The Movie ' Pleasantville '

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

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.

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.

First of all, in Pleasantville, People may think that they have happy lives. They are truly independent. They can do anything that they want. In fact, their life is so conventional. For example, George is a head of a family. He works hard at his job during the working hour. Then he would come home as he always does. He would take off his coat, put down his suitcase and say, “Honey, I’m home”. Betty, his wife, would offer him a warm welcome with all the dinner that is nicely prepared on the table. They basically have

In both movies characters escape reality in order to keep their image of the perfect family. In Pleasantville, escaping from reality is done primarily conducted by David. It is suggested in Adams’s review that David comes from a broken family. Due to him striving for a perfect family, “David finds comfort in the nostalgia of a 50’s sitcom” (Adams). However, even when David gets engulfed in the sitcom and is finally apart of the Parker family, he realizes that even the family that he admired as perfect, was in fact far from perfect. Adam’s idea of escaping from reality is also portrayed in American Beauty. For example, Lester and his wife do not have sex anymore. Due to that frustration, Lester takes on a sexual interest in Jane’s friend, Angela. However, if Lester went forth with that sexual desire and actually had a sexual encounter with Angela, then could had completely ruin his image of his perfect family. First, he would be cheating on his wife, even though she already cheated on him and secondly, ruin his relationship with his daughter. In both movies the characters, it is these fantasy, which spark their improvement of self. For example, David tries to have a better relationship with his mother and Lester, starts doing things, like getting in shape, which betters

It is impossible for the individual who values freedom to be exultant in a society that is underpinned by rigid conformity. In the Novel “Nineteen Eighty Four” by George Orwell, a totalitarian future society is portrayed, through a man whose daily work is rewriting history and tries to rebel by falling in love. Whereas The film “Pleasantville” directed by Gary Ross, Two teenagers find themselves in a 1950’s sitcom where their influence begins to profoundly change the complacent world the portrayal how a dystopian and a utopian society, contest the value of time. The ironic comparisons are seen through

For some, the American Dream still holds its true definition, but the majority maintains the later, materialistic version. Since 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

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.

At the end of the movie the two girls make peace and Susanna leaves wanting an eventual full recovery for Lisa. This serves as the best example of “a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation”.(2)

Still for many people today, their main goal in life is to have a family and a house to live in. It's a fairly innocent aspiration but in the 1950s in America, this was the very ethos that permeated through, commonly known as the American Dream. The ideals of freedom and prosperity that were sought after the war gave rise to a specific ideology promoted by the bourgeoisie that was then reinforced by the underlying attitudes of society.