What or who does American beauty refer to?

Answer 1

'American Beauty' most notably refers to the type of rose that grows in the Burnham's garden and is used as a motif throughout the film. Roses are seen throughout the Burnham home, the rose garden is Carolyn's chief hobby, and rose petals surround Angela in Lester's fantasies of her.

It could be said that Angela represents Lester's version of the American Beauty in human form. In each fantasy scene, Angela co-exists with the rose, surrounded by rose petals when she appears as a dream on the ceiling, bathing in rose petals and even depositing a petal in Lester's mouth when he kisses her. In their real-life love scene he tells her "you are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."

In the deeper theme of the movie, the characters are searching for beauty within their everyday, ordinary lives. Lester eventually achieves the same perspective that young Ricky discovered much earlier. Ricky's description, "Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can't take it. And my heart is just going to cave in" mirrors Lester's description at the end of the movie "…it's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst…. And I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life."