The Movie ' Pleasantville '

or gain knowledge of the world around them. Pleasantville never changed, it was perfect all the

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

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 film Sunset Boulevard (1950), directed by Billy Wilder, Norma Desmond exemplified a Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) by being demanding, intense and unstable. These behaviors that are consistent with the elements of abnormality include suffering, social discomfort, dangerousness, and irrationality and unpredictability. The first element that is consistent with Norma Desmond’s character is suffering. Desmond being one of the greatest movie stars in history suffers as she experiences the fall from stardom. She also suffers from identity disturbance as she reaches an unstable self-image notion. In one scene when Desmond recognizes for a moment about her age, she claims, “Look at me. Look at my hands, look at my face, look under my

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.

This also goes for the society in Pleasantville as well because they are in a television show and are extremely limited to any background information about their society as well as the people around them. When a society attempts to remain just, they hide the knowledge that they are denying their people; This then leads to the society to want to gain freedom, furthermore this makes the citizens closed minded or scared of change.

The movie Avalon presents both sides of American Dream. In the beginning, Sam Krichinsky is ecstatic to tell the story about his arrival to America in 1914. He talks about the 4th of July celebration and his first job as a wallpaper hanger with his brothers. The Krichinsky brothers do the same work; therefore, they have same amount of income. They also live together and save money to bring more relatives to America to prosper. This shows that they have strong family circle and support each other. Times change and Sam Krichinsky and his family moves to suburbs. Sam’s son Jules with his cousin open discount appliances store. That is upside of American Dream shown in the movie. One can work hard, go on his own and achieve success and happiness. At the same time, that creates discontent with Sam’s brothers Gabriel and Nathan. Sam allows his family to cut turkey on thanksgiving before Gabriel’s arrival which makes Gabriel extremely upset. He blames this on Jules getting rich and Sam’s family not having respect for his brothers anymore. He also says that it is a tradition and sign of respect to wait for a family member before starting a dinner. This is a negative side of American Dream. Some of the relatives get ahead, some stay behind and it becomes a reason for quarrel. Also, Sam and his wife Eva move out from Jules house to live on their own. It is a good thing, because their families will be separate and have more space. The wife does not have to live with in-laws anymore. All

Everything everywhere is constantly changing. People change, weather changes, plans change, everything changes; you can’t escape change. Two movies that really illustrate the concept of change are Pleasantville and Back to the Future. In both of these movies, the main characters – Marty, David, and Jennifer – are sent back into the times of the 1950s and are faced with a world completely different from their own. In Pleasantville, David and Jennifer get stuck in David’s favourite television show, Pleasantville, as the characters Bud and Mary Sue. Jennifer seems to want to stir things up, creating change throughout Pleasantville, causing things to turn to colour, while David is doing all he can to stop Jennifer from destroying their perfect world. On the other hand, in Back to the Future, Marty gets sent back in time to when his parents were his age. Unfortunately, he runs into his parents, causing his mother to fall for him, supposedly interfering with Marty’s future. All of these main characters have to deal with a lot of change – the key concept these movies have in common. While Pleasantville and Back to the Future both focus on the concept of time and change, both movies illustrate change from different perspectives. These movies also have other similar concepts, such as racism, masculinity, and the idea of the “ideal family”; however, they both differ by discussing other social issues as well.

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.

When deciding what movie to do for this particular paper I faced a few issues. I knew what the requirements were, but I wanted something different and something I could have fun watching and writing as well. So, after looking around and pondering movies for weeks I finally decided on a perfect choice The 60's directed by Mark Piznarski?

Furthermore, the movie Pleasantville reflects some of the cultural conflicts of the 1950s. To begin, racial discrimination in the 1950s was extremely prominent in society. Whites discriminated against blacks because they were taught that anyone different than themselves was evil. Pleasantville portrays this when the citizens thereof begin changing color from black and white to color. These people represent an embrace of cultural change which goes against the normal, stable and secure status quo. The people of color are persecuted against by those of black and white color because they feel their existence is threatened by this symbol of change. For example, this persecution is seen in the scene when Betty Parker is persecuted by five black and white people while out in town. The five boys threaten her with verbal and physical attacks, as would blacks or “coloreds” would be by whites in the 1950s. Another cultural conflict exemplified by Pleasantville is changing teenage culture. Two ideas that challenged the cultural status quo in the ’50s were the idea that sex is ok, and Rock n Roll. Teenagers embraced these changes, and these changes are seen in Pleasantville. For example, a location called “lover’s lane” is where teens would go in this movie to participate in taboo, status quo-challenging sexual activity with the opposite sex. The idea of this in the 1950s was not even considered,