The Cinematic Features Displayed in Pleasantville and The Truman Show

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

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.

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

The film Pleasantville shows the changes in American society over the past 50 years by placing two teenagers into the Pleasantville show, which was from the 50’s. The movie depicts how there is no longer the “American Dream” and no longer a perfect way of life and the changes the world has made. The world that the teenagers come from is filled with sex, drugs, money, and is very different from the way the world was in which the Pleasantville Show took place in. Morals and values have changed in the people and in society that the teenagers came from and shows it would be impossible to return back to the kind of life style the world had in the 50’s.

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

The Truman Show, is a film starring Jim Carrey, directed by Peter Weir. The film revolves around Truman Burbank, who is the star of The Truman Show, the show within the film. The Truman show is a live stream of Truman's life, filmed by hidden camera's capturing his everyday movements. Truman is a key character in the film, who helped me to understand the important message of the film. Truman's developments during the film and the manipulation of him and his surrounding environments helped to understand how the media and big corporations have excessive power and control over society and people's opinions.

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.

Throughout this journey to find the truth, lots of similarities between the life of Truman and Siddhartha can be found. By depicting his life as a parallel version of Siddhartha’s life, the idea of spiritual journey and enlightenment is indirectly shown in the film. Furthermore, The Truman Show can be analyzed as the

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

The film mirrors the change in American society post World War II as an unrecognizable city to previous generations. The economic

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

A lot can happen in sixty years, and America is no exception to that statement. It is arguable that one of the biggest differences regarding America in the 1950s to modern America is culture. The movie “Pleasantville” reflects much of these cultural differences from 1950s to today in a creative and thoughtful way. It also provides much useful insight into the cultural conflicts America faced throughout the 1950s. The many differences between 1950s culture and modern day culture, my own opinion which time period I would personally choose to live in and cultural conflicts of the 1950s will be discussed throughout this essay.

This town that they live in is mundane and could exist in many parts of America making the show relatable to anyone that lives in or near a town called Springfield. This fictional family’s life and struggles in the middle class represent clichéd circumstances that middle class Americans face every day; they are just overly dramatized for humor. Middle class families usually struggle with making enough money to both pay the bills and for buy the things that they want. These families often have two parents, more than one child, a car, a home, and maybe even a pet, so their finances must be allocated to account for all of their expenses. The income they make may barely be enough to keep their possessions or feed the family.