American Beauty and Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs Abraham Maslow established the theory of a hierarchy of needs, believing that human beings are motivated by unsatisfied needs, and that certain lower needs must be satisfied before higher needs can be satisfied (Maslow's pp).

Rather than studying the neurotic or mentally ill, Maslow studied exemplary people such as Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Frederick Douglas to determine how they came to be successful (Maslow's pp). Unlike Skinner and Freud, he believed that people are "basically trustworthy, self-protecting, and self-governing...and that humans tend toward growth and love" (Maslow's pp).

Maslow felt that although there is a continuous cycle of negativity, such as wars, murder, and deceit, he believed that violence is not what human nature is meant to be like, and occurs only because of and when human needs are thwarted (Maslow's pp). In other words, people defend themselves by violent means, only when they are feel deprived of safety (Maslow's pp).

According to Maslow, there are general types of needs that must be satisfied before a person can act unselfishly and reach self-actualization (Maslow's pp). These deficiency needs are physiological, safety, love and esteem and as long as humans are motivated to satisfy these cravings, they are moving towards growth, and thus toward self-actualization. Maslow believed that satisfying needs is healthy, and that blocking gratification makes us either sick or evil (Maslow's pp). He felt all humans were 'needs junkies' with cravings that must be satisfied and should be satisfied, otherwise disease occurs (Maslow's pp).

A prepotent need is one that has the greatest influence over an individual's actions, however, that need will vary among individuals (Maslow's pp). For example, a teenager has the need to be accepted by a group, yet a heroin addict must satisfy the craving for heroin in order to function normally in society and will not worry about acceptance by other people (Maslow's pp). According to Maslow, when the deficiency needs...

And when these in turn are satisfied, again new (and still higher) needs emerge, and so on" (Maslow's pp). Just as one desire is satisfied, then another pops up to take its place (Maslow's pp).
Physiological needs are at the bottom of Maslow's chart, and include basic needs such as food, water, air, sleep, and sex (Maslow's pp). When these needs are not met an individual feels pain and discomfort, yet when these needs are met, then a person begins to think about other things (Maslow's pp). Safety needs, such as security of a home and family, must be met before an individual can move to the next level of love and the sense of belonging (Maslow's pp). Humans have a natural need to be loved and accepted by groups, such as work groups, family or religious (Maslow's pp). The next level of needs is esteem, of which Maslow names two types. The first is self-esteem that results from competence or mastery of a task, and the second is the attention and recognition that comes from others (Maslow's pp). Although this may seem similar to love and belongingness, the need for admiration is the need for power, for example the person who drives an expensive car to make a statement of his success (Maslow's pp). The need for self-actualization is "the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming" (Maslow's pp). In other words, people who have their other needs met are able to maximize their potential and are free to seek knowledge, peace, and esthetic experiences (Maslow's pp).

The 1999 movie, "American Beauty," directed by Sam Mendes, is a microscopic vignette of the American white middle-class. The doors of suburbia are peeled back and the audience is allowed to view inside the homes of two neighbors, the Burnhams, and the new neighbors, the Fitts. The movie is a statement about the values that the middle class, and how success and happiness is defined and measured by the inhabitants of the two-story houses on…