Pleasantville (1998)
"Two 1990s teenage siblings find themselves in a 1950s sitcom, where their influence begins to profoundly change that complacent world."
The premise of this film was very unique and interesting for its time as I don't think it was done too much before this. The idea of anyone being transported form reality to a fictional world can sometimes be more desired and a welcome outcome, especially if this fictional world is more "pleasant" than reality. The beginning of the movie establishes the world's flaws through David's classes in school, so it's easy for David to prefer the simplicity and happiness that draws him to the Pleasantville show.
Pleasantville takes it a step further by challenging the idea of whether this pleasant world is worth it. The world begins to change and evolve, for better and for worse. This lead to many philosophical questions in the second half of the film.
When the film was purely black and white, the film did a good job of creating a beautiful grayscale sequence, and that's thanks to the wonderful cinematography. Black and white is such a stylistic kind of film that is so refreshing to see in a modern world where we're so used to color. And as color began to mix with the grayscale, I was left wondering exactly how they were able to pull that off. Wonderful editing! One of my favorite moments was when David was driving to Lover's lane and you see the pink leaves contrast the rest of the grayscale world, It was stunning.
While the grayscale vs color was a beautiful visual aspect to the film, Pleasantville uses the coloring to present metaphorical messages to the audience. The most obvious metaphor was that of racism. From the violence toward the "colored" to the segregation to that one sign that explicitly stated "no colored allowed." Pleasantville reflected the exact behavior seen in society to groups of people who are discriminated against in reality, especially and literally people of color.
Color also represents evolution. To change color was to change completely from who you were before. For many citizens of Pleasantville, this was easy to accomplish. The sense of true or human emotion was enough to change people given how stale and regular simple life in Pleasantville was. For characters like Jennifer and David, who came from the outside world, it was a little more difficult. It wasn't strong emotion of any kind that changed their appearance, it was complete character development that brought literal color to the siblings.
What's interesting about Jennifer's color change specifically is that her character development was similar to that of Pleasantville, but on the opposite side of the spectrum. Jennifer created an image of herself to fit with reality's expectation so she can succeed socially. Then she becomes open to the art of literature and begins to imagine herself being more than she thought she could be. Pleasantville lacked knowledge and arts that is available in reality and without those aspects in life, they just seemed like robots. Jennifer's independence displayed throughout is also reflected in the theme of Feminism as the role of women is challenged through her as well as Betty.
Speaking of Robots, Pleasantville brings up the question to what it means to be alive. Pleasantville citizens literally ran on a programmed schedule in day to day life. They never had an independent thought or feeling, and the consequences were seen during David and Jennifer's first day in town. As the siblings bring changes, knowledge and arts are really effective to the evolution of the town. This influence really opened the citizens up to independence and freedom, and that was when they truly started to "live."
With all the philosophy that is crammed in the 2nd half, David's character development is a key aspect of the film. At the beginning of Pleasantville, he was obsessed with the Pleasantville show because the simple, easy, and happy life was the exact opposite of what his own reality was. He had a broken family and lived in world where happiness is a struggle to achieve. When he is first transported in the show, he is desperate to continue the pleasant way of life, but then he finds joy in exposing the Pleasantville citizens to a side of life that they wouldn't have been exposed to otherwise, like that scene where David gives Mr. Johnson the art book, which was a great turning point for both characters.
David doesn't change color until the climax. His entire experience was mostly a positive one, and his reasons for loving Pleasantville changed, but he still loved it there nonetheless. Then he saw bullies gang up on Betty, and for the first time he felt rage toward Pleasantville, a total contrast to his Pleasantville feelings at the beginning of the movie.
I really love David's final scene with his real mom. His experience in Pleasantville changed him and it really showed in that final conversation. He realized that perfection isn't the best solution. "There is no right house, there is no right car," there is no right way to live in order to achieve guaranteed happiness. And sometimes the life we envy isn't the life we want. David learned how to make the best of a bad situation and that life is the way we make it.
My Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆