Stepping even further back, we find Angela. Unlike Buddy or Carol, Angela is at the start of her life. However, she's all ready showing the signs of Common Want. She uses people, lies, and obviously wants people to view her as something. As Rickie says
near the end of the movie, Angela uses Jane to feel better about herself. Not caring for Jane's feelings, but using someone she sees as less important to make herself feel more important. She lies about her sexual history, whether it was when she told Lester she was a virgin, or with the stories she tells everyone else. Either to gain trust or admiration, respectively. Her Want for attention is quite obvious the first time we see Angela in Jane's room. While Jane talks to Angela about how Rickie would film her, Angela finds it disgusting. However, when she discovers that he could be watching “right now”, she starts posing in front of the window. To Want to look at Jane is a weird, perverted thing, but there's no problem at all for people to Want to look at her. The blatant narcissism, the Want or need to for attention, Angela shows is nothing I would call honest or true.
Taking a walk to the other side of the street, we find Colonel Fitts, Rickie's father. What the Colonel Wants is the “American Life”. His Want becomes Common not so much because of how he goes about getting it, but what he does when what he has, isn't what he Wants. For the most part, he seems to have his Wants; a nice house, a wife, what he believes to be a disciplined son, etc… However, when he thinks his son is something he doesn't Want, he hurts him. When Mr. Fitts finds out that Rickie had broken into his cabinet, he hits him for being disobedient; when he thinks his son his gay, he beats and disowns him. These actions don't only make him the “bad guy” but can also be examples of Heavenly Want, becoming Common Want. If the Colonel had accepted his son for what, he thought, he was, he may very well still have been showing Heavenly Want. However, his unwillingness to allow others their Wants is ultimately a horrible thing to do. In the end, this might be the best example of Common Want at it's worst.
On the Heavenly side of the spectrum, I'd like to talk about Rickie first. On the whole, I'd say Rickie's Wants are Heavenly. He Wants to share with Jane everything he can: ranging from his father's Nazi plate, to a video of a plastic bag; the most beautiful thing he ever filmed. Many of his Wants are for someone else. For example, he Wants Jane to be happy; a noble trait. At times, Rickie does show signs of Common Want. The last scene with Rickie and his father has Rickie lying to the Colonel. It could be argued that Rickie did this because he Wanted to leave the house without feeling guilty (his father forced him out). However, it could also be argued that what Rickie did was self-defense. By lying to his father he confused his father, enabling Rickie to escape further beating. Just a little later, Rickie tells Angela that she is boring, driving her to tears. I can see why
some might view this as “just plain mean”, and push Rickie into the Common Want category. I view this as Rickie standing up for the one he loves; the one he Wants to be with.
Rickie's counter-part, Jane, is the purest form of Heavenly Want in this film, for me. Jane's Wants are simple: to be happy and to find her place. Throughout the whole movie, we see Jane scream, get upset, and insult people. However, she remains truthful the whole time. Never once does she lie to get someone to do what she Wants. Through Rickie, Jane gains both happiness and a sense of who she is. Rickie makes Jane Want to be a better person. She Wants to be a better person for Rickie. Not for herself. A true and noble trait.
The last main character to talk about, is one of the hardest to place. We learn during the movie, that Lester just Wants to be happy. On the one side, he is honest to everyone he cares about. On the other, he uses his the knowledge of his boss' tax fraud to blackmail the company for sixty-thousand dollars. Lester, through Angela, also shows the great example of Heavenly Want, by trying to better himself for someone else. Many scenes take place in the garage with Lester working out. Whether his love for Angela is perverted” or not, it's pure. Lester might not know his place in life through most of the film, but at the end, he just Wants those he loves to be happy. Even if it means letting his wife sleep with another man, or letting Jane date the drug dealer next door; Lester isn't going to stand in anyone's way when it comes to what they Want; as long as everyone is happy. While not all Lester's actions are Heavenly in the film, his end result is.
Lastly, Mrs. Fitts. In a movie where personal needs and gains are the main focus of the main characters, Mrs. Fitts is the only character that doesn't seem to Want anything. At no point in the movie does she try to gain anything for her or anyone else. You will notice she is also the only character that never jumps off the screen. After viewing the other characters of the movie, it's hard for me to think the writer didn't have some point to her; some reason for putting her in there. If a plastic bag can be the most beautiful thing in the world, why can't a bland, emotionless character hold some kind of truth? Whether it was the writer's intention or not, I took Mrs. Fitts to be the embodiment of emptiness. The feeling the other characters have for the items, images, or people they have or lust after, is unknown to her.
For what ever reason - spousal abuse, parental abuse, traumatic experience, etc ... anything she feels she needs is out of her grasp. With nothing to drive her, nothing for her to lust after, there is nothing that makes her special. With her Wants taken away from her, she fades into the background to be passed over and aside. Whether it is a “Common” or “Heavenly” Want, it's all that is driving the characters to action in the film. To be successful, to be happy, to be loved, to be wanted ... Nothing these characters strive for is “bad” in any way. It's the actions they take to obtain them. No Want can ever be bad or wrong; only the actions taken gain them. The only one truly capable to watch your actions to keep them noble, honest, true, or “Heavenly”. The tagline to American Beauty is “Look closer...” My suggestion would be to look more closely at your own actions, and be aware of where they may be leading.
