Sam Mendes, “American Beauty”, 1999, The Dancing Plastic Bag Scene

“American Beauty” is a 1999 American drama film by screewrriter Alan Ball and directed by Sam Mendes, in his feature directorial debut. Academics have described the film as a satire of the American middle-class notions of personal satisfaction and beauty. The film also explores the notions of materialism, self-liberation, romantic and paternal love, sexuality, and redemption.

Mendes’s dominant directorial style was composed and deliberate, making extensive use of static shots and slow pans and zooms to generate tension. Conrad Hall, the cinematographer on the film, complimented this style with peaceful shot compositions to contrast with the turbulaent on-screen events.

Screenwriter Alan Ball developed the idea of the dancing plastic bag scene from an encounter he had in the early 1990s. About 1991-92, Ball watched a plastic bag blowing in the wind outside the World Trade Center in New York City. He said later that, after watching the bag for ten minutes, it had provoked and unexpected emotional response. This idea of the plastic bag dancing is inserted  in a meeting scene between Wes Bentley, playing amateur photographer Ricky Pitts, and Thora Birch, playing the role of Jane Burnham. The music accompanying the scene is track eight from the “American Beauty Soundtrack” album.

“It was one of those days, when it’s a minute away from snowing, and there’s this electricity in the air. You can almost hear it, right? And this bag was just dancing with me, like a little kid begging me to play with it, for fifteen minutes. That’s the day I realized there was this entire life behind things, and this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Video’s a poor excuse, I know, but it helps me remember. I need to remember. Sometimes there is so much… beauty… in the world, I feel like I can’t take it, and my heart is just going to cave in.”