Major Themes In Pleasantville

Pleasantville is a motion picture that was released in 1998 which is a fictional drama on

The novel ‘The Giver’, authored by Lois Lowry, and the film ‘Pleasantville’, directed by Gary Ross, share numerous similarities. Many of the themes and messages conveyed throughout both the novel and film are very alike. Some of the various similarities between the themes explored include the concept of colour, denial of true emotions as well as the main character being a harbinger for change.

The 1998 film, Pleasantville, written, produced, and directed by Gary Ross is a “swell” example of the three perspectives of sociology. Two 1990 teenagers get trapped in the blue-sky world of a 1950’s sitcom. While spending time with the people in the small town of Pleasantville, the teens begin to drastically change the the bland ways of the townspeople and alter their world completely. Throughout these events, viewers can find examples of the functionalist perspective, interactionist perspective, and conflict perspective.

Pleasantville, (before David and Jennifer) is a “dream world” if you will, everyone is always happy and there are never any conflicts with anyone. Once the two of them arrive however, everything changes. In Pleasantville everything is black and white, but after Jennifer has sex

Everyone has fears, whether they are as small as going swimming or as big as heights, everyone has them. In the movie Pleasantville, fear of change plays a big role in the citizens of Pleasantville. The citizens are so accustomed to the same thing over and over again that when Jennifer/Mary Sue decides to do something different the whole town is disturbed by this change. For David it’s the same thing, at first he is scared to do anything different and to alter anything but after everyone he loves starts to change and they start getting assimilated, he realizes he can’t be scared and has to be brave to alter Pleasantville for the better.

In the 1998 film, Pleasantville, the idea of defying a supreme leader and exploring new taboo ideas is demonstrated by the rebellious mural painted by Bud/David and Mr Johnson. This mural painted in vibrant colours explores ideas that are nothing short of unthinkable to the bland citizens of Pleasantville. The elements painted on the mural include representations of sex, knowledge and music, which is against the core values of this idealistic town. While Pleasantville seems to have the all-american dream with white picket fences and nuclear families, it is evident that they are lacking many of the vivacious elements present in a normal flawed life.

The movie ‘‘Pleasantville’’, written, produced and directed by Gary Ross, approaches a period in America’s history which subsequent generations idealise as a better and more stable society. He portrays this time period of the 1950s as a time when people and life were less complicated; a time when everyone knew their place in society. However, as the film ironically shows, this was a time when people were more ignorant, racist and most certainly sexist. Ross demolishes this illusion of the great 1950s American society by showing how its defects are gradually changed from black and white to colour. Ross shows that ‘change is inevitable’ once a catalyst for change is added to the ordered life of “Pleasantville”. Once David and Mary-Sue begin

Perfection is shown in Pleasantville by everyone dressing nicely and no one ever being homeless. Pleasantville is a town where the weather is nice every day, everyone likes everyone, and no one does anything bad. When the basketball team shoots a basket it is impossible for them to miss because of the perfect world they live in. With no one ever doing anything bad or anyone disagreeing with something it creates a perfect society. However, in reality once someone disagrees with something or some else a dystopian society is exposed due to its failed attempt at perfection. A failed attempt at perfection is demonstrated when Skip and Bud were playing basketball and Skip asked Bud if he could take his sister out on a date. Bud told Skip no and told him it’s not the time for that right now. When Skip was denied by Bud he was unable to make a shot anymore since his world was not perfect anymore. By Bud saying no to Skip a dystopian society is presented as a result of a failed attempt at

How are we made aware of the filmmaker's attitude towards change? Refer to three specific episodes from the film. (excl. concl. stages)In Pleasantville, the filmmaker, Gary Ross, conveys his attitude towards change through the characters of David and Jennifer who are transported into the 1950s sitcom "Pleasantville". He doesn't necessarily demonstrate change to bear a positive result; rather, he addresses that change is essential to the development of society and self and that it is important to understand and accept change. Ross contrasts the ignorance and mindlessness of the unchanged people of Pleasantville with the hunger for knowledge that the changed (or coloured) people possess, communicating to the viewer that change and knowledge

The film Pleasantville directed by Gary Ross is about two modern teenagers, David and his sister Jennifer, somehow being transported into the television, ending up in Pleasantville, a 1950s black and white sitcom. The two are trapped as Bud and Mary Sue in a radically different dimension and make some huge changes to the bland lives of the citizens of Pleasantville, with the use of the director’s cinematic techniques. Ross cleverly uses cinematic techniques such as colour, mise-en-scene, camera shots, costumes, music and dialogue to effectively tell the story.

On our journey to Brownsville the first struggle we encountered was with transportation to get to Broadway Junction. Of course the MTA isn't always reliable but there were frequent stops in between stops. While waiting for the train to get up and running again various people said things like “ugh not again,” “Something always happens on the A” and other similar phrases as well as others that seemed accustomed to train issues. Now if you think about it, the A train is highly populated by Hispanics and Black people. Could this have to do with why the MTA hasn't attempted to fix their transit situation. On another note most of the trains heading toward Brooklyn and the Bronx have the older not modernized train carts than the ones heading toward Manhattan or Queens. Theres a huge change in atmosphere just in the manner of transportation.

“Five hundred men moved silently toward the gates that would shut out life and hope for most of them forever. Quarter of a mile from the railroad we came into a massive palisade with great squared logs standing upright in the ground. Fires blazed up and showed us a section of these and two massive wooden gates with heavy iron hinges and bolts. They swung open as we stood there and we passed through into the space beyond. We were at Andersonville.” – Private John McElroy.

A TV repairman shows up out of nowhere on their doorstep offering to fix the remote. The repairman quizzes David on Pleasantville trivia and after he answers all of his questions correctly, he gives David a “special remote”. The brother and sister fight over the remote and get zapped into the television show “Pleasantville”. This sets up a majority of the clashes with a 1990’s brother and sister team going back in time to a perfect small town family of 1958. The time period chosen for the television show was intentional. The oldies telev

As the story begins, Bradbury establishes that there is a problem by stating, “What’s wrong with it” as Lydia senses there is a problem with their nursery; George is still completely blind to the fact that their “mechanical genius” had built them a room that “has become a channel toward destructive thoughts.” (Bradbury 1, 2, 11). These examples show that the Hadley’s advanced technologies has let them grow apart from each other. In doing so George and Lydia Hadley have been betrayed by their own children. Bradbury shows that even though the Hadley’s are extremely lucky with their “thirty thousand dollars” HappyLife home and all their possessions they were still willing to give it all up for the sake of having a better family (Bradbury

In Pleasantville, the film displays the change of an extroverted and introverted pair of teenagers from the mid-20th century who take a life experiencing journey into a