Pleasantville (1998) Rated PG-13
Written & Directed by Gary Ross
Who has also done The Tale of Despereaux, Seabiscuit
Cast
David Tobey Maguire
Jennifer Reese Witherspoon
George Parker William H. Macy
Betty Parker Joan Allen
Bill Johnson Jeff Daniels
TV Repairman Don Knotts
Skip Martin Paul Walker
Introduction
Tagline: Nothing is as simple as black and white.
A brother and sister from the 1990s are sucked into their television set and suddenly find themselves trapped in a "Leave it to Beaver" style 1950's television show, complete with loving parents, old fashioned values, and an overwhelming amount of innocence and naivete. Not sure how to get home, they integrate themselves into this "backwards" society and slowly bring some color to this black and white world
www.imdb.com/title/tt0120789/plotsummary
Director Gary Ross states, "This movie is about the fact that personal repression gives rise to larger political oppression...That when we're afraid of certain things in ourselves or we're afraid of change, we project those fears on to other things, and a lot of very ugly social situations can develop."
Robert McDaniel of Film and History described the town as the perfect place, "It never rains, the highs and lows rest at 72 degrees, the fire department exists only to rescue treed cats, and the basketball team never misses the hoop." However, McDaniel says, "Pleasantville is a false hope."
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasantville_(film)
Awards
Nominated for various awards in the following categories: Art/Set Direction (x2), Costume Design (x4), Music/Score (x2), Best Writer, Funniest Supporting Actor (x2), Excellence in Production Design, Best Picture (x3), Best Dramatic Presentation, Cinematography (x2), Editing (x2), Director.
Won Best Performance by a Younger Actor, Best Supporting Actress (x9), Best Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Original Score, Best Motion Picture Screenplay (Original), Breakthrough Performance.
Nominated for Oscars in 3 categories at the 1999 Academy Awards.
Nominated at the 1999 Teen Choice Award for Choice Dramatic Film.
Reviews
Pleasantville by Roger Ebert October 1, 1998 www.rogerebert.suntimes.com
In the twilight of the 20th century, here is a comedy to reassure us that there is hope--that the world we see around us represents progress, not decay. ``Pleasantville,'' which is one of the year's best and most original films, sneaks up on us. It begins by kidding those old black-and-white sitcoms like ``Father Knows Best,'' it continues by pretending to be a sitcom itself, and it ends as a social commentary of surprising power.
The movie has been written and directed by Gary Ross, who wrote ``Big,'' the 1988 movie where Tom Hanks was a kid trapped in an adult body. Here the characters are trapped in a whole world. He evokes the black-and-white 1950s sitcom world of picket fences and bobby sox, where everybody is white and middle class, has a job, sleeps in twin beds, never uses the toilet and follows the same cheerful script.
Then sparks from the emerging future begin to land here and there in the blandness. Mary Sue shares information about masturbation with her mother, who of course has never dreamed of such a pastime (as a perfect housewife, she has never done anything just for herself). As her mother relaxes in her bath, a tree outside their house breaks into flames--in full color! Ross and his cinematographer, John Lindley, work with special effects to show a black-and-white world in which some things and a few people begin switching to color. Is there a system? ``Why aren't I in color?'' Mary Sue asks Bud. ``I dunno,'' he says. ``Maybe it's not just the sex.'' It isn't. It's the change.
George Parker, meanwhile, waits disconsolately at home for his routine to continue, and the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce (J.T. Walsh, in his last performance) notes ominously, ``Something is happening in our town.'' Yes, something, in a town where nothing ever did. The film observes that sometimes pleasant people are pleasant simply because they have never, ever been challenged. That it's scary and dangerous to learn new ways. The movie is like the defeat of the body snatchers: The people in color are like former pod people now freed to move on into the future. We observe that nothing creates fascists like the threat of freedom.
Pleasantville by Joe Leydon September 17, 1998 www.variety.com
For a shy kid living in a broken home with his divorced mom (Jane Kaczmarek) and sometimes hostile teen sister (Reese Witherspoon), "Pleasantville" represents an addictively comforting black-and-white view of nuclear family life in a cheery small town.
As he gradually subverts the hermetically sealed fantasyland of a '50s sitcom with impolite urges and inconvenient passions, Ross reveals his own true colors. Some of the changes in "Pleasantville" are as liberating as they are hilarious, but while introducing the joys of real-world passions, David and Jennifer inadvertently unleash much darker forces: intolerance, paranoia, even mob violence. The tradition-minded citizens, led by mayor Big Bob (the late J.T. Walsh, in his last screen role), don't understand what's going on in their town, but they know they don't like it.
The striking juxtapositions of color and black-and-white in key scenes are dazzling. But it's the overall persuasiveness of the high-tech wizardry that truly elevates Ross' fairy tale above the level of mere gimmickry.
Allusions, References and Noteable Notes
The film uses musical compositions that reflect the theme of change, innovation and challenging conventional norms. Take Five by Dave Brubeck presented in a 5/4 time signature, very unusual at the time of its release in 1959. http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasantville_(film)
The kids at school are the first to start appearing in colors. They're curious and ready to change. They pepper Bud with questions. ``What's outside of Pleasantville?'' they ask. ``There are places,'' he says, ``where the roads don't go in a circle. They just keep going.'' Dave Brubeck's ``Take Five'' subtly appears on the soundtrack. www.rogerebert.suntimes.com
“Take Five" is a classic jazz piece first recorded by the Dave Brubeck Quartet and released on its 1959 album Time Out. It became a hit on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1961, at a time when rock music was in fashion. Composed by Paul Desmond, the group's saxophonist, it became famous for its distinctive, catchy saxophone melody and use of quintuple time, from which its name is derived.
While Take Five was not the first jazz composition to use this meter, it was the first of United States mainstream significance. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_Five
The scene of J.T. Walsh in front of the bowling alley scorecard recalls Patton's speech in front of the American flag in Patton (1970).
www.imdb.com
Example of a Quote from Patton:
Now, an army is a team - it lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of crap.
www.imdb.com
George S. Patton II, on whom the movie Patton was based, was an officer in the US army during WWII.
The courtroom segregated into black-and-white characters downstairs and "colored" characters upstairs recalls To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).
To Kill a Mockingbird is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful and has become a classic of modern American fiction. The novel is renowned for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with serious issues like racial inequality. The book is widely taught in schools in English-speaking countries with lessons that emphasize tolerance and decry prejudice. The book was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1962.
The story is about Atticus Finch, a lawyer in a racially divided Alabama town in the 1930s. He agrees to defend a young black man who is accused of raping a white woman.
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_A_Mockingbird
The two books that Bud (David) narrates to the teenagers of Pleasantville, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Catcher in the Rye," are the two most widely banned books in the United States.
Discussion Questions
Film as Story
à What is the significance of television for David? How is this exemplified in his television-watching scene?
à TV Repairman as Sky Father/godlike character – support/proof and implications of this
“You don’t deserve to live in this paradise!”
à In what ways do David and Jennifer’s characters develop through the course of the film?
à What colors first appear – what objects are first in color?
à What does color represent in the film?
à What is the cause of becoming “colored”? Look at the common factor between each character turning. Why does it take so long for Jennifer and David?
à How is music used to underscore the changes happening in Pleasantville?
à The scene where Jennifer tells Betty about sex – why is this significant?
à Bud’s description of Huckleberry Finn: “trying to get free when they realize they’re free already”
à What are the symbols of the kids’ rebellion?
à Mayor: “It’s important for people to see someone they respect stand up for what’s right”
à Significance of Betty’s cover-up and Bud’s help. Picasso’s crying woman.
à Symbolism of thunderstorm
à Fear of change and difference
à Symbolism of Bill’s mural on the Police Station wall and their defense of it
à Significance of David and Jen’s decisions at the end
à Significance of David’s interaction with his mom and Betty, Geore & Bill’s final lines
Film as Technique
à How is the role of television defined in the opening shots of the film?
à When are low angles used in the film – what do these shots establish?
à Dissolve of fireman’s face to Bud’s receiving award as foreshadowing
à Fade to white during thunderstorm – significance (what’s before and after)
à Shots of angry mob destroying Soda Shop – digetic sound fades out, slow motion