as the series of 'Captain Shit' paintings. All of Ofili's paintings seem to follow similar themes. They are about racism, pornography, exploitation, and the typical image of the black gangster. They cover areas such as prostitution and pimping along with rap music, and black creativeness.

It has been said that Ofili's work shows no progression, and that his paintings are merely labour-intensive decorative pieces, however when looking through his work in a chronological order I can see a definite journey from densely layered abstract paintings, through to figurative paintings. This progression was made all the more clear when I visited his most recent exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery in London. His new work uses simple abstract shapes to describe say, hair, a leg or a breast. These shapes are painted as a densely beaded surface like a mosaic and the shapes together create a flat graphic image. It is true to say, however, that Ofili's technical style has not changed dramatically in the last five years, but why should it have? His technique has developed and whilst parts of his style have become more refined others have become less so. Each painting of his seems to be more finely tuned than the previous one - bringing in new ideas and discarding others.

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Many critics feel that Ofili is a very talented, creative, and interesting painter, pushing the boundaries of canvas painting and decoration in a new direction, which has not been investigated to date. However there are also people who would disagree, and say that "Ofili's work is little more than decorative and labour-intensive art which speaks of nothing more than porn magazine collections and hip hop fanaticism." I feel that Ofili's work shows a huge range of influences and he uses and displays these in a way that is innovative and original. However, I feel that aspects of his work such as his dots, which have become a trademark of his art are not particularly original to himself. He has said that the dot's (along with the Elephant dung) highlight his interest in his own ethnic origins, and that he uses these influences in his art to express his black artists presence in a white artists world. This; I feel, is perhaps a slight misinterpretation on Ofili's side because he uses the dots in a decorative way - and he speaks of them being used in a decorative manner in the Matopo caves by ancient man. Further research leads me to believe that the dots were not used for decoration, but to signify the spiritual visions and hallucinations of the San people of Zimbabwe.

The San people are better known as the 'Bushmen', and it was artistic cave paintings of these early people which captured Ofili's imagination when he visited Zimbabwe in 1992 on a painting scholarship sponsored by Absolut vodka. The San had used dots in the paintings to try and represent the unrepresentable appearance of the spiritual dimension. They were like a code which the Bush men used which others of their kind would interpret as spiritual and not decorative. Since seeing the cave paintings, Ofili's work began to feature myriads of brightly coloured dots.

He seems to use an amalgamation of ideas taken from other sources such as magazines and other artists work, many of which are still in their original undeveloped form to create an overall result which is original to himself - he is, in musical turns a DJ - who uses samples of other people's work, and changes them to suit his own purposes.

Analysis of Mouini Thi.

Mouini Thi (1996) is, like all Ofili's exhibited paintings, created with acrylic, oil, resin, and elephant dung. It measures six by four feet which is large but not uncommon for Ofili's work. I have chosen Mouini Thi as a starting point in Ofili's career because it is my favourite piece out of the prefigurative section. This section of ranges from works of 1993 such as Painting with shit on it, through to the paintings of 1996 which include Blind popcorn and Afrodizzia.

It appears to be a vortex shaped explosion of circular forms. Ofili uses his dot technique in the circles to create a detailed pattern which is multi-layered. The background to the piece is a mass of dark green lines in a 'swirly' formation. These lines are taken from studies of nature and it is possible to see the organic forms clearly in this piece. The colours which Ofili uses a in this painting are white, red, yellow, orange, dark green and lime green. These colours tell me more about his interests, and influences, as the combination of the colours ( particularly lime green and orange ) are very retro. Ofili is obviously interested in the retro world, as the colours, shapes, and psychedelic styles he uses all point to the Sixties and Seventies era. He even drives an old lime green Ford Capri and confesses to spending hours on end polishing his chrome bumpers.

Mouini Thi is more of a decorative piece than a descriptive one. There are three main layers to this painting, starting with the swirling patterns and moving to a circular explosion, and finally on top of this intense decoration are placed six large spherical pieces of elephant dung. I feel that Ofili has used elephant dung in quite an interesting way, as the dung, which is essentially a waste product, and in most communities, disposed of, is placed above the beautiful, textured paint. This seems to me, an interesting reversal of painting, when normally what is most beautiful is the first to be seen. The dung also plays an important part in the structure of the piece as a whole. Mouini Thi, like others, is placed on two balls of elephant dung, which leads me to question: Is it still a painting or has it become a sculpture or a piece of decorative, abstract furniture?

Analysis of 'Dream'

'Dream' is made up of circles within circles, densely swirling patterns which are made up of painted blobs and dots of colour, tiny glass beads and glittering discs. This intense surface density gives the picture a very peculiar quality of seeming to be very large, like a constellation of stars ( which has been used to great effect in Space Shit), but also very small, like millions of microbes seen under a microscope (an effects of Mouini Thi). Although the media, which Ofili uses could be seen as slightly gimmicky, in as far as the phosphorus paint and glitter is concerned, the artist has managed to reverse this and create something precious and jewel-like which is emphasised when propped up above the ground on two balls of dung.

When observing his paintings, people often seem to say something along the lines of 'interesting but what does it mean?' In Dream there is a political dimension to the picture. Ofili has used phosphorescent paint to draw the outline of a male figure over the female one. The this figure - his back is turned - is invisible during the day, at night the phosphorescent paint begins to glow in the dark. The idea, perhaps, is that by day the women dreams of has absent lover, and at night the lover dreams of her.

Richard Cork is a visual art critic who writes articles in the Times newspaper. I have chosen to use a particular article of his, as it sums up the main feelings of critics who are in favour of Chris Ofili: " Feeding off William Blake and Blaxploitation movies with equal relish Chris Ofili is one of the most inventive and original painters of his generation". Cork goes on to say that Ofili is far more complex, ambitious and engaging than his tabloid reputation suggests. Ofili's use of unconventional materials such as his elephant dung and map pins has only serve him well, as far as Cork is concerned: "But the truth is that dried gobbets of excrement are only one element of his work. Although their brute presence may offend viewers unaccustomed to confronting animal droppings on canvas, Ofili knows precisely how to incorporate them in paintings where intricacy and finesse count for more than scatological provocation."

This, I feel, is very true, as Chris Ofili manages to use elephant dung, which by all means is large and a grotesque, in a way which blends perfectly with the intricate details of his painting and collage. The dung is used in a decorative manner, as is everything else,. Critics in favour of his art suggests that the use of elephant dung in his work does not obscure a genuine artistic gift. I agree with this and feel that Ofili's work has matured over the last few years in a way which is far more coherent to the viewer. The elephant dung has never obscured his artistic talent, if anything, it has enhanced it,. When viewing all of Ofili's work I could see that his paintings have become more coherent. A majority of his works are colourful but incoherent psychedelic abstractions, which are of little particular interest and are lacking in theme. Pictures like 'Rara and Mala' 94 and 'Geetha' 96 are similar to Jimmy Hendrix album covers of the mid-Sixties. However, these are early works, and this incoherent psychedelia has matured over recent years to become a fascinating amalgamation of painting, decoration, and abstract sculpture. Richard Dorment of the Daily Telegraph goes as far as to call Ofili's painting 'Dream', beautiful. It is certainly one of the most impressive pieces, standing at 8 ft high. In terms of sheer visual punch Ofili's work is in a league of its own. From a distance it stands out, drawing you closer, and unlike many contemporary artists, Ofili does not let you down, as the closer you get, the more interesting the painting becomes. This is due to his technique which involves over laying a ground of varnished pigment and collage with further layers of acrylic and phosphorus paint, and finally the (odourless) elephant dung and glitter.

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George Orwell

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The tragedies in Orwell's life and their influence on 'Animal Farm'

Although Orwell was a great writer from the beginning, he didn't become famous until very late in his short life. His writing was very clear and precise. He mainly wrote autobiographical accounts but his last two novels were bitter accounts of political beliefs. His last two novels became so popular that he became a renowned writer all over the world.

He was born in 10 to a low-classed, British family in Motihari, Bengal, India and was christened was Eric Arthur Blair. His father, Richard Walmesley Blair was a customs officer in the opium department of Indian Civil Service. When he was merely four years old, his family moved back to England and lived in a small village called Henley which was a short distance from London. His father left Orwell and others in Henley and went back to India to serve in the Indian Civil Service.

When Orwell turned eight, he entered into a private preparatory school in Sussex. After attending the school in Sussex, he obtained a scholarship and attended two different schools one in Wellington for a term and another in Eton for four and half years. Later on in his life Orwell claimed that his experience in the preparatory school shaped his views on the English class system.

Eton College was based in an area where upper-class people resided. The consciousness of being poor boy living in an upper-class society where the poor were detested helped to make him a radical in his youth.

In 1 he joined the Indian Imperial Police. His training took place in Burma and he served there for about five years in total. This five year period decisively transformed his mental life. He gradually stated to despise his role as a representative of an alien government and to identify himself with the subject race. In 17, he went back to England on leave and there he decided not to go back and serve as a police in Burma. His resignation became effective from January 1st 18. His dream since childhood was to become a writer and he regarded his profession as a policeman "unsuitable". However it was understood later that he began to understand imperialism which he abhorred. Thus he left his job as a policeman and started his life as a writer. The name by which the world knows him now and knew him them, George Orwell, was a pseudonym which was suggested by his publisher when he published his first novel.

The crises in Orwell's life were the topic of his writings. His essays and his novels were mainly autobiographical and portrayed his political feelings. The first incident in his life occurred when he was sent in 16 by the Left Book Club to study the unemployed were living in the working-class districts of Northern England. He observed the people in Northern England in a miserable state and was tempted to write a novel called "The Road to Wigan Pier" despite the disapproval of his sponsors because he criticized the orthodox English socialism. This trip had a tremendous long term effect on Orwell's interests; he became interested in the popular culture, which is reflected in his classic essays such as "The Art of Donald McGill".

The second but the most important crisis in Orwell's life was a visit to Spain as a journalist. As Orwell arrived at Barcelona, he joined the militia unit of a Marxists workers party, the POUM. While serving on the Aragon and Teruel fronts, he got severely wounded. In May 17 he was involved in a fight in which the POUM and the Anarchists were on one side and the Communists were on the other. Eventually, the Communist secret police chased him out of Spain. Spain revealed to him how far political motives, wrongly applied can destroy the respect for truth prized by the liberal nineteenth century. His experience in the Spanish Civil War and the fights in trenches were told in his novel "Homage to Catalonia". This novel also exposed the Stalinist bid for power in Spain. Later in his life Orwell wrote the novel "Animal Farm" which showed how much he abhorred Stalin and his communist views.

Orwell was an essayist, journalist, and a novelist with a unique combination of a middle-class intellectual and a working-class reformer. A strong autobiographical element runs through most of Orwell's writing giving both his novels and essays a sense of immediacy and conviction. He wrote with remarkable clarity and his credo was that fine prose should be transparent 'like a window pane'. Orwell felt that the age was threatened by totalitarianism. Therefore, he wrote for libertarian socialism and against totalitarianism. His essays 'Shooting an Elephant' and especially, 'Politics and the English Language', in which he asserts that dishonest politics and slipshod language are inseparable connected evils, are models of what he wrote. His concerns also led him to write Animal Farm which is a bitter satire against totalitarianism specifically criticizing the Stalinist rule in USSR. Animal Farm also has the most important message that Orwell had to convey 'liberty means telling people what they do not want to hear. "If the vehicle for telling gets corrupted, then the message itself will always be corrupted"'.

The novel which brought fame for Orwell was Animal Farm. In this novel, a bitter animal satire, he criticized communism and expressed his political beliefs. His beliefs were absolutely true and his view of communism eventually was seen by the whole world by the way Stalin treated his people just to maintain power. To appreciate his message in this novel it is important to know its plot, the initial criticism he received and how this is connected to his life. The connection of his life to this extraordinary novel is his time at Eton College and then later on his visit to Spain. These events have been talked about earlier. Now its time to talk about the plot and other things related to the novel.

This novel is made around the events in the USSR, from before the October Revolution to the end of World War II. This is done by using a frame of reference of animals in a farmyard, the Manor Farm, owned by Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones is drunk most of the time and is out f touch with the animals he governs, just like Czar Nicholas of USSR. Mr. Jones neglects the farm causing displeasure and bitterness among his animals. One day after Mr. Jones finishes his nightly rounds, Major, a commanding pig (V.I. Lenin), tells other animals about a dream he has had regarding the theories about the way they have been living. The animals had been exploited by Mr. Jones but according to Major's dream, the animals would overthrow Mr. Jones and share the profits and dangers of work equally. Major teaches the animals the words of the song "Beasts of England" (The Internationale) and tells them to look for the betterment of all animals. Three days later Major dies.

The most intelligent of the animals, the pigs, are provoked by Major's speech and clandestinely learn how to read and write. After much thought they come up with a philosophical system called animalism (Communism, Bolshevism) whose principles are taught to all animals. When Mr. Jones forgets to feed the animals one day (as the Russians starved at the end of WWI), the animals start a revolution. Thus driving out Mr. Jones, his wife (the Russian nobility), and Moses, the raven (the Russian Orthodox Church). The animals rejoice over their great victory and start right away to build their new and better life.

The pigs took over all the responsibility of the organization and decision-making processes. Also the pigs took the rights to all the milk and apples. Orwell has admitted that taking the cow's milk was the first sign of corruption which inevitably led to the total destruction. The two pigs in power were Snowball and Napoleon, which represent Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin, respectively, and they argued all the time. The third important pig, Squealer (Pravda, Tass), appears more hypocritical. He endorses any action with his skillful use of language. The pigs change the name of the farm from Manor Farm to Animal Farm and print the seven commandments of animalism on the barn wall. In the meantime, Napoleon has been raising puppies which will eventually develop into savage attack dogs (NKVD, secret police) which will one day hunt down all his personal enemies, especially Snowball.

When the animals start physical control of the farm, work becomes difficult and the animals gradually start to lose the cohesiveness. Even though Benjamin (Tolstoyan intellectuals) remains cynical about the heaven on earth as proposed by animalism, Boxer (the peasantry) keeps on working harder and harder. The togetherness between the animals is regained when Mr. Jones attacks on the farm to regain it. The confrontation is called the Battle of the Cowshed and the animals win it because of Snowball's excellent strategy.

After the battle, the two leading pigs, Snowball and Napoleon argue over the next step. Snowball says that the most important task is to increase food production (develop socialism in Russia) and the Napoleon says that the important step is to build the windmill (permanent revolution). The argument is fierce and when it seems like Snowball is going to win the vote, Napoleon unleashes his secret weapon, the dogs. The dogs drive Snowball out of Animal Farm forever. Thus Napoleon has no rival and he can impose all the changes he wants. So he changes many rules and cancels the usual Sunday meetings.

The animals continue their hard work, still having faith that their life will indeed get better. The changes that Napoleon institutes are so different from the initial rules of animalism that life become more of a hell than heaven. The present was so bitter that the animals don't have the memory to recall or the energy to change the present even if the memorize were fresh. Very soon the life at Animal Farm seems impossible to differentiate from the life the animals led at Manor Farm.

The novel can be interpreted by two different age groups in two different ways. Children can view this novel as merely a good 'fairy story". However the veterans of World War II can appreciate this as a political satire. The latter interpretation was the intention of George Orwell. He wanted to tell the world that communism is a curse and it will lead to severe problems. Orwell wanted to state that "institutionalized hierarchy begets privilege, which begets corruption of power".

Thus it can be concluded that Orwell's life has had a major impact on his writing. His early days at the preparatory school in Henley made him despise the English system and then his years at Eton College nurtured him as a rebel who wanted to warn the world against corruption. His experience in Spain finally made him write the political satire criticizing communism.

Please note that this sample paper on George Orwell is for your review only. In order to eliminate any of the plagiarism issues, it is highly recommended that you do not use it for you own writing purposes. In case you experience difficulties with writing a well structured and accurately composed paper on George Orwell, we are here to assist you. Your cheap custom college paper on George Orwell will be written from scratch, so you do not have to worry about its originality. Order your authentic assignment and you will be amazed at how easy it is to complete a quality custom paper within the shortest time possible!

Satire Comparison betweeen "The Rape of the lock and Gullivers Travels

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Satire Comparison

By Zach Dees

The "Rape of the Lock" and "Gulliver's Travels" is two stories that were written long ago, both having some similarities and differences. Overall I believe that these two stories are completely different due to the fact that one is a lot more fictional than the other, and one is written in poem form. So it is somewhat difficult to find similarities. But, nevertheless I will present the differences and similarities in these two stories and I will be talking about the theme, setting and word choice.

In my opinion I did not like either of these stores. But if I had to pick to one I liked best it would be "Gulliver's Travels". It did not use the big, hard to understand, Old English words nor was it written in poem form. It was simply a fictional story about fictional feats where the lesson learned is also a lesson we can learn in today's society. It seemed that in the Rape of the Lock, Pope used very big and confusing words to describe certain emotions and situations that I did not understand. If I am going to understand the satire of a story I must know what the words mean and Pope made the satire in this story hard to understand unless I was to have a dictionary beside me. Some of the context was the same but very little of it was. Both stories were written in the 1700's and only 14 years apart. I think Pope might have been more intellectual but his imagination can't top Swifts'. Nor did Pope make satire as easy to understand as Swift.

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It is hard to find two stories like this that have the same setting. In "Gulliver's Travels" the main character is washed upon a fictional island full of people who are 6 inches tall. He eventually makes a compromise with these people, but after a while he starts getting somewhat arrogant and cocky. This may symbolize a country or maybe type of government when Swift is trying to use satire. It doesn't make much sense to me but it is imaginary and Swift still finds good ways to show satire bye poking fun at government, countries and political systems. In 171 "the rape of the Lock" was written and the only likenesses I can find in these two stories setting is the time frame the two stories were written. They are only fourteen years apart and the culture is in that time was a lot alike. One story is being told by a passionate poet who seems to have a lot of sense. The other coming from a more comical imaginary type writer. But people, culture and the way people viewed things were similar in these two stories.

What I took from the theme of "Gulliver's Travels" was there will always be someone bigger and better to come along. No matter how big or good you are there will always be someone bigger and better than you. The theme I pulled from "The Rape of the Lock" was "you don't know what you got until it is gone". I believe Pope was making fun of women and how they stress over every little detail about themselves. Vanity is defiantly in women and this story shows it comically if you can understand the choice of words Pope used. Gulliver is the biggest and most dominant person around until he ended up on a new island where he was the smallest and weakest. That's when he realized just how lucky he was to be on the island full of little people, but it is too late. Therefore, "you don't know what you got until it's gone".

The two of these stories are completely different I think. I personally liked "Gulliver's Travels" because I could understand it a lot better and it held my attention better as well. The satire is heavily used in the both of these stories. In "Gulliver's Travels" Swift was poking fun at the different types of government and how ridiculous some of them are. In "The Rape of the Lock" Pope was making fun of women, their friends, and the vanity in society at that particular time. For someone to be really interested in both of these stories they first must recognize the use of satire and its definition.

Please note that this sample paper on Satire Comparison betweeen "The Rape of the lock and Gullivers Travels is for your review only. In order to eliminate any of the plagiarism issues, it is highly recommended that you do not use it for you own writing purposes. In case you experience difficulties with writing a well structured and accurately composed paper on Satire Comparison betweeen "The Rape of the lock and Gullivers Travels, we are here to assist you. Your persuasive essay on Satire Comparison betweeen "The Rape of the lock and Gullivers Travels will be written from scratch, so you do not have to worry about its originality. Order your authentic assignment and you will be amazed at how easy it is to complete a quality custom paper within the shortest time possible!

Grassy Lakes

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Jessica Brooks

Mrs. Etheridge

Honors English 12

20 August 2002

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Grassy Lake

Most paintings today are very symbolic. Nothing is ever what it seems to be. This is true for the painting Grassy Lake by David Bates. This painting at first glance looks like two men in a canoe pushing through swampy waters, but the symbolism in the painting shows the relationships of the two men to each other and their surroundings. The symbolism is a significant factor in trying to understand the relationship of the people to each other and the people to their environment. The symbolism in this painting shows a mentor guiding a young man to success.

At first glance at the painting a person could think they were some kind of friends. This seems true because they are in a canoe with coolers. Coolers bring to mind picnics and fishing trips. After studying the painting a little longer a person can see the man in the back is an old black man and the man in the front is a young white man. This rules out any thought that they could be related. So what is their relationship?

Well in canoeing the person in the back is the guide. The person in the back also will push the canoe out a little bit before climbing in himself. In the canoe the older man is in the back and the young boy is in the front. The old man is significant and is the "guide" because he is older and has been through more than the young man has. The man in front is young and still has a lot of things ahead of him in life. This could be the reason he is in front. He is in the front of the boat looking ahead and the old man is behind him "guiding" and "pushing" him. It seems that their relationship is that the old man is the young boy's mentor.

This could be a possible explanation of the men in the painting, but why would the old man be mentoring the young man. Take a look at the environment around them. The lake is swampy and a medium green color. Green brings to mind success. The green lake is all around them. So the man could be "pushing" and "guiding" the young man to success. The swampy lake also has sticks and rocks all in it. It doesn't look easy to get through. The two men are rowing and working together to get through the water. The green water with the rocks and sticks symbolizes that trying to reach success is sometimes a struggle. The two men appear to be working together to succeed.

Overall this painting seems to represent a life struggle. The canoe represents life and the two men are trying to get through life and succeed. This painting, though, could still mean a hundred different things. The old man being a mentor is just an idea. Each person will have a different perspective. Art is in the eyes of the beholder.

Please note that this sample paper on Grassy Lakes is for your review only. In order to eliminate any of the plagiarism issues, it is highly recommended that you do not use it for you own writing purposes. In case you experience difficulties with writing a well structured and accurately composed paper on Grassy Lakes, we are here to assist you. Your persuasive essay on Grassy Lakes will be written from scratch, so you do not have to worry about its originality. Order your authentic assignment and you will be amazed at how easy it is to complete a quality custom paper within the shortest time possible!

American Beauty: A Lighting Analysis

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Look closer. American Beauty is a black, startling look at the nuclear family in suburban America. Lester and Carolyn Burnham are - on the outside - a perfect husband and wife, with a perfect house, in a perfect neighbourhood. But inside, Lester is a powder keg of depression. The cinematography of Conrad L Hall acts as a vehicle for carrying the films plot and its connotations. This essay will cover colour, key lighting, light intensity and the use of lighting in plot. All four are crucial elements to the films success.

The film is cold, grey and blue. Lester's world is one of suffering, and the use of colour conveys that clearly. In the opening scene, we see Lester sprawled in bed, a cool blue filtering in from the window, showing the first light of a cold and unforgiving day. Lester's face is drawn and dull, illustrating the misery raging inside of him. As he peers outside the window, he sees his wife Carolyn gardening wearing a bland grey business outfit inside the clich d white picket fence. But from within this bland exterior, the piercing red of Carolyn's roses radiates colour. Is this beauty? Is this the shining light in Lester's life? As the film progresses, the roses are used a symbol for his fantasies. The object of his desire is seen swimming, bathing and writhing in rich, red-rose petals. Red is sexy, passionate, fiery and dominant. It is everything Lester lacks in his miserable life. But as he begins his transformation, he purchases the hot red sports car he has always wanted a symbol for his new sexual awareness and prowess. The Burnham's house is grey and blue, apart from one bright red door. Although the film itself never really takes on reddish tones, the rich contrast with the films predominantly washed out colours is a feature point in Hall's colour scheme.

Specifically, this scheme has a very important role in terms of art direction and costumes. This is particularly evident in the treatment of the Burnham's neighbours, the Fitts. Colonel Frank Fitts lives with his drab wife and his renegade son Ricky. The interior of their house is particularly plain mostly browns and greys. Ricky's room is sanitarily white, with grey Venetian blinds covering the windows. It is a dull environment, and is complemented by the interesting use of costume colours. Ricky dresses like, Angela Hayes aptly points out, "a bible salesman" being black and white outfit with a grey woollen vest. Ricky's mother has an almost peasant look about her, also dressing in black, white and grey. Her wispy grey hair accentuates her dullness. This lack of colour must therefore be matched by actress Allison Janney, who plays Mrs. Fitts, in the regard that her personality is also bleak and unexciting perhaps even not all there. The Burnham's daughter Jane is a ray of colour in a grey house her room is orange and covered with posters.

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American Beauty can be categorised as a "black" comedy. This in a sense can be taken literally it is a dark film. Issues such as homosexuality, adultery, drug dealing and murder are all pivotal parts of the film. Therefore in order to express itself properly, the film must have bleak, shadowy lighting. Conrad L Hall achieves this by his extended use of low key lighting in a grey/black tone throughout the majority of the film. Such a technique forges the functions of atmosphere, tone and mood. The dinner scenes are excellent examples of this. The room is dark and shadowy, apart from an overhead light that illuminates the table and the centrepiece of red roses. Lester and Carolyn are burdened by darkness with Jane warmly lit from the candles. This represents the division in the household, with the long table separating Lester and Carolyn indicating the distance that has grown between them. Jane is the warmth of the family, and is the only Burnham to be lit in such a way for the majority of the film. In the opening scene, we se Lester sprawled out in bed, a bright crack of cold morning light missing him completely, illustrating where his wife is not. On the journey to the basketball game, Lester is fraught with shadows and darkness. It emulates his mood "…plus I'm missing the James Bond marathon on TNT!" and "She hates me…she hates you too!".

Hard and soft lighting are interchanged throughout American Beauty, and this allows the lighting to draw attention to certain elements of the film. The main example of this variation is seen as the character of Lester develops and increases. At the start of the film, Lester is shot in very soft light and has little contrast. However, as early as the basketball game sees the degree of light on him change, until eventually, his pores, sweat and facial lines are all visible. It is a movement from a flat two-dimensional figure into a colourful three-dimensional presence. It is particularly evident when Angela complements Lester on his arms. We zoom in to see a tanned, rippling bicep with fresh sweat beads dotted up his arm. He has a hard backlight, pushing him forward from the bland kitchen colours. This is in complete difference from the pale, soft Lester from the basketball game. Here, we see his grey facial regrowth and dull, pink lips.

However, it should be recognised that all of these forms of cinematography are essentially designed to allow the story to move along smoothly. Lighting reveals significant story elements that the director and writer are attempting to get across. It effectively tells the story to our subconscious, dictating the ways a certain scene feels and how we should be responding to characters within it. My careful analysis of the cinematography in American Beauty by Conrad L Hall has brought to my attention many issues and ideas of the plot that were previously concealed. Some I have already mentioned, and there are many possibilities in terms of analysing a film so closely. The danger I found was that it was too easy to construe lighting direction into many different connotations and meanings, hence "over-analysing". I've tried to condense those that I found to be particularly obvious and the most meaningful.

I believe that the reason for the film being so successful lies within the complexities and idiosyncrasies of the characters. It is based on this, that I will look at how lighting has transmitted the story through the web of its characters, beginning with Lester.

Lester's fantasy scenes are a feature point of the film and the lighting used in them subtly advances the story. The scenes are snapshots of Lester's perfect world a world where he gets the object of his desire, where colours are vibrant, and hard light brings the characters into animation. The very first encounter with Angela is an ideal example Lester sits flat in the dark audience, until Angela catches his eye. The other dancers disappear, leaving a hard, high key spotlight over her. Lester finds himself alone an angled spotlight illuminating him from the shadowy stands. A close up shows Lester partially lit from above, his eyes and mouth prominent. It provides the first real emotion that we can visually see in Lester. This effect is used cleverly by Hall it early on distinguishes fantasy and reality by separating them into the groups of hard and soft light. The life Lester wants to live is one of hard light and three dimensions but he is stuck in a soft, bland and flat world. As I have already stated, he eventually is lit at the end with real, hard lighting. This indicates that he has fulfilled his transformational arc fantasy becomes reality. What he doesn't realise, is that the fantasy is not quite as he expected!

Carolyn is a fascinating character with many dimensions and a borderline personality disorder. She is incredibly insecure, lining herself up for devastation after hyping herself up too hard "I will sell this house today". As a result, she has a terribly unstable home life. Using the example of the inspection home, it is another mode where Hall reveals more about the characters and story through lighting. Carolyn is lit in space of confidence. Her hair glows from the backlighting, and her face is heavily lit. However, as more and more buyers walk through unsuccessfully, her confidence gradually fades until the final couple leave. When questioned about the "lagoon-like" pool, her face has completely softened, leaving only her torso hard lit. As she closes the vertical blinds on the day, the bright afternoon light contrasts with the soft interior. Carolyn breaks down, the very soft light darkening her features the deterioration of her confidence.

Comparing both Carolyn and Lester in terms of lighting, there is a noticeable pattern Hall is demonstrating the unhappiness in the family. As Carolyn returns home after being at the shooting range, she glows against the bright passing exterior. It is a moment of confidence and power for her. As she returns home to find Lester's sports car, we find that Lester himself is lit a little harder "I rule!" The pattern formed is that the characters are only happy in hard, shadowless light.

Ricky is the most enigmatic strand in the American Beauty web of characters, and the lighting used on him screams this. The very first time we see his face is as he films Lester and Jane from his room. He stands in darkness, lit only by the glow of the camera and the kitchen light, with the reflection burning in his eyes. When he reveals himself to Jane on the front porch, the overhead light acts as a spotlight, lighting only one half of his face. She is initially scared, by is intrigued by his mysteriousness. As she turns around, a smile creeps on to her face as does a tiny amount of light. Ricky's peculiarity is continually illustrated by the darkness surrounding him until the end when he makes the decision to leave his family. In Jane's room, he is lit by a hard side light and forcefully tells Angela how "ordinary" she really is. His satisfaction is also represented by an increase in hard light.

Conrad L. Hall's cinematographic work on American Beauty is profound, but is subtle enough to be masked. I believe that to be the strongpoint of his work he finds it unnecessary to deliberately highlight cinematography in film (perhaps Steven Soderbergh should take lessons). The controlled use of colour, hard and soft lighting and low key lighting adds the professionalism that this film demonstrates. Hall uses all three as vehicles for the twisted story that would lack the punch it displays without such creativity.

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