Family therapy often brings a family in crisis into the therapeutic milieu. In most instances, families present for therapy because a major crisis such as the discovery of a family memberÆs drug abuse, an act of infidelity by a spousal partner, or risk-taking behavior exhibited by a child. Other than disturbances of mood and affect, the family may alternatively be in crisis because of death, divorce or dramatic changes in terms of economic security or lifestyle. The Burnham family portrayed in American Beauty exhibits nearly all of these system-disrupting crises. According to Bowen, the ômajor problem in families is emotional fusion; the major goal is differentiationö (Nichols and Schwartz, 2001, 167).
The Burnham family consists of Lester, the husband of Carolyn and father of Jane. Lester is experiencing a mid-life crisis and his family exhibits crisis due to him throwing away his career and beginning a new life aimed at reinvigorating him with the hope, optimism and sex appeal of his youth. As he announces, ôI feel like IÆve been in a coma for the past twenty years. And IÆm just now waking upö (Mendez, 1999). Lester fears growing older, losing the hope of true love and disrespect from those closes to him. He feels unloved by his daughter, ignored by his wife, and unnecessary at work. At the opening of the film, he informs us in voiceover narration, ôIÆll be dead in a year...In a way, IÆm dead alreadyö (Mendez, 1999).
Carolyn Burnham suppressed her unhappiness through materialism and career ambition. Her shoes match the handles of her gardening tools and, as Lester tells us, ôThatÆs not an accidentö (Mendez, 1999). CarolynÆs career ambitions distance her emotionally from her husband and daughter. She adds tension to the family system and disrupts its homeostasis even further when Lester discovers her affair at the drive-in window of his new fast-food job at Mr. SmileyÆs. When she tries to awkwardl...