How Is Semiotics Used In Pleasantville

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

This paper will be a unique interpretation coupled with an analysis of rhetoric in A Thousand Acre’s by Jane Smiley. This non-fiction novel is told in third person omniscient and is focused on the point of view of one of the main characters, Ginny Cook. A Thousand Acres was a modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear; set on a large farm and small town in Iowa. This setting is important to the plot because it is more realistic compared to a far away mystical land that is detached from its audience. Smiley uses various rhetorical and literary techniques within her book to engage readers while still keeping to the basic storyline previously written by Shakespeare. Smiley’s use of language positively aids the imagery and emotions seen

The small town of Pleasantville portrays a perfect controlled society and time where everything is literally black and/or white. As the movie progresses so does the town. The towns’ people gradually begin to act upon their urge to change and find their true, authentic selves. While they progress and practice their freedom of coming into their own, their true coloring comes

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.

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

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.

David and Jennifer are zapped into the 50’s Pleasantville show and become the son and daughter.

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.

The appearance of color in Pleasantville showed that the town and citizens were undergoing change, and that this change was making the inhabitants feel free and similar to people from the ‘90s. When objects and people around town quickly turned from black-and-white to color, many of the older, more traditional citizens of the town resisted the change. Pleasantville mayor Big Bob speaks of the changes, “up until now, everything around here has been, well, pleasant. Recently certain things have become unpleasant. Now, it seems to me that the first thing we have to do is to separate out the things that are pleasant from the things that are unpleasant” (Pleasantville). Big Bob and a large group of citizens, mostly consisting of the older men of the town, form a group of people trying to keep the town “pleasant,” or not colored. This group begins putting up signs around town banning colored people, similar to situations that African Americans dealt with before the civil rights movement. They also harass all the colored people on the streets, and even vandalize and destroy Bill Johnson’s shop for having colorful art on the windows. Finally, the group has meetings featuring all the influential non-colored people in town, and this new assembly draws similarities to Nazism with their symbols and beliefs.

Comparing both ‘The Giver’ and ‘Pleasantville’, they each deeply explore the theme of freedom and choice. In ‘The Giver’, the citizens of the community live in a world where they make very little decisions of their own, and lead a life where everything is set. "Our people made that choice, the choice to go to Sameness.” For example, no one gets a choice at want they want to do in life, as the elders decide their futures at the age of twelve. The only two people in the community that can independently think are Jonas and The Giver, due to having memories of the past, when everyone could think freely and feel real emotions. Similarly, in ‘Pleasantville’, the characters also have little control as they are deprived of independent thought and follow the same routine every day. The simple clarity of black and white matches the idealised nature of the world, where everything is perfect and simple. Everyone in Pleasantville has given up colour, knowledge, new experiences and pleasure in order to keep things “pleasant” and uniform. In the beginning of both ‘The Giver’ and ‘Pleasantville’, their worlds are in black and white. As Jonas, and the citizens of Pleasantville start to discover new things about the "real world" and individuality, both worlds slowly start turning to colour. “If everything's the same, then there aren't any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things!”

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

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

Music is an important signifier of setting and shows the idea of ‘The importance of change’ clearly throughout the film. When Jen and David first enter Pleasantville the recurring songs and motifs for example ‘Take 5’ by Dave Brubeck which is played at the beginning in the soda shop gives the town of pleasantville a very joyful and ‘pleasant’ atmosphere. This music perfectly matches the naivety of the teenagers as they engage in good,clean fun with their peers. As the idea of ‘The importance of change’ starts to appear in pleasantville,the music becomes more complex and darker to portray the new rebellious mood that has seized Pleasantville. An example of this is when the new code of conduct was issued and one of the rules were ‘In no event shall any music be tolerated that is not of temperate or ‘pleasant’ nature’.In a scene when the ‘coloureds’ were all gathered at the back

Analysis of an aspect of visual form in the film ‘Repulsion’ In the 1964/65 film ‘Repulsion’ by Roman Polanski, the story is about the conflict between reality and fantasy or sanity and insanity inside the main character’s mind – Carol played by Catherine Deneuve. Therefore the narrative technique of symbolism is used to display visually to the film’s audience what happens to Carol’s mind. In this particular instance, the degeneration of Carol’s state of mind is symbolised.