User:Lester Burnham - Queenpedia.com - Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon, Discography, Bibliography, Charts

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- [[Image:lester.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Lester Burnham]]  
  
- Also known as 'Da Man. Has never heard of [[Edward Van Halen]].  
-  
- == Biography ==  
- Lester Burnham is a 42-year-old man living in the suburbs. His wife Carolyn is an ambitious realtor; his daughter Jane is an average teenager but is unhappy with her physical appearance.  
-  
- Dissatisfied with his average life and sexually frustrated by his wife, Lester finds motivation for transforming himself after meeting Angela Hayes, Jane's best friend and classmate. Angela, a beautiful, confident, and supposedly promiscuous cheerleader who aspires to be a model, captivates Lester the moment he sees her perform a school dance routine, and he develops an obvious crush on her, much to Jane's embarrassment. Angela, however, finds Lester "sweet" and later comments to Jane that if he were more muscular, she would have sex with him, which Lester overhears. He starts an intensive workout regimen.  
-  
- Meanwhile, a family consisting of Colonel Frank Fitts, USMC, his emotionally-detached wife Barbara, and their introspective, drug-dealing son Ricky moves next door to the Burnhams. Jane begins to notice Ricky videotaping her through her bedroom window, which secretly flatters her.  
-  
- Carolyn begins an extramarital affair with rival realtor Buddy, whom she has admired for some time, and at his recommendation decides to begin relieving her stress at a shooting range. Lester quits his job and blackmails his boss for an enormous severance package. Remembering how much he enjoyed his summer as a teenager, he begins work anew at a fast food restaurant. Jane and Ricky bond over camcorder footage of a plastic bag "dancing" in the wind, which Ricky considers the most beautiful thing he has ever recorded. Ricky also bonds with Lester over recollections of a headless man carrying his own head in a B movie entitled Re-Animator and the frank intimacy and honesty that comes with conversations that are fueled with G-13, genetically-engineered, $2000 per 1/8 of an ounce marijuana.  
-  
- Some time later, Lester catches his wife with her lover at the drive-through window of his fast food restaurant. Despite Lester's calm reaction, Carolyn's lover breaks off their liaison (fearing financial complications in his own divorce), and she angrily drives home with her gun, seemingly with the intention of confronting her husband, believing him to have ruined her life. Lester calls Ricky to the house for marijuana, raising the suspicions of Col. Fitts that the two are involved in a homosexual liason. He observes Ricky rolling a joint for Lester while he lounges on a couch, but due to his perspective he believes that he has observed his son performing fellatio. Convinced that his son is gay, he later confronts Ricky and threatens to throw him out of the house. Realizing that this will free him from his family, Ricky plays in to his father's mistaken impression. (He even makes up that he turns tricks to play even further into the assumption.) He uses this to finally end the violent relationship with his abusive father. He leaves, and his father simultaneously disowns him.  
-  
- Ricky goes next door to Jane and asks her if she will travel to live in New York with him. Jane not only agrees, but offers to supply money that she has been saving for a breast augmentation, though Ricky is unconcerned with money as his marijuana sales provide him a steady source of income and a cache of $40,000. Angela, who is visiting Jane's house, accuses both of being "freaks," to which Ricky retorts that she is ugly, ordinary, and boring. Angela is devastated, the implication being that Ricky has exposed her deepest fear; that she suspects she is indeed ordinary. At the same time, Lester is quietly approached in his garage while working out by a distraught Col. Fitts, who has been out in the rain. Lester attempts to comfort Col. Fitts who kisses him, believing him to be a homosexual based on what he had seen earlier. (The implication is that Fitts' homophobia was due in part to his being a closeted gay man. The complexity of this is also reinforced by the subtle suggestion that the Marine Corp colonel also possessed a small token of Nazi memorabilia.) Lester rejects this advance calmly as a misunderstanding.  
-  
- Returning to his family room, Lester finds a vulnerable Angela in tears. He admits his attraction to her, and that he has been working out. He begins to make love to her, but suddenly stops and re-connects with his paternal caring for her at the last moment when she admits that she is a virgin. He cannot bring himself to take her virginity and instead makes her a sandwich in the kitchen. For the first time in a long while, Lester realizes that he is truly happy. As Angela heads to the bathroom, Lester contemplates an old photo of his smiling family - unaware that a gun is being held to the back of his head.  
-  
- The movie ends with Lester's description of his life flashing before his eyes, interspersed with scenes of his family and others at the moment of the gunshot. Ricky and Jane react to the gunshot from the upstairs bedroom, Angela from a bathroom, Carolyn from outside the front door (where she had been approaching the house with her own gun to confront her husband). As Carolyn disposes of her gun and weeps for Lester, Col. Fitts is seen back in his own house removing latex gloves and a blood soaked shirt.  
-  
- Lester's last words in the narrative mirror words spoken by Ricky to Jane when they first talked after he walked her home from school and they watched the "dancing plastic bag" footage. Sometimes, he observes, there is so much beauty that it feels like his heart will burst. Lester goes on to say he could be angry for what happened to him, but there is just too much beauty that flows through him to hold onto the anger. He finishes by saying that you may not know what he means by that, but don't worry. You will.  

Current revision as of 01:29, 16 June 2009

Retrieved from "http://queenpedia.com/index.php?title=User:Lester_Burnham"
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-[[Image:lester.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Lester Burnham]]
-Also known as 'Da Man. Has never heard of [[Edward Van Halen]].
-== Biography ==
-Lester Burnham is a 42-year-old man living in the suburbs. His wife Carolyn is an ambitious realtor; his daughter Jane is an average teenager but is unhappy with her physical appearance.
-Dissatisfied with his average life and sexually frustrated by his wife, Lester finds motivation for transforming himself after meeting Angela Hayes, Jane's best friend and classmate. Angela, a beautiful, confident, and supposedly promiscuous cheerleader who aspires to be a model, captivates Lester the moment he sees her perform a school dance routine, and he develops an obvious crush on her, much to Jane's embarrassment. Angela, however, finds Lester "sweet" and later comments to Jane that if he were more muscular, she would have sex with him, which Lester overhears. He starts an intensive workout regimen.
-Meanwhile, a family consisting of Colonel Frank Fitts, USMC, his emotionally-detached wife Barbara, and their introspective, drug-dealing son Ricky moves next door to the Burnhams. Jane begins to notice Ricky videotaping her through her bedroom window, which secretly flatters her.
-Carolyn begins an extramarital affair with rival realtor Buddy, whom she has admired for some time, and at his recommendation decides to begin relieving her stress at a shooting range. Lester quits his job and blackmails his boss for an enormous severance package. Remembering how much he enjoyed his summer as a teenager, he begins work anew at a fast food restaurant. Jane and Ricky bond over camcorder footage of a plastic bag "dancing" in the wind, which Ricky considers the most beautiful thing he has ever recorded. Ricky also bonds with Lester over recollections of a headless man carrying his own head in a B movie entitled Re-Animator and the frank intimacy and honesty that comes with conversations that are fueled with G-13, genetically-engineered, $2000 per 1/8 of an ounce marijuana.
-Some time later, Lester catches his wife with her lover at the drive-through window of his fast food restaurant. Despite Lester's calm reaction, Carolyn's lover breaks off their liaison (fearing financial complications in his own divorce), and she angrily drives home with her gun, seemingly with the intention of confronting her husband, believing him to have ruined her life. Lester calls Ricky to the house for marijuana, raising the suspicions of Col. Fitts that the two are involved in a homosexual liason. He observes Ricky rolling a joint for Lester while he lounges on a couch, but due to his perspective he believes that he has observed his son performing fellatio. Convinced that his son is gay, he later confronts Ricky and threatens to throw him out of the house. Realizing that this will free him from his family, Ricky plays in to his father's mistaken impression. (He even makes up that he turns tricks to play even further into the assumption.) He uses this to finally end the violent relationship with his abusive father. He leaves, and his father simultaneously disowns him.
-Ricky goes next door to Jane and asks her if she will travel to live in New York with him. Jane not only agrees, but offers to supply money that she has been saving for a breast augmentation, though Ricky is unconcerned with money as his marijuana sales provide him a steady source of income and a cache of $40,000. Angela, who is visiting Jane's house, accuses both of being "freaks," to which Ricky retorts that she is ugly, ordinary, and boring. Angela is devastated, the implication being that Ricky has exposed her deepest fear; that she suspects she is indeed ordinary. At the same time, Lester is quietly approached in his garage while working out by a distraught Col. Fitts, who has been out in the rain. Lester attempts to comfort Col. Fitts who kisses him, believing him to be a homosexual based on what he had seen earlier. (The implication is that Fitts' homophobia was due in part to his being a closeted gay man. The complexity of this is also reinforced by the subtle suggestion that the Marine Corp colonel also possessed a small token of Nazi memorabilia.) Lester rejects this advance calmly as a misunderstanding.
-Returning to his family room, Lester finds a vulnerable Angela in tears. He admits his attraction to her, and that he has been working out. He begins to make love to her, but suddenly stops and re-connects with his paternal caring for her at the last moment when she admits that she is a virgin. He cannot bring himself to take her virginity and instead makes her a sandwich in the kitchen. For the first time in a long while, Lester realizes that he is truly happy. As Angela heads to the bathroom, Lester contemplates an old photo of his smiling family - unaware that a gun is being held to the back of his head.
-The movie ends with Lester's description of his life flashing before his eyes, interspersed with scenes of his family and others at the moment of the gunshot. Ricky and Jane react to the gunshot from the upstairs bedroom, Angela from a bathroom, Carolyn from outside the front door (where she had been approaching the house with her own gun to confront her husband). As Carolyn disposes of her gun and weeps for Lester, Col. Fitts is seen back in his own house removing latex gloves and a blood soaked shirt.
-Lester's last words in the narrative mirror words spoken by Ricky to Jane when they first talked after he walked her home from school and they watched the "dancing plastic bag" footage. Sometimes, he observes, there is so much beauty that it feels like his heart will burst. Lester goes on to say he could be angry for what happened to him, but there is just too much beauty that flows through him to hold onto the anger. He finishes by saying that you may not know what he means by that, but don't worry. You will.

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