from:alt.conspiracy
As, always, Caveat Lector
Om
K
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Click Here: <A HREF="aol://5863:126/alt.conspiracy:618001">American Beauty &
The Rose Cross (w/url)</A>
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Subject: American Beauty & The Rose Cross (w/url)
From: <A HREF="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ">[EMAIL PROTECTED] </A> (Romans723)
Date: Sun, May 28, 2000 7:18 AM
Message-id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
<A HREF="http://hometown.aol.com/thejman99">http://hometown.aol.com/thejman99<
/A>
Excerpt from: *American Beauty & The Rose Cross*
In the Entertainment Weekly video review of American Beauty, the question is
asked (in minor criticism) "does there really have to be a murder at film's
end? Wouldn't it be braver, less dramatically
convenient, to let these lives unravel on?" Of course, there doesn't have to
be
a murder, and it would, perhaps, be less dramatically convenient, to let these
lives unravel on. But such an ending would betray the film's philosophical
core. American Beauty, as a quick glance at the film's fundamental image (the
character Angela, cruciform and naked, save for roses) will reveal, is rooted
in Rosicrucian mysticism.
The name *Rosicrucian* is derived from the Latin: rosae and crucis, popularly
translated to mean the *Rose Cross.* Rosicrucianism holds that all
manifestation exists by virtue of a process, a continuity of eternal existence
that knows no beginning nor end. This process must be one of transcendence and
transformation, never permitting stagnation or decay. It must ever be refining
and improving upon itself and periodically shedding its outer skin of
appearance and the density of its material expression. H. Spencer Lewis
referred to this process early in his writings as the 108 year cycle and later
alluded to it in the
numerically higher degrees by allegorically referencing the well known analogy
of the necessary relationship between Judas and Jesus. His referencing was to
explain the necessity of a catalyst to induce the essential change and
transformation.
American Beauty is the story of the transformation of its main
character, Lester Burnham (played in an Academy Award-winning
performance by Kevin Spacey). The film opens with narration from the already
*dead* Lester, who informs us we are about to witness the events that brought
him to his current state. Thus the two central tenets of Rosicrucianism,
eternal existence and the necessity of transformation, are established at the
film's genesis, and are the keys to interpreting the action that follows.
In the beginning, Lester is more dead than he is upon his murder at the end.
His life is at the nadir of the Rosicrucian existence: it is completely
stagnant. Lester toils joylessly at a dead-end job at an advertising trade
magazine. . .and it is here where the film begins it scathing attack on
McAmerikanism, the stuporous materialism that most Amerikans embrace as the
Meaning of Life.
Advertising is nothing more than the promotion of materialism. The
advertiser's
job is to convert the infidel consumer into an
unquestioning konspicuous konsumption klone. The advertiser must seduce the
consumer into placing his faith in *things.* Life is not a spiritual journey,
but a shopping journey. And the Amerikan is the greatest, most pathetic
shopper
of all. From cradle to grave he or she obediently pushes a cart up and down
the
aisles, then, at the end, he or she brings his or her cart through the Great
White Check-Out Line, where the Great God Cashier totals up his or her
lifetime
of purchases. . .and only the Great God Cashier knows the magickal dollar
amount that signifies the shopper has led a righteous konsumer life.
The advertiser is, of course, a liar. He must paint a false picture of his
product in order to entice the konsumer. Anyone who has ever seen a beer
commercial should take it for granted that advertisers are liars. There is no
valid reason to drink beer. . .unless, one supposes, you can see no other way
to escape awful, soul-killing Amerikan konsumerism (perhaps this is why so
many
grimy street alcoholics seem closer to God than the freshly deodorized,
impeccably attired 9 - 5 Amerikan
Automaton?). In any event, the Amerikan konsumer does not care that he or she
is lied to. They love the material lie. It is what they have freely chosen to
devote their life to. The Amerikan Dream. And what is a dream but a lie?
To read the rest of *American Beauty & The Rose Cross,* as well as other new
movie reviews (including Bringing Out The Dead, The Celebration, Galaxy Quest,
The Insider, Last Night, Late Last Night, The Limey, The Minus Man, The Red
Dwarf & Three Kings), please visit:
<A HREF="http://hometown.aol.com/thejman99">http://hometown.aol.com/thejman99<
/A>
=====
Subject: Re: American Beauty & The Rose Cross (w/url)
From: <A HREF="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
Date: Sun, May 28, 2000 11:23 AM
Message-id: <8gro6l$ll$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Romans723) wrote:
> <A HREF="http://hometown.aol.com/thejman99">http://hometown.aol.com/thejman9
9</A>
> To read the rest of *American Beauty & The Rose Cross,* as well as
other new
> movie reviews (including Bringing Out The Dead, The Celebration,
Galaxy Quest,
> The Insider, Last Night, Late Last Night, The Limey, The Minus Man,
The Red
> Dwarf & Three Kings), please visit:
>
> <A HREF="http://hometown.aol.com/thejman99">http://hometown.aol.com/thejman9
9</A>
>
On your website you
write:
"Boys Don't Cry: This is a relatively fact-faithful retelling
of the short, cursed life of Teena Brandon, the famous Nebraska girl
who pretended to be a boy."
If this movie was "a relatively fact-faithful retelling" then the
makers of this movie wouldn't have lost a libel suit to the real life
Lana.
Sent via Deja.com <A HREF="http://www.deja.com/">http://www.deja.com/</A>
Before you buy.
-----
Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
All My Relations.
Omnia Bona Bonis,
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
Roads End
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