Intertextuality, a reference to literary text in a novel used to convey a theme, is an important element to include in films which display changing in values in a society. This element is especially prevalent in Gary Ross’s 1998 postmodernist film ‘Pleasantville’. The audience is shown Pleasantville’s change in values through Ross’ use of allusions to novels; in particular Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, art works, like those of Pablo Picasso, and 1950’s sitcoms, Father Knows Best.
Ross alludes to literary texts throughout ‘Pleasantville’ to enhance his ideas of changing social values, particularly in regards to discrimination and racism. Though Ross references works like ‘Huckleberry Finn’ and ‘The Catcher in the Rye’, the allusions towards …show more content…
Women are seen as quiet homemakers whose own emotional state and wants are concealed to avoid being alienated by society who accept women only if they fall into their stereotypical gender roles. In an art piece, women can be shown to be contradictory to the traditional gender roles. One of the most important art works shown in ‘Pleasantville’ is Pablo Picasso’s Woman before Green Shutters; the work is shown when Betty visits Bill and he is showing her the libraries art book. The work shows a woman crying, presumably as she is unhappy with an aspect of her life; this unveils Betty’s own unhappiness about her constrictive life and as a result she begins crying. Betty’s liberation continues when Bill paints the naked woman, who can only be assumed as Betty, across his shop window. This is liberation as gender roles disregard a woman who is sexually active as unworthy of respect however Bill intends the piece to be in admiration of Betty character and physicality. These art works are important to Betty’s release from gender roles as instead of being happy with her home life she comes to the realisation that she is not in a nuclear family home but rather a toxic environment. The intended impact on the audience from the art shown in ‘Pleasantville’ is to understand that to be free from toxic environments women must become aware and act on their wants …show more content…
The family’s shown in 1950’s sitcoms like Father Knows Best are representations of the perfect nuclear family in a utopian society where the mother is shown to be the docile homemaker where as the father is the powerful breadwinner. There are few to no sitcoms where this is not the case. In ‘Pleasantville’, David longs for the stable, happy family in the sitcoms as his own is broken by divorce and his mother unhappiness, Ross uses pastiche to show David’s worship of the nuclear family. David admires the family’s simplicity; he believes that the family dynamics, that closely follow with traditional gender roles, makes for a better family. Though, after he protects Betty from the black and white harassers, his admiration for the utopian society shown in the sitcoms is questioned. He realises the prejudice that the people of Pleasantville have against women and those who are different, in this case people who are ‘coloured’. Ross’ use of pastiche in the beginning of ‘Pleasantville’ turns to parody as David comes to understand that the society in the sitcoms conceals the true oppressive nature of 1950’s attitudes towards women who don’t follow the strict gender roles and people who are not white. From Ross’ use of pastiche and parody, the audience is impacted by the mocking of 1950’s sitcoms image of innocence, benign entertainment as it is revealed to be attempts to
Ross alludes to literary texts throughout ‘Pleasantville’ to enhance his ideas of changing social values, particularly in regards to discrimination and racism. Though Ross references works like ‘Huckleberry Finn’ and ‘The Catcher in the Rye’, the allusions towards …show more content…
Women are seen as quiet homemakers whose own emotional state and wants are concealed to avoid being alienated by society who accept women only if they fall into their stereotypical gender roles. In an art piece, women can be shown to be contradictory to the traditional gender roles. One of the most important art works shown in ‘Pleasantville’ is Pablo Picasso’s Woman before Green Shutters; the work is shown when Betty visits Bill and he is showing her the libraries art book. The work shows a woman crying, presumably as she is unhappy with an aspect of her life; this unveils Betty’s own unhappiness about her constrictive life and as a result she begins crying. Betty’s liberation continues when Bill paints the naked woman, who can only be assumed as Betty, across his shop window. This is liberation as gender roles disregard a woman who is sexually active as unworthy of respect however Bill intends the piece to be in admiration of Betty character and physicality. These art works are important to Betty’s release from gender roles as instead of being happy with her home life she comes to the realisation that she is not in a nuclear family home but rather a toxic environment. The intended impact on the audience from the art shown in ‘Pleasantville’ is to understand that to be free from toxic environments women must become aware and act on their wants …show more content…
The family’s shown in 1950’s sitcoms like Father Knows Best are representations of the perfect nuclear family in a utopian society where the mother is shown to be the docile homemaker where as the father is the powerful breadwinner. There are few to no sitcoms where this is not the case. In ‘Pleasantville’, David longs for the stable, happy family in the sitcoms as his own is broken by divorce and his mother unhappiness, Ross uses pastiche to show David’s worship of the nuclear family. David admires the family’s simplicity; he believes that the family dynamics, that closely follow with traditional gender roles, makes for a better family. Though, after he protects Betty from the black and white harassers, his admiration for the utopian society shown in the sitcoms is questioned. He realises the prejudice that the people of Pleasantville have against women and those who are different, in this case people who are ‘coloured’. Ross’ use of pastiche in the beginning of ‘Pleasantville’ turns to parody as David comes to understand that the society in the sitcoms conceals the true oppressive nature of 1950’s attitudes towards women who don’t follow the strict gender roles and people who are not white. From Ross’ use of pastiche and parody, the audience is impacted by the mocking of 1950’s sitcoms image of innocence, benign entertainment as it is revealed to be attempts to