This one doesn't have a lot of point except that we watched American Beauty for my class and then we talked about it today in class. I was a bit amused when the question came up about what made signified that it took place in America. See, we're studying film composition in class and establishing shots, etc.; the sort of things that tell you what's going on and where you are in a film. There are a lot of things that I never thought about before, probably because I'm not supposed to. For example, when you're watching a film and it's set in the old west on a ranch, you see a part of the fence where the cattle are, well you just assume that the fence goes on and is complete to hold in the cattle. They don't have to show you, you're just supposed to believe it's there. It creates space and we believe in the off-screen reality of it.
So, in some opening shots, while the credits are rolling by, we're watching the establishing shots. Or occasionally watching the credits for big names, who knows. In American Beauty you see an aerial shot of a suburb and then the street, etc. What makes this American? How should I know... the fish is the last to notice the water, you know? It turns out it has a lot to do with the layout of the streets, it's very American to have a grid with blocks and whatnot. I've since learned that people here don't think of blocks. They might say, oh it's 4 stoplights down but they won't say it's 4 blocks. Now I'm the weird one because that's the only way I can think about streets and whatnot. Oh man, I'm so American.
So, did this make any sense, or should I have left this bit of information in my head?