Modernized Society In Pleasantville

Pleasantville changed. In the beginning of the movie everyone were “equal” and by the end of

The film Pleasantville had displayed a lot of importance in such a way we can relate to the past, up until now. This film had given many examples of different perspectives that I was able to capture and connect to. Although this film took place a while back, the director of this movie casted actors and actresses that are acting in present movies today. While these actors and actresses played their part, they portrayed their character in such a way where I was able to grasp and add my opinions of perspectives of what was going on. This film was mostly about change, so it was easier to get my personal opinions of this show. I was aware to find three perspectives in this film which were a functionalist perspective, internationalist perspective, and conflict perspective.

The movie Pleasantville is a movie that expresses the three theoretical perspectives of sociology through a story of two teenagers going back in time. The main characters who travel back in time to the 50s are Bud Parker and Mary Sue Parker. With vastly different social environments from their era to the 50s, they are sent back in time to progress Pleasantville’s society from black and white to color. Throughout the movie Pleasantville the three theoretical perspectives, Functionalism, Interactionism, and Conflict, are defined through changing 1950s American society.

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

Color in Pleasantville is something totally unheard of until one day when David and Jennifer are sent there through their television. In Pleasantville, everything is in black and white and nothing ever changes. It is always bright sunny skies with a high of seventy-two and low of seventy-two degrees. Everyday is exactly the same and everything is perfect in their eyes. There is never any fighting in this town and the only thing the fire department ever does is save cats from trees. The wives do everything for their husbands, like doing all the cooking and cleaning. The children always obey their parents and never fight with their siblings. All the men go to work at exactly the same time everyday and expect dinner on their tables as soon as they get home. At the town’s high school, the basketball team has never missed a single basket in a game and they have never lost a game. Every single thing in Pleasantville is perfect without a single complaint.

Alien in one definition is: “Too different from something to be acceptable or suitable,” and Illegal in one definition is “Not allowed by the law.” (Mirriam-Webster Dictionary) The words ‘Alien’ and ‘Illegal’ have inherent negative connotations. A person does not need to know the intimate or factual circumstances associated with those words to understand their symbolism. When those words are used to label the social group of undocumented Latino day laborers the inherent reaction is to see them in a negative way. The individuals become a stigmatized group. The people against undocumented immigrants in Farmingville saw the Latinos through the lens of the stigmatized group “illegal aliens.” They thus became

1. Using symbolic interaction theory as your guide, explain how the terms “aliens” and “illegals” helped shape public opinion/attitudes in Farmingville towards Latino day laborers. What do these words mean? How did these definitions influence perceptions and behaviors?

The 1920’s was a great and important decade for the United States. After World War I, the United States went through events and changes that, overall, made the United States a much better place to live. New advances in technology and industry improved American life in more ways than just one. Americans had better wages during this time, more leisure time, and overall, had a better life than ever before. In addition, the 1920’s advocated social and cultural change as well. During this time period, the United States did not return to Normalcy, and instead developed attitudes that changed the life of the people of the United States forever thanks to social changes, cultural changes and changes in technology.

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

Eventually, the black and white population of Pleasantville in now full of vibrant colours, each with personality and individuality. On the contrary, pleasures in Pleasantville were soon considered taboo, which erupted chaos amongst the people of the community. Books that were full of knowledge and mystery were burnt; many colourful items were confiscated, banned by law of Pleasantville. Not so pleasant.

My transition to Kingsville has been a blessing experience. I owed it all to the Brothers of Phi Delta Chi, who are also my roommates, Cale Davis and Jordan Tran. They took me in when almost all the apartments were filled. They even offered help to clean and move things into new place. The list can go on. They truly live by the motto to create a home away from. They were the reason why I am a Phi Delta Chi. I have received so much help. Therefore, I started to provided useful information to the future P1s and helping hands to match the predecessors.