Image: Courtesy of Carey Fruth. See more here or follow her on Instagram here.
As Lester (Kevin Spacey) says at the end of American Beauty, "It's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world."
And so it is.
Photographer Carey Fruth seeks to redefine the notion of American beauty — literally, and in respect to the film — with the photo series featuring 14 nude women lying in lilacs. As you may recall from the film, middle-aged Lester has a recurring fantasy about his teenaged daughter's BFF Angela (Mena Suvari) lying in a bed of roses. The not-so-subtle concept suggests that Lester needs to snap out of his doldrums to "stop and smell the roses." Suddenly, Lester is doing things he always wanted (buying a pricey car, getting a "fun" job, etc.) but never had the courage to do. It's a dark, twisted tale of living life to the fullest. When Lester finally gets the opportunity to fulfill his carnal desires, he changes his mind. Angela is no longer a sexual object to him — rather, Lester sees her as a person wrought with unique vulnerabilities and strengths. He acts paternal to Angela, but embraces the fact that his attraction to her inspired him to change.
Similarly, Fruth did not want the women in her series to be sexual objects. Here, we see beauty in different shapes, sizes, ages, and colors.
"Almost every image you see in mainstream media is of one type of woman, thin white women to be specific," said Fruth in an interview with HuffPost. "But that is not actually the majority of women in our country look like. America is made up of all types of women. Women who are hungry to see themselves represented in a beautiful way. And why shouldn't they?”
Fruth explained that her motivation was to empower women. She wants all ladies to feel confident and beautiful in their own bodies.
"When women come into my studio, I want to prove to them that they ARE as beautiful as they always feared they weren't, then maybe they can let go of that fear," Fruth said. "By stepping into a fantasy dream girl world and by letting go of that fear, they free themselves up to direct that energy they once wasted on telling themselves that they weren't good enough to elsewhere in their life.”
The power of multi-faceted beauty is especially apparent with the bed of lilacs. What’s more stunning than naked confidence, and a fresh take on a semi-old film?