American

Beauty: Three Levels of Representation in

Thomas Newmans Score

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents .............................................................................................................................................. 2

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 3

Representing reality ....................................................................................................................... 4

Representing the surreal .............................................................................................................. 9

And a world in between ..................................................................................................................... 14

Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 19

Notes and References .................................................................................................................. 22


Sources............................................................................................................................................. 27

INTRODUCTION

In 1999, theatre director Sam Mendes made his debut in cinematography with the film
American Beauty, which one year later went on to win 5 Academy Awards and 6 BAFTA
awards, including the one for best film. Based on a play by Alan Ball, the film is an insight on
life in suburban America at the end of the last century.
While some scholars have dealt with the psychological connotations of this film1 and others
have considered the relationship between its source music and its characters2, a thorough
investigation on Thomas Newmans compositional choices for its soundtrack has not yet
been addressed. As Karlyn pointed out, the main characteristics of Newmans score are his
use of elements of minimalism, electronics and modal harmonies 3 . In this essay, I will
analyse the way these compositional elements are used in relation to three different levels in
the representation of the visual, musical and narrative sub-texts.
The first level we encounter defines the films locale in the narration of the characters lives:
in this context, I will highlight Newmans borrowings from the techniques of minimalism that
help define a plausible and realistic Americana landscape. Furthermore, I will address the
relationship between the use of repetitive patterns and some aspects of capitalist society,
such as the use of repetitions in advertisement.
As a second layer of representation, I will analyse the musical devices Newman4 uses during
the dreamlike scenes. These compositional and production choices are used as a means of
evoking a sort of distorted reality where the main characters sexual fantasies unfold.
A third representational space can be found in scenes where a sense of concrete reality is
present, yet some features in the musical and visual discourses suggest that something
more is happening beyond what is immediately observable.
This reading of American Beauty can not only shed some light on the reasons behind
Newmans choice of certain compositional tools over others but also helps us understand the
aesthetics of such a successful score.5

REPRESENTING REALITY

Mendes film is at the same time a realistic insight on American suburbia6 and a caricature of
its inhabitants. The means by which this film succeeds in representing life in American
suburbs can be found in some compositional choices in Newmans score.
Musically speaking, as soon as the title cue Dead Already7 breaks in (at 00:01:09)8, along
with an overview of the neighbourhood and the posthumous narrating voice of Lester
Burnham (Kevin Spacey), we can easily identify some of its main characteristics: the use of
repetition, mallet instruments and electronics.

Newmans choice of using mainly mallet instruments followed a precise request by director
Mendes9, whose main concern was in fact to make use of a percussive, rhythmic music to
propel the story forward.10
As Dead Already evolves, we can hear more instruments being progressively layered over
the initial marimba ostinato (mainly percussion and stringed instruments):

The additional process, the use of minimal motivic material, the focus on mallet sounds and
the repetition of patterns can all be effectively linked to some of the main aspects of
minimalist pieces. 11 In his article Thankless Attempt at a Definition of Minimalism, Kyle
Gann attempts to define the main characteristics of minimalism in music and lists twelve
peculiarities in minimalist composition, which include the use of static harmony, repetition, an
additive process, a steady beat and linear transformation. He also adds No minimalist piece
makes use of all these, but I could hardly imagine calling a piece minimalist that did not use
at least a few of them.12 Thus, not all being conditions sine qua non, one can easily label
Newmans score for American Beauty as minimalist, although this term should be used

cautiously. In this respect, the way in which Newman juxtaposes pauses to break the
repetition of the initial ostinato (for example at 00:01:18 and 00:01:31) prevents the cue from
being fully minimalist. Here, the breaks in the continuous ostinatos serve two main
functions. The first is for filmic needs, i.e. to parallel the structure of Lesters monologue and
to allow for the diegetic sounds in the scenes involved (for example, the second break in the
music is in sync with Lesters clock alarm). The synergy between the music and Lesters
monologue can also be noticed in the introduction to the Burnhams: the camera floats on
the streets and then focuses on Lesters house. Here his wife Carolyn (Annette Bening) is
pruning her roses and his daughter Jane (Thora Birch) is in her bedroom. While sarcastically
introducing his family, Lesters voice is contrapuntally interwoven with the first pattern, which
is interrupted by electronically generated sounds that start on b. 4 of the first cue. The
second function of these breaks is to enhance the visual and narrative aspects in the scene
by using silence. On the importance of using silence in his scores, Newman stated:
What if I leave it [the scene] alone, and I dont do anything? () and put a 4-beat
pause in the music? So that rather than turning the corner in a compositional sense you
are allowing the visual to turn a corner, or the dramatic thing to turn a corner, and you
are catching it on the other side.13
The use of silence breaks the continuous repetitions at the core of minimalist music, which
are a consistent characteristic of this compositional style even when used in film music14.
Therefore, I will refer to the scores main compositional tool as minimalism of means, rather
than using the term minimalist in its strict sense.
Two important aspects in localising this score are the use of a non-teleological musical
construction and the use of non-developmental thematic material. The first is linked to
minimalist practices because it is what Mertens finds at the foundations of American
repetitive music and what differentiates it from the European tradition.15 It is also important to
notice that this minimalism of means does not strive to convey a sense of Lesters feelings
about his life16 (his monologue being a decadent act of self-awareness rather than selfcommiseration) and that his nihilist description clearly points out his disengagement towards
his life. While blackmailing his employer, he describes himself as just an ordinary man, with

nothing to lose, implying that what he has constructed in his life (i.e. his career, his marriage)
is insignificant to him at that point. This in a way justifies the use of an emotionally
uncharged, repetitive music during Lesters nihilistic acts of self-analysis.
Additionally, the non-teleological construction of the music in the movie sets it apart from
classical Hollywood procedures in film scoring, which were heavily influenced by European
post-romanticism17 and were also used to yield a sense of human-ness to the cinematic
medium,18 in contrast with the transparent, almost impersonal style of this soundtrack. This
rejection, although not explicitly acknowledged by the composer, is nonetheless apparent in
Newmans choice of repetition over harmonic complexity:
I guess my thought is on the nature of how you repeat a phrase, and what repeating a
phrase does in terms of the ear's ability to listen to other things. Oftentimes by using
sampled instruments the main motoric drive starts to disappear and begins to allow the
ear to listen out. () There have to be ways of letting harmony do less so that you
listen more sonically19
In Ex. 1.2, where Newman juxtaposes thematic material over repetition of patterns, we can
observe how the piano theme is constructed from a simple interval of a major third20 that is
varied in a very simple manner. The minimalism of means thus permeates this score even
on a thematic level. The cue starts after Lester blackmails his employer (00:44:11).

Another important aspect to consider is Newmans composing process. He described it as

partially relying on studio improvisation and experimentation with small ensembles, which
gave their active contribution to what is heard on the final score.21 He also stressed the
importance of mixing as a key stage of his compositional process.22 This can be clearly
heard throughout the score, where the abundant use of reverberation, equalisation and
panning is used as an active part of the composition itself23 in line with modern, productionbased methods of film scoring.24
While it has been argued that non-teleological and non-developmental means of musical
construction help establishing locale in American Beauty by separating it from the past
European traditions of film music25, a question may arise on how the use of repetition also
enables the score to suggest a temporal and geographical localisation. In his work on
minimalism and repetitive music Repeating Ourselves, Robert Fink claims that the culture
of repetition is at the foundations of capitalist modernity and is also experienced as an active
constituent of subjectivity by consumers.26
The culture of repetition thus saturates modern capitalist society, with the term modern
hinting at temporal localisation and the term capitalism clearly referring to the American
capitalist model, therefore implying a socio-economic geographical localisation. Many of the
characters in this film experience the culture of repetition in some form or another: Lester is
the most explicit case, working for an advertisement company where he sits all day long in
his boxed desk, surrounded by dozens of identical cubicle workspaces. Carolyn carefully
nurtures her roses, so that they all look perfectly (and unnaturally) alike27, just as they would
in an advertisement. Jane worries that her body is not as likable as she wants it to be and
she is considering a breast implant that should help her appearance fit the canons of beauty
imposed on teenagers by the media: this is yet another instance of the way this culture of
repetition can operate even on physical subjectivity. Finally, they Burnhams all live in one of
those tract houses based on stereotyped designs28 that populate the suburban landscapes.
Moreover, American Beauty is contructed in a way that makes viewers empathise with its
characters and their humdrum daily life, and therefore experience its repetitiveness.29

The film is also closely related to the mechanics of promoting ourselves as in an

advertisement. For example, Lester Burnham, during the garage scene with colonel Fitts,
states that his marriage is just for show. A commercial, for how normal we are when we are
anything but. Carolyns lover Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher) also describes his beliefs with
these words: it is my philosophy that in order to be successful, one must project an image of
success at all times, a statement that has the ring of self-advertisement. It is somewhat
ironic that advertisement music has widely imitated several features of this soundtrack since
its release in 1999.30
As Fink argues, repetition is a structural characteristic of advertisement.31 While minimalism
employs repetition on an extended timescale to enstablish its way of recombining teleology
and consequently fulfill the listeners creation of desire,32 Newmans score uses repetition
interspersed with slight variations in the ostinatos and, more importantly, with silences. This
is certainly dictated by the movies narrative needs, but it also serves to join both characters
and viewers in a state of hypnotic listlessness 33 : viewers hear Lesters derisive and
emotionless monologue on how he feels dead already while Newmans repetitive ostinatos
lure them into a similar state of torpidity.

REPRESENTING THE SURREAL

Mendes and director of photography Conrad L. Hall have acknowledged the influence from
painterly construction in shooting this film, and mentioned the work of painter Ren Magritte
as one of their main influences, especially in the dreamlike sequences. 34 Additionally, they
deliberately use the term surrealism when describing the way they played around with
proportion, frames and setting, with Hall mentioning Magrittes startling images in frames
that should not be that size.35

The term surrealism refers to a European visual arts movement that emerged in the mid
1920s and whose main tenets were the importance of the inner mechanisms of the mind, an
appreciation of dream as an act of revelation36 and a broad interest in politics.37
Nevertheless, as Richardson argued in his book An Eye For Music, Because surrealism is
an idea conceived with reference to competing discursive formations, it would make little
sense to go in search of a definition of a term that is all encompassing.38
In my discussion, I will refer to the term surreal and surrealism outside their original
meaning, relying instead on Ren Magrittes broader notion of using the surrealistic
representation of familiar objects placed in unusual contexts to unlock new experiences.39
Similarly, in American Beauty, real and surreal elements are often interwoven, the visual
and musical subtexts floating in a sort of liminal space between the two. As director Mendes
stated, [He and Hall] tried to blur the real into the surreal.40
There are several dreamlike scenes in the film, mostly dealing with Lesters sexual fantasies
about his teenager daughters friend Angela. It is important to notice however that there is
not a single instance of night dream 41 in these scenes: Lester is always awake when
fantasizing about Angela. Newman emphasizes these moments with the use of ostinatos,
percussion sounds and glissandi along with detuning techniques. For example, in the
cheerleading scene (starting at 00:14:34), an arrangement of the diegetic tune On
Broadway morphs into the non-diegetic cue Spartanette while the camera closes up on
Lesters eyes staring blankly at Angela dancing. In this cue, Newman makes abundant use of
electronically generated drones, microtonal inflections, filtered percussion sounds and
sounds with an undefined pitch localisation. Electronically generated glissando sounds are
also used alongside with their instrumental counterparts, for example a pedal steel guitar.
This use of a liminal space between pitches can be seen as a parallel to the mechanisms of
daydream, a sort of twilight zone in which reality (i.e. identifiable pitches) blurs with the
undefined (glissandi).

10

In the cue Choking the Bishop, which accompanies Lesters fantasy about Angela bathing in
roses in a steamy ambiance (starting at 00:40:46), Newman uses detuned mandolin
ostinatos with a sliding bass line underneath:

11

Similarly to what happens in Magrittes paintings such as Le Joueur Secret or La

Reproduction Interdue42, Newmans use of detuning and glissandi can be considered a
means of bending reality: in fact, these treatments of sounds can challenge our sense of the
visual and acoustic space we are being exposed to.
Furthermore, the eradication of preconceived notions of reality is also one of the main
messages of the film, and a point of arrival in the characters lives. In this respect, scriptwriter
Alan Ball stated that the movie is about how we have preconceived notions about things and
then there is usually a lot more going on.43
The most used musical system in twentieth Century European music tradition is certainly the
equal, 12-tone temperament44: one could easily consider it as the conventional framework
encompassing our listening experience as a Western audience. 45 Newmans music
challenges the ordinary Western listening experience when we hear those uncertain, shifting
or detuned sounds. In other words, this music effectively complements the surrealistic visual
aspect in these scenes because it shakes our perception of what is common and ordinary,
i.e. the clear localisation of sounds through the constrained boundaries of the equal
tempered scale, our listening reality. Therefore, we can think of such a listening experience
as part of the reflective agenda that Richardson considers one of the main features in
surrealist films and that exhorts us to link such an audio-visual experience to the perception
of our daily lives.46
Similarly to the representational mechanisms in Magrittes art, the surreal experience of
daydream is experienced through the blurring of any clear boundary between what is familiar
(i.e. the chromatic organization of sounds) and what is not.47
An example of these techniques can be found in the Root Beer cue (starting at 00:35:01).
This is the scene where Lester imagines kissing Angela in front of his fridge. The piece
contains many electronically generated sounds that slide through pitches avoiding tonal
stability, except for a drone that resonates throughout. At 00:35:35, the glissando figure in
the bass seems to be joining the pitch of that drone. The listeners ear in that moment is thus
induced to hold on to that pitch as a center, but the bass figuration does not remain on that

12

sound, conversely it starts to slide upwards and downwards, imparting a sense of instability
and non-resolution.

Here the music acts as a beacon of the surreal world we are about to enter: of course,
having already witnessed examples of Lesters sexual fantasies earlier into the film, we could
expect another instance of surrealism, but what really makes us aware that we are entering
his fantasies is the way the visual and sound elements work together. Visually, we can tell it
is an imagined situation from the fact that Lester and Angela appear completely isolated from
the rest of the people in the room, and also from the fact that after kissing Angela, Lester
expels a rose petal from his mouth. As Richardson puts it, the audio-viewer is provided with
clues that everything is not right or, scientifically speaking, plausible.48
Musically, the cue is remindful of Spartanette: it contains the same drone and a similar
approach to the percussion parts, but also a larger amount of glissandi and weird sounds. It
is the combination of unreal, apparently random sounds and visual elements that helps the
viewers realise that they are about to experience one of Lesters fantasies.
As American psychologist William A. White argued in his treatise Dream Mechanisms, as
opposed to conscious thinking,
the thinking in which ideas follow one another without selection, coming and going
without apparent reason, and corresponding, not at all, with any relation between the
individual and reality [is the kind of thinking that takes place] either during the dream of

13

sleep, or during day dreaming, () and the thoughts which come at such times we no
longer call thoughts, but phantasies49.

In other words, the association between images of roses coming out of Lesters mouth and
the uncertainty of those sounds and of their resolution does not correspond to our experience
of audio-visual reality, and this is why it suits the oneiric representation well. This is a clear
instance of how the dreamlike logic alters the normal codes of behaviour and the forms of
representation that govern the interior world of the film and its characters.50

AND A WORLD IN BETWEEN

A slightly different approach can be observed in scenes that are not located in a daydream,
but still do bring about a strong sense of the surreal. One of such scenes is when Ricky
shows Jane footage of a bag floating in the air, which he filmed on his camera. During the
scene, Ricky states that after looking at it, he suddenly realised that there is so much beauty
in the world [that he] felt [he] cannot take it. The overlying concept of beauty behind all
things is a central theme in this film and it returns as a final statement at the end, when
Lester dies and reconsiders his past life. Moreover, the association between a mundane
object like a shopping bag and the revelation about the higher concept it hints at can again
be linked to the aesthetics of Magrittes paintings: in fact, in his interview with Adrian Maben,
the painter stated that in his work everyday things can enable one to discover a kind of
poetry, which is totally unfamiliar. 51 Newman scored this passage quite differently in some
respects: he made use of modality and shifting meters as a means of representing a timeless
scene. Furthermore, there is no additive process in the orchestration 52 during the
recurrences of the American Beauty theme, as can be seen from Ex. 3.1 (the cue starts at
00:59:25):

14

Here, the composer plays with the liminal space between reality and the surreal on two
levels: with modal harmony and changing meters. The presence of chords built on C dorian
modality on one hand, and the use of parallel fifths on the other, twist the mechanisms of
tonality and destroy the teleology of tonal progressions, directing the ear of the listener
towards a different rapport of gravitation around the centre of the key.53 The alternation
between the C minor and F major chords also redefines the functions of these chords within
the tonal scheme plus the way they gravitate around each other. In other words, they do not
function within the rules of the minor tonality (there is no tritone to govern their attraction):
on the contrary, their role of primary and secondary54 chords functions in the parallel yet
different world of modality. As an audience, we have the feeling that something more is going

15

on: we experience this music in a familiar framework (the tempered scale) but at the same
time we distinguish a different set of relationships among the rules of this parallel world.
This can be seen as another way of using an ordinary object (a diatonic scale) and by
changing its inner mechanisms, lead the viewer to reconsider his experience of the music in
the scene.
Additionally, the shifting meters, even if they likely result from synchronisation matters,
strengthen the sense of a timeless music that parallels the random movements of the bag.
Differently from the surreal cues, Newman does not use sliding pitches here: as already
mentioned, all notes are clearly identifiable as belonging to the equal tempered scale.
Another interesting use of modality can be found in the scene when Angela is having her
sexual encounter with Lester, at the end of the film. In the cue Angela Undress, Newman
relies on gentle electronic sounds used as both lightly sliding and fixed drones.
In this respect, Newman stated: drones interest me so much. They allow the ear to go to a
different spatial place as opposed to a harmonic place. 55 Again, this compositional tool
brings about a different approach to the way this music is constructed and the soundscapes
that it helps create.
Furthermore, drones as a compositional tool are just another way of avoiding development
and teleology and another form of repetition, though one that acts on a single tone or on a
set of tones. 56 As Joanna Demers pointed out on drone music, listeners and scholars hear
in these works an alternative sense of time, what Kramer calls vertical time, a timelessness
in which the work could continue indefinitely without start or finish.57 In this case, similarly to
the borrowing of repetition techniques from minimalism, Newman uses drones on a timescale
that is obviously limited by narrative and filmic urges. Thus we can consider his use of
drones as sonic elements rather than as a structuring compositional asset.
In the first section of Ex. 3.2, we can see how a simple contrapuntal line is used to thin out
the harmony while understating the scenes drama, a crucial aesthetic decision in much of
Newmans scoring process.58

16

In this scene the relationships among the different elements in the visual and acoustic
material points to some interesting connections. The cue starts at 01:41:39, when Lester
gently undresses Angela lying on the couch. Newmans light piano texture is only one part of
the acoustic soundscape, although it contains the main thematic material. The composer
makes also use of either static drones that resonate on one pitch throughout (bb. 6-8) or a
tone that is left in midair and then slightly bent over (bb. 1-3). He also uses a drone with a
rhythmic connotation (bb. 4-5). The acoustic space also comprises the diegetic sounds of
rain, pouring outside the Burnhams house, and Angelas anxious breathing. We could easily
think of these diegetic sounds as a different kind of drones: the sound of the rain is a
constant, almost grainy sound object that does not change much - it is just there as a
background noise and in fact its function in the overall soundscape is similar to that of a

17

drone; on the contrary, Angelas breathing becomes a pulsating drone: although varying in
frequency and amplitude, this sound is present throughout the scene and is a predominant
feature.
The visual aspect is also very important, as it is in the whole film59: the room is dark except
for a blue light reverberating through the ambiance, coming from outside the window. This
constant blue light reflects on all the surfaces and it is the main light source in the frame. It
reverberates throughout the frame like a visual drone.

In the second theme, the use of drones decreases, the focus now being on the piano melody
at the top of the texture:

This contrasting section makes use of mainly acoustic instruments such as the string section
and a slightly denser harmony. Again, the harmonic discourse is very simple and it relies on
three simple triads in which two (the ones built on the root A) do not contain the third. The
shift to acoustic sounds is made even clearer if we consider the pedal point in the lower voice
of the piano part (b. 1 in the second theme). Here the throbbing drone we encountered in bb.
4 and 5 in the previous example is imitated in the left hand. These shifts in instrumentation
define a sound world where the visual elements on one side and the sonic components on

18

the other melt into one another, giving a sense of unity. They all work together to give the
impression of a suspended scene. Only when Angela confesses that in fact she is still a
virgin, the music disappears and so does the sense of a timeless experience.
Similarly to what happens to our perception of reality, during this sexual encounter between
an adult and a teenager, the viewers response is also questioned on a moral level. The
boundaries of what is ethically acceptable are distorted by what the music and the images
portray as a tender scene. In this case, the timelessness evoked by the music lends a sense
of transcendence to what is essentially a dismal, purely sexual encounter, by elevating the
scene to a surreal status and hinting that more is happening than the viewers can see. In
fact, this is the moment when Lester accomplishes his final transformation: his idea of Angela
as a sexual object, which has been the main trigger to his detachment from his past life
during the whole film, disappears and suggests that his preconceived notions were in fact a
figment of his imagination, a misconception of what is real.
As soon as Lesters glaring miscalculation of what he thinks is real (i.e. his preconceived
notion about Angela as a sexual target) is eradicated, his paedophilic fantasies vanish and
his process of awakening, which will eventually lead to his violent yet peaceful death, is
completed.

CONCLUSION

In this essay I have gone over a few concepts in an attempt to explain why Newmans work
suits the various themes that this film takes on. In the first place, the use of repetition has
been interpreted as having a twofold aim: the first is suggesting locale, i.e. suburban
America, because it represents the main trait that links this score to some features of
American minimalism; the second is that it is the core of mass production and
communication in the present day, so entrenched within consumerist society that we all

19

experience it on our skin. I personally think that repetition is the summa of life in the modern
age: we all relate to products that are desired, made, sold and consumed in an engineered
cycle of repetitive frenzy.
One could argue that repetition is used mainly during monologues in order to prevent the
audience being distracted from the story, rather than as an active musical asset. While this
argument appears acceptable, it must be reckoned that Newman himself, on the contrary,
considers it as a useful means of grabbing the viewers attention on sounds that are
introduced through an additive process layered over repetition. As a consequence, repetition
is just another approach to film music teleology: it works with minimal resources (i.e. the
introduction of tiny alterations over several reiterations of the same material) but it has an
effective validity in stimulating our attention on a microscopic level while it induces a state of
hypnosis that alters our entire experience of the filmic discourse. In effect, repetition works
within a continuous feedback loop with the images: the less change we experience in the
music, the more we focus on the visual aspect, so that when new elements are added, we
experience them sonically rather than by the usual mechanisms of harmonic tension and
relaxation60, which at times could run the risk of being clichd.
Additionally, this work calls for a film score where the composer is still a central figure, but his
tools provide a far more prominent contribution to shaping the overall soundscape than in the
past. This music exists in a sound world that does not strive to push the narration forward
with harmonic movement: it is experienced instead as a soundscape to contemplate, with an
approach more akin to production-based music.
On a similar basis, the idea of a mutual influence between the visual and musical elements
that I assessed in the second chapter underpins an interesting framework of the relationship
between sounds and images. In response to the distorted reality of daydream, the composer
is forced to rethink the nature of the ordinary resources at his disposal, thus leading to
different solutions to the challenges of scoring. Those assets are not only the combination of
pitches, rhythm and timbres, but also the reinterpretation of the visual experience on a sonic
basis, relying on the electronic treatment of sounds.

20

As I have pointed out in Chapter 3, this reading of reality can also happen in a more
metaphorical way: a realistic scene can be scored with music that suggests that something
more is actually happening, without being too descriptive. In those cues, the use of modality
and drones has been considered as a main asset in giving a different perspective to the
viewers experience of the scene.
I think that the relevance of a film resides in its aptitude for stimulating the viewers'
awareness of themselves and others. American Beauty does so admirably, since it draws
upon a humourous yet grotesquely decadent script that entertains us and at the same time
forces us to reconsider our preconceptions about life, sexuality and consumerism in the
modern age. What is more, this film raises questions about our eagerness to discover beauty
behind the seemingly mundane in our everyday experience of life. Newmans score parallels
this approach by using ordinary tools at the composers disposal that morph according to the
degree of naturalism in the scene. It is the musical counterpart of the films main message of
questioning our preconceived notions.

21

NOTES AND REFERENCES

1

Joyce King Heyraud, American beauty. Directed by Sam Mendes, Psychological

Perspectives: A Quarterly Journal of Jungian Thought, 40:1 (2000), pp.144-148 and Karlyn,
Kathleen Rowe, Too Close for Comfort: American Beauty and the Incest Motif
Cinema Journal, Volume 44, Issue 1. (2004).
2

Drew Miller, A Kiss After Supper American Beauty, Stylus Magazine, (20/07/2004).

Frank Karlin and Rayburn Wright, On The Track, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2004), pp.
93, 233, 270, 373.
4

It is important to mention the contribution of mixing engineer Dennis Sands to the

production of this score. He is credited as music scoring mixer here: Dennis S. Sands,
imdb.com, <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0762304> (last visited : 08/05/2015); and also for
the mixing of American Beauty - Original soundtrack (1999) and as engineer for American
Beauty Original Motion Picture Score (2000) in Dennis Sands|Credits, Allmusic.com,
<http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dennis-sands-mn0000203129/credits>
(last
visited
:
08/05/2015).
5

Winner of the Anthony Asquith Award for Original Film Music in 2000. Bafta Awards,
awards.bafta.org,<http://awards.bafta.org/award/2000/film/anthony-asquith-award-forachievement-in-film-music> (last visited: 12/05/2013).
Awarded with a Best Score Soundtrack Album For A Motion Picture in 2000. Winners,
Grammy.com
<http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=thomas+newman&field_nominee_work_v
alue=&year=All&genre=All> (last visited : 03/05/2015).
Nominated for the Best Musical Score award at the 2000 Academy Awards. Results Page
Academy
Awards
Database

AMPAS,
awardsdatabase.oscars.org,
<http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=143139018137
2> (last visited: 12/05/2013).
6

Robert S. Rothenberg, American Beauty, Farmingdale: Society for Advancement of

Education, Vol.129 (2000).
7

the examples have been transcribed by the author from Thomas Newman, American
Beauty Original Motion Picture Score, Geffen 450 233-2, 2000 and they sound a half-step
lower than the ones appearing on the DVD. This was made for easiness of transcription.
8

Timecodes are taken from American Beauty DVD, DSL1205 Dreamworks, 2006.

He knew he wanted kind of percussive, rhythmic music, and he had a whole concept of
tuned percussion instruments that he wanted to propel the story forward, Newman recalls in
Kevin Cassidy, The Maestro: Born into Film Music Royalty, Thomas Newman had to Learn
how to Trust His Instincts, Hollywood Reporter, e5 Global Media, Vol. 416 (2010), p. 8.
10

As Newman recalls in an interview: He [Mendes] was interested in percussion and mallet

instruments, so I started working on various ideas that involved xylophones and marimbas.
John Burlingame, Spotlight: Thomas Newman (20 January 2000), Variety
http://variety.com/2000/music/news/spotlight-thomas-newman-1117761178/>
(date
last
accessed: 23 April 2015).

22


11

Hartmut Obendorf, Minimalism, Designing Simplicity, (London: Springer-Verlag, 2009),

p.50; Rebecca Marie Doran Eaton, Unheard Minimalisms: The Functions of the Minimalist
Technique in Film Scores, ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing (2008), p. 23-24;
12

Kyle Gann, Thankless Attempts at a Definition of Minimalism, Audio Culture, (New York,
London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2004), p. 302.
13

Karlin, p. 153

14

For example, composer Philip Glass uses longer sections of straight repetition throughout
his scores for Koyaanisquatsi and The Hours. For a detailed analysis of Glasss music for
these scores, see Daniel Goldmark, et al. Beyond the Soundtrack: Representing Music in
Cinema. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), pp. 48-65; and Kristin Alicia Force,
From "Koyaanisqatsi" (1982) to "Undertow" (2004): A systematic musicological examination
of Philip Glass's film scores, ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing (2009),; and Eaton, pp.
101-109.
15
Wim Mertens, Basic Concepts of Minimal Music, Audio Culture, (New York, London:
Bloomsbury Academic, 2004), p. 307.
16

Mertens also argues that repetitive music () is non-representational and is no longer the
medium for the expression of subjective feelings. Ibidem, p. 309.
17

Roy M. Pendergast, Film Music, A Neglected Art, (New York, London : W. W. Norton &
Company, 1992), p. 10ff., p.39ff.
18

Caryl Flinn, Strains of Utopia: Gender, Nostalgia, and Hollywood Film Music. (Princeton,
New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2008), p. 42.
19

Adams, Doug Finding Newman: An Interview with the Overdubbing Prince of Hollywood
Film Scoring, Film Score Monthly 9.1 (Jan 2004), p. 15.
20

this interval will be reduced to a minor third in the other two main themes of this score, i.e.
the ones in the American Beauty and Angela Undress cues: they are both constructed over
minor thirds, the first on G Bb, the latter on two minor thirds (E-G and B-D)
21

Cassidy, p. 8.

22

Adams, p. 15.

23

In this respect Newman was certainly aided by mixing engineer Dennis Sands. For a
creative use of long reverberating tails that can be clearly heard during the breaks of the
repetitions, see the marimba parts in Dead Already. Also in Arose, the panning and filtering
work in the triangle and high percussion sounds clearly signify more than a mere rhythmical
work. In fact, these sounds are an acoustic complement to the rose petals coming down from
the ceiling on Lesters bed while he fantasizes about Angela. Just as the petals are
imaginary, so do the high pitched percussions sound unnatural, with their harmonics overemphasized through equalization.

24 Similar approaches to production-based scoring procedures can be seen in recent films.
For example in The Social Network (2010) and Gone Girl (2014) (dir. David Fincher, music
by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) or Tron Legacy (2010) (dir. Joseph Kosinski, music by
Daft Punk)
25

See endnote 18

23


26

Robert Fink, Repeating Ourselves: American Minimal Music as Cultural Practice. (Los
Angeles, London: University of California Press, 2005), p. 4
27

Joyce Heyraud, American Beauty. Directed by Sam Mendes, Psychological Perspectives,

40.1 (2000), p. 144
28

This is from a quote of Jacques Attalis work Noise. In this work, Attali maintains that
mass production signifies the repetition of all consumption, replacing individuality with
homogeneity and repetition, even on the kind of houses we live in. Robert Fink, p. 7.
29

it is a story about what we all dream, hope and fight for, as actor Spacey puts it in
American Beauty DVD Look Closer: Bonus Material, DSL1205 Dreamworks, 2006.
30

The use of mallet sounds particularly has been imitated in the years after its release in
many commercials. In Adams, p. 15 the interviewer claims that There are still commercials
all over doing the American Beauty type of sound. And Newman answers
Yeah, I've heard that. It's the use of mallets more than anything. Percussion mallets.
31

Fink argues that in post-World War II, advertisement campaigns shifted their interests to
the creation of desire in customers, making the society dependent on a systematic mass
production of desire for objects. This was conveyed through the use of repetition in
advertisement. Fink, p. 10
32

Fink, p.31

33

regarding the hypnotic effects of repetition, especially on the mind of consumers and TV
audiences, see Fink, pp. 77-78.
34

American Beauty DVD Look Closer: Bonus Material Storyboard presentation, DSL1205
Dreamworks, 2006.
35

Ibidem.

36

In 1924, Andr Breton, in his seminal writing Surrealist Manifesto maintained that
surrealism is founded on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of association,
hitherto neglected, in the importance of dreams, the undirected play of thought. Jos Pierre,
A Dictionary of Surrealism, trans. W. J. Strachan (London : Eyre Methuen, 1974), p. 149.
This is a clear reference to Lesters revelation about the inconsistency of his life coming from
a dream-like experience.
37

Additionally, Surrealist poets and artists likewise participated in contemporary thinking

about gender and subjectivity, as well as in the fields of ethnography and political
philosophy, from J. P. Eburne, Surrealism, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and
Poetics. Eds. Roland Green et al. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012). Credo
Reference. (last visited: 25/04/2015).

38

John Richardson, An Eye for Music, (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), p.
36. Nevertheless, he cites various sources in order to attempt to give such a

definition on various levels. He addresses the semiotic, psychoanalytical, aesthetic,

ontological and institutional aspects of surrealist practices. Cf Richardson, pp. 39 ss.

24


39

In Adrian Maben, Monsieur Ren Magritte (Antenne-2, RM Productions, Westdeutscher

Rundfunk, 1978), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNHNWTqiE8I> (last visited:
11/05/2015), Magritte stated: I want to breathe new life into the way we look at the ordinary
things around us. But how should one look? Like a child, the first time he encounters a reality
outside himself.
40

American Beauty DVD Look Closer: Bonus Material Storyboard presentation, DSL1205
Dreamworks, 2006
41

This aspect can be linked to Magrittes concept of the dream in his work: The word
dream is often misapplied when people talk about my paintings. There are dreams very
different from the ones we have while sleeping, on the contrary these dreams are of a
voluntary nature, similarly to Lesters self-induced states of sexual hallucination. Quote taken
from Adrian Maben, Monsieur Ren Magritte.
42

In Klaus Herding, Hamburg and Rome. Ren Magritte and Surrealism. The Burlington
Magazine Publications, Vol. 124 (1982), p.470 the author writes In this work (Le Joueur
Secret) our traditional ideas of space, perspective, weight and action are jolted by such
manipulation of traditional objects and regarding La Reproduction Interdue he adds The
reality of the viewer himself is placed in doubt. In this section I am referring to such aspects
of doubtful reality and traditional ideas being questioned as a link between Magrittes idea of
surrealism and the dreamlike scenes in American Beauty.
43

American Beauty DVD Look Closer: Bonus Material, DSL1205 Dreamworks, 2006.

44

Temperament, The Harvard Dictionary of Music. Eds. Don Michael Randel (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 2003). Credo Reference. (Last visited 05/05/2015).
45

Of course, there has been a great deal of experimentation and innovation on this subject in
the XX Century, by both composers and musicologists, but such experimentation is labeled
as alternative and not as common practice. For a more detailed analysis see for example
Daniel James Wolf, Alternative Tunings, Alternative Tonalities. Contemporary Music Review
22.1 (2003), pp. 3-14.

46

Richardson, p. 75. It is important though to make a distinction between what Richardson

calls neosurrealism and the aesthetics of American Beauty: this film is not a surrealist nor a
neosurrealist film. Here the surrealistic elements in the audio-visual experience are used in
very circumscribed sections only.
47

At the same time, one must also acknowledge the differences between the two
approaches: while Magritte put familiar objects in unfamiliar juxtapositions and non-plausible
proportions, Newmans music questions our recognition of reality through the use of
uncertain pitch localisation and electronically manipulated sounds.

48

Richardson, p. 36

49

William A. White, Dream Mechanisms. (New York: MacMillan Co, 1916), p.119

50

Richardson, p. 35

51

Adrian Maben, Monsieur Ren Magritte.

25


52

credited to Thomas Pasatieri in Thomas Pasatieri | Credits, Allmusic.com,

<http://www.allmusic.com/artist/thomas-pasatieri-mn0001736069/credits>
(last
visited:
08/05/2015).
53

Regarding the relationships among primary and secondary functions of chords in modality,
see Vincent Persichetti, Armonia del Ventesimo Secolo (orig. title: Twentieth Century
Harmony), trans. Fabio Jegher, Luca Cerchiari, (Milano : Guerini Reprint, 1993 original ed.
New York : W. W. Norton Company, 1965), pp.28ff.

54 The chord that contains the characteristic note of this modality (i.e. the major sixth) is
considered as being secondary and can be considered as a sort of dominant chord. cf.
Persichetti, p. 29-30.
55

Adams, p. 15.

56

Joanna Demers, Maximal Objects in Drone Music, Dub Techno, and Noise, (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2010), p. 99. In this work, Demers analyses drones as appearing in
genres of electronic music that span over a large timescale, whereas in Newmans
soundtrack drones appear and fade out in shorter periods of time, due to filmic needs.

57

Ibidem.

58

Karlin, p. 177.

59

Mendes in this respect maintained: There is a distinctive visual style that I am trying to
give the film in tandem with Conrad Hall, the cinematographer. American Beauty DVD Look
Closer: Bonus Material, DSL1205 Dreamworks, 2006.

60
On his preference for harmonic simplicity, Newman maintained: Everything is demanding
whether it is harmony, performance or sonic landscape. I think you have to choose what
remains simple. If you have two chords that repeat, over which you're doing a very breathy
alto flute in a low register, you'll tend to be able to hear that breathy sound much more than
you would if the harmonies were constantly changing. From Adams, Doug. Finding
Newman: An Interview with the Overdubbing Prince of Hollywood Film Scoring. 9 Vol. USA:
Vineyard Haven LLC, 2004, p. 15

SOURCES

Books
DEMERS, Joanna. Maximal Objects in Drone Music, Dub Techno, and Noise: Listening
through the Noise: The Aesthetics of Experimental Electronic Music. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2010.
EBURNE, J.P. Surrealism, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Eds. Roland
Green et al. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012). Credo Reference. (last visited:
25/04/2015).
FINK, Robert. Repeating Ourselves: American Minimal Music as Cultural Practice. Los
Angeles, London: University of California Press, 2005.

26


FLINN, Caryl. Strains of Utopia: Gender, Nostalgia, and Hollywood Film Music. Princeton,
New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2008.
GANN, Kyle. Minimal Music, Maximal Impact. Audio Culture, ed. Christoph Cox et al. New
York, London : Bloomsbury Academic, 2013, pp.
GOLDMARK, Daniel et al. Beyond the Soundtrack: Representing Music in Cinema.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
KARLIN, Frank, and Rayburn Wright, On The Track: a Guide to Contemporary Scoring. New
York: Routledge, 2004.
MERTENS, Wim. Basic Concepts of Minimal Music, Audio Culture, ed. Christoph Cox &
Daniel Warner. New York, London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2004.
OBENDORF, Hartmut. Minimalism, Designing Simplicity. London: Springer-Verlag, 2009.
PENDERGAST, Roy M. Film Music, A Neglected Art. New York, London : W. W. Norton &
Company, 1992.
PERSICHETTI, Vincent. Armonia del Ventesimo Secolo (orig. title: Twentieth Century
Harmony: Creative Aspects and Practice), trans. Fabio Jegher et al., Milano : Guerini
Reprint, 1993 orig. ed. New York : W. W. Norton Company, 1965.
PIERRE, Jos. A Dictionary of Surrealism, trans. W. J. Strachan. London : Eyre Methuen,
1974.
RICHARDSON, John. An Eye for Music: Popular Music and the Audiovisual Surreal. Oxford,
New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Temperament, The Harvard Dictionary of Music. Eds. Don Michael Randel. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 2003. Credo Reference. (Last visited: 05/05/2015).
WHITE, William A. Dream Mechanisms. New York: MacMillan Co, 1916.
Articles
ADAMS, D. Finding Newman: An Interview with the Overdubbing Prince of Hollywood Film
Scoring. Film Score Monthly, 9.1 (2004), pp. 14-17.
CASSIDY, K. The Maestro: Born into Film Music Royalty, Thomas Newman Had to Learn
How to Trust His Instincts. Hollywood Reporter, e5 Global Media, Vol. 416 (2010), pp. 8-9.
EATON, R. M. D. Unheard Minimalisms: The Functions of the Minimalist Technique in Film
Scores. ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing (2008).
FORCE, K. A. From "Koyaanisqatsi" (1982) to "Undertow" (2004): A systematic
musicological examination of Philip Glass's film scores. ProQuest, UMI Dissertations
Publishing (2009).
HERDING, K. Hamburg and Rome. Ren Magritte and Surrealism. The Burlington
Magazine Publications, Vol. 124 (1982), pp. 469-471.

27


HEYRAUD, J. K. American beauty. Directed by Sam Mendes. Psychological Perspectives:
A Quarterly Journal of Jungian Thought, 40:1 (2000), pp. 144-148.
ROTHENBERG, R. S., American Beauty. Farmingdale: Society for Advancement of
Education, Vol.129 (2000), p. 80.
ROWE, K. Too Close for Comfort: American Beauty and the Incest Motif.
Cinema Journal, Volume 44, Issue 1 (2004), pp. 69-93.
WOLF, D. J. Alternative Tunings, Alternative Tonalities. Contemporary Music Review 22.1
(2003), pp. 3-14

Web Resources
Bafta Awards, awards.bafta.org,<http://awards.bafta.org/award/2000/film/anthony-asquithaward-for-achievement-in-film-music> (last visited: 12/05/2013).
BURLINGAME, John. Spotlight: Thomas Newman (20 January 2000), Variety
http://variety.com/2000/music/news/spotlight-thomas-newman-1117761178/>
(date
last
accessed: 23 April 2015).
Dennis
Sands|Credits,
Allmusic.com,
<http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dennis-sandsmn0000203129/credits> (last visited : 08/05/2015).
Dennis S. Sands, imdb.com, <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0762304> (last visited :
08/05/2015)
MILLER, Drew. A Kiss After Supper: American Beauty, Stylus Magazine, (20/07/2004).
<http://stylusmagazine.com/articles/a_kiss_after_supper/american-beauty.htm> (last visited:
11/05/2015).
Results Page Academy Awards Database AMPAS, awardsdatabase.oscars.org,
<http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=14313901813
72> (last visited: 12/05/2013).
Thomas Pasatieri | Credits, Allmusic.com, <http://www.allmusic.com/artist/thomas-pasatierimn0001736069/credits> (last visited: 08/05/2015).
Winners,
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ue=&year=All&genre=All (last visited : 03/05/2015).
Recordings
Thomas Newman, American Beauty Original Motion Picture Score, Geffen 450 233-2, 2000
Videos

28


Adrian Maben, Monsieur Ren Magritte (Antenne-2, RM Productions, Westdeutscher
Rundfunk, 1978), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNHNWTqiE8I> (last visited:
11/05/2015).
American Beauty DVD, DSL1205 Dreamworks, 2006.

29