How is Lester Burnham Represented?


In the film 'American Beauty' one of the main characters and also narrator is Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey). He is a man in his 40's who is in an odd relationship with his wife and daughter. He is experiencing a mid life crisis and he desides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation for his daughter's attractive friend. For the most part of the film he works in sales which takes up a lot of his time. He has trapped in his own little work of work for 14 year.
His wife , Carolyn, works in real estate and is portrayed as been the leader and controller of the house. The director shows this by making Lester act child like. For example When he is in the car he sits in the back and Carolyn drives. There house is extremely clean and the design is very feminine. Using these scenes Lester Burnham is shown as being powerless for the first part of the film. Another thing to make him seem powerless is the use of high camera angles throughout the film. Also during the film he is shown being behind bars, this is to shown that he is trapped in his current life and has been for 14 years. 
The turning point in the film for Lester is when his next door neighbor Ricky Fitz offers him drugs. From this point he realises that he has wasted 14 years of his life and he start to change it around he firstly quitting his job, and then standing up to his wife. From this point on the film leads to his death.