Pleasantville

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…

The siblings end up becoming trapped in the 1950’s tv show located in Pleasantville, Iowa. Upon arriving the siblings find that the residents of Pleasantville are perfect. It’s only after Jennifer has sex with a boy from Pleasantville's high school that things begin to change. Much like Pleasantville, the movie, The Truman Show revolves around the life of no other than Truman. Unbeknownst to Truman he is the star of a reality TV show…

and dramatic lighting (combination of low-key and sharp-lighting). The cinematic techniques impart Bob’s authority and higher social standing in the community. This is particularly demonstrated in the town meeting held for the “true” citizens of Pleasantville where he is promulgating his perspective as he states that “recently certain things have become unpleasant”. He is shot from an undershot to show power he possesses and dramatic lighting implies that the dialogue is significant. The…

The movie Pleasantville contains some overtly race related themes, but what I found more fascinating was the use of religion within the movie. As I am currently taking a course in world religions, I thought it would be interesting to analyze the movie from not just a Christian but also, eastern (Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism) religions perspective. It seems as if the director chose to use Christianity for the more visual symbolism but thematically, the movie deals a lot with the yin and yang…

movie ‘Pleasantville’ by Gary Ross. The character of ‘Jennifer’ personally interested me the most because of how she changed her identity during the coarse of the film. Jennifer was introduced to the audience as a popular teen girl who wore revealing and tight fitting clothes and wears excessive amounts of make-up. She often used short colloquial words in her speech like ‘‘yeah, right’’ and “cool” rather than proper insightful sentences. When she finds herself in the world of Pleasantville she…

Pleasantville is a comedy, produced in 1998, a time of controversial change in America. The movie portrays how idealistic American day life is different from life now and provides hope for those who believe America has passed a time of accepting society. The movie is about David, played as Toby Maguire, a nerdy high school student and Jennifer, played as Reece Witherspoon, David’s popular skanky sister. The siblings are transported into the fictional ideal or ‘pleasant’ 1950’s black and white…

x, Crash, Cry Freedom, The Pianist and Pleasantville all display different social issues, such as discrimination, conformity and charismatic leaders. Discrimination is prejudicial thoughts acted out towards anyone, usually based on his or her race and ethnicity. Anthropologists can look towards structuralism and the complex rules that determine what are good and bad, in order to know how discrimination can be spreading in a society. The films Pleasantville and The Pianist both showcase different…

welcoming, no one ever argues, and the biggest problem is a cat getting stuck up in a tree. The movie Pleasantville is a commentary on how humans are afraid of change in the world. A lot of the time we get so used to our daily routines that whenever we have to overcome an obstacle we crumble and don’t know what to do. This film does a great job showing how change can really affect people. The Pleasantville society shows a great deal of prejudice by being discriminate to those who were…

The If and Pleasantville films both share a setting in an ideal place to demonstrate truth quests. If takes a place in a British boarding school for boys where it seemed traditional, well organized and a perfect place to learn cooperation and discipline, yet it revealed self-destructive seeds. Whereas Pleasantville on the other hand is set in a fictional society where every person is pleasant with no curiosities, doubts, and enlightenments. The weather in Pleasantville is also always pleasant.…

important role in both the novel Fahrenheit 451 and the film Pleasantville. Censorship is the practice of officially examining books, and what is viewed either on television and so on, but when examining these a higher power is suppressing the unacceptable parts. With that being said in both the novel and film we see the censorship over literature and television shows being run by that society’s government. Since Fahrenheit 451 and Pleasantville have both books and television censored we find…