During adolescent life stigmas imprint on our knowledge of what it means to be a man, and after years of conditioning male stereotypes, the American Male faces the white collar work force and encounters the pressures of supporting middle class consumerism and upholding the image of a strong provider which ultimately emasculates men who are unable to fulfill these models. The result of this cyclical dehumanization of men in America is either the stereotypical rigid male figure or the immaculate man who is looked down upon for his inability to uphold gender norms. The crisis of masculinity, a concept researched by gender critics such as Donna Peberdy, Robert Beuka, and others, is projected in plethora of art, film, and literature that combats norms of masculinity such as The Graduate (1967), and American Beauty (1999), both of which capture the emotional turmoil of white middle class America that drives the film’s protagonists towards escapism from the mainstream. The Graduate, directed by Mike Nichols and written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, utilizes the unique cinematic style of Robert Surtees to narrate the struggles of the newly graduated Ben Braddock, played by Dustin Hoffman. The plot and the cinematic elements work together to recreate a sense of meaningless in the role of middle class white males. Ben Braddock’s inner dissonance and sense of impending doom leads to him falling for his parent’s friend, Mrs. Robinson, whose seduction of Ben sparks an adulterous relationship that allows both parties to retreat from the dissatisfaction in their normal lives. Sam Mendes 1999 film, American Beauty, imitates The Graduates stylistic elements that evoke the meaningless of middle class American consumerism; however, the protagonist, Lester Burnham played by Kevin Spacey, is in his mid-forties rather than Hoffman’s newly graduated character. Lester Burnham from American Beauty is a near representation Ben Braddock twenty years into the future, living a lifeless existence on the other side of the middle class American money mill. While there is a relationship between Hoffman and Spacey’s character there are also differences that insinuate the changed effect of masculine stereotypes as strict norms loosened throughout the last half of the twentieth century, and other factors of equalizing homosexual and women’s rights evolved and affected the role of a middle class patriarch. Sam Mendes illustrates the effects of Ben Braddock’s fear of middle class meaninglessness within Lester Burnham who is most of the way through his own middle class rat race and bears the scars of its erosion in his diminished character who failed to uphold the image of a strong patriarch and is instead, an emasculated and pitiful character. This essay explores American Beauty and The Graduate in the context of psychoanalytic and gender film theory, and the various cultural alterations that affected the crisis of masculinity. Though critics have noted both films are individual responses to the male crisis in middle class America, I would like to explore more fully the manifestation in incestuous sexual relationships as a means of escapism from emotional turmoil in suburban America and impend on the desires of unsatisfied male protagonists. Closer attention to these relationships, which are inversely structured in The Graduate and in American Beauty, reveal that there is not only a crisis in middle-class white males facing consumerist ideologies of success, but also in other roles within the American family and their functioning within the patriarchal framework. Assessing the dynamic of Lester Burnham’s relationships with himself, his wife, and his teenage crush in the wake of the Crisis of Masculinity, middle class America, and gender critiques, the effects of consumerist America cause the white male to feel dissatisfied and emasculated throughout the structural changes in society between Hoffman’s portrayal in The Graduate which responded to harsh expectation on the familial patriarch to Kevin Spacey’s emasculated character in American Beauty.
Many critics look at American Beauty through psychoanalytic film theory and suggest it reinforces the repression of desire. Repression is often the fuel of the desire, and the fact that he couldn’t have Angela, made Lester want her more. The moral of the film then, is for middle class men to be aware that their desires are fueled by not having it, and to accept what they do have.
Many feminist film critics question the crisis of masculinity because it gives men the license to act out a crisis when they can’t have what they want, but women have been oppressed throughout American history. From that view, the crisis of masculinity is a ploy to continue male dominance in America.
American Beauty critiques the male gaze, as Angela Hayes is the object of Lester’s gaze through over the shoulder shots looking at Angela or fantasy scenes. When he realizes Angela is an innocent virgin, Lester doesn’t sleep with her, and his desire fades because he doesn’t see her through the 
male sexualized gaze.
Angela and Bens fear of the future brings them to seek sexual escapism in older people people as a form of shelter and also rebellion against the middle class life they face. Lester and Mrs. Robinson both feel a sense of loneliness and dissatisfaction with their lives against the unexciting backdrop of suburban life.
Due to familial and cultural changes, the films both have different conclusions about how to deal with desire in middle class America. The Graduate concludes with Ben and his runaway bride realizing they have just hopped back into the same cycle as they ride away on a bus. Their faces show that it is inescapable, and despite their fight to flee, they’ve just committed to their lives together which will likely be lived the same as their parents.Lester, however, re-enters his paternal role when he comforts Angela who is crying after refusing to sleep with her because she is a virgin. But this time, he is a more willing father and sensitive man than ever before, coming to terms with his identity as a father. He understands his desire was fueled by his repression and he seems satisfied.
It seems that Mendes is portraying the paradox that simply being aware of repression as the fuel of desire is not enough to overcome the desire; just like suburban America is inescapable in The Graduate, as is the cycle of repression and desire, and there is no solace.I looked at a critique that also considered the homoerotic incestuous desires of Lester’s neighbor, Colonel Fits. He suppresses his desire so much that he acts like a homophobe. Eventually, he kills Lester because his suppression tore him apart. However, the lack of film critique on Colonel Fits’ homo-incestuous desires as opposed to the critique on Lester’s might suggest the film’s apparent promotion of repression might be distorted. Colonel Fits’ sexuality is already outside of the realm of suburban norms because 
he is homosexual, which somehow validates his incestuous desires to film critics who focus solely on Lester’s desires. This might suggest that American Beauty is telling audiences they should not repress themselves because they will end up killing someone. Also, if we violate certain suburban norms so that we are already on the ‘’outside’’, does it give license to do whatever we want going forward? Should Lester Burnham align his actions with his desires so that they are fulfilled so that he will not have expectations pinned to him because he is already an outsider of Suburban America, therefore is allowed to act on his incestuous desires without being critiqued?
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