Pleasantville

Oh Pleasantville... it seemed like the perfect world for a teen who thought he lived in such an un-perfect one. However, upon arriving in Pleasantville he realized that it was only perfect for one very specific demographic. There was so much missing in this quaint little town… no variety in ethnic groups, white picket fences for all, books without words, and the list goes one. Everything was just too… well… pleasant.

Throughout the film several cultural movements/rebellions are mimicked due to sudden arrival of ‘Bud’ and his sister. The Student Rights Rebellions was shown through the overwhelming popularity of the library and the burning of the books. The Civil Rights Rebellion was paralleled when they began strictly dividing the ‘coloreds’ from the black & whites. The Women’s Rights Rebellion was also imitated when the women started doing things for themselves. They began exploring their own ideas rather than holding to the standard of being the ‘picture perfect wife’.
Over the course of the film people and things began to turn color. Just as it is in life different things affect different people. In the movie each character needed a different ‘Revolution’ to bring them into color. For many it was the Sexual Revolution for others it was the Educational Revolution and so on.

This film did a great job of portraying the cultural events we have seen throughout history. It displayed movements, rebellions, modernist and post-modernist beliefs all in one entertaining movie. Overall I give it two enthusiastic thumbs up.