The late '90s saw the release of a series of classic white-collar liberation films. Fight Club and American Beauty were two of the best-known.
American Beauty is a pop-culture icon; critics and public raised their voices in unanimous praise of its "
wit and insight". It follows the adventures of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), a middle-aged man who is sexually obsessed with his teenage daughter's best friend. Burnham is internally freed by this pursuit, and finds through the self-awareness it brings that his responsibilities have sedated him. He quits his desk-job to work at a fast-food restaurant and starts smoking pot. He finds release and happiness through this and other imitations of his teenage years.
The thesis of American Beauty is that happiness springs from (a.) freedom from responsibility and (b.) independence from socially imposed standards.
The problem with this is that it's wrong.
Living for the moment and dispensing with self-control are not freedom, they are limitation. Imagine if you lived for the moment and quit your job to drink beer and watch TV. The financial freedom that working creates would disappear, and you would find your life a very cramped business in very short order. If you live for the moment in relationships, you will vent anger when you have anger and you will alienate the people you care about. If you live for the moment as you make decisions about eating, exercise, &c, you will probably gain weight.
American Beauty itself cannot realistically adhere to its ideas, and Burnham's character is redeemed in the viewer's eyes through exercise (discipline), better treatment of others (discipline), and a final decision to stay away from his daughter's teenage friend (discipline). The only ways, in fact, that Burnham's glibly espoused philosophy is followed are his job-switch and pot-smoking.