PLEASANTVILLE

 

THREE STARS – Thought-provoking

 

 

        In this creative parable written and directed by Gary Ross, two teenagers are transported into a 50’s TV sitcom called “Pleasantville.”  Based on such shows as “Father Knows Best,” the characters of the film are moral, honest, faithful and pleasant.  Everything is black and white.

        However, in the colorless TV world of “Pleasantville,” there is no freedom of choice.  Each character in this idealized community is only living out a script written for them.  They have no passion and no freedom to choose for themselves how they will live their lives.

        But all freedom comes with a price.  The predictable, safe and tranquil community of “Pleasantville” not only becomes a place of color, beauty, creativity and love, but it also becomes a place of immorality, adultery, violence and hatred of “coloreds” when freedom of choice is introduced into their lives.  This paradox has always made freedom difficult to understand and cherish.

        David/Bud Parker (Toby Maguire) and his sister, Jennifer/Mary Sue (Reese Witherspoon), live in a modern suburban home with their mother.  In order to escape the pain caused by their parents’ divorce, Jennifer tries to be the most seductive catch for the sports heroes of her high school.  David, on the other hand, escapes into 50s TV reruns of the nostalgic show “Pleasantville.”

        One evening, while fighting over the TV remote control, they are shocked to find themselves transformed into characters in this fictionalized world.  When David and Jennifer arrive in “Pleasantville”, everything changes, including David and Jennifer.

        At first, David, having come from a world in which he feared his freedom and had become a spectator of life, protects the naive monotony of the community. 

        Jennifer, on the other hand, comes from a place of exploiting her freedom and brings her promiscuity into “Pleasantville,” introducing others to sexual pleasures.

        But over time, the effects of their choices begin to transform not only Pleasantville in both positive and negative ways, but David and Jennifer as well.

        David begins to get involved in life and risks his own safety when his mother is attacked, bringing color to his face and soul.  At the same time, he begins to encourage his mother and others to risk public disapproval to follow their dreams.  This is seen most powerfully when his employer at the malt shop expresses his love for art and David brings him an art book from the library to encourage him to express himself through colorful paintings.

        Jennifer, having had “more sex than anyone” yet still is in black and white while the others are coming into color, realizes that her promiscuity has been a misuse of her freedom and chooses to deepen her life, reading books and attending the university.  

        But as David and Jennifer are learning to handle their freedom, “Pleasantville” is only in the infancy of such experiences.  When freedom is misused and  bigotry, jealousy, adultery and sexual promiscuity begin to have their predictable effects on their relationships, the Mayor (J.T. Walsh) attempts to legislate morality.  Though this seems like a viable solution, legalism and its rules only point out the sins and offer none of the salvation we all need.

        Many, in their critique of God’s world, have asked the question, “Why did God give us the freedom to choose evil? Why didn’t he make it impossible for there to be murder and wars and greed and poverty?  Why didn’t he use his all-powerful, all-knowing abilities to create a world where all choices are good?  Why give us the freedom to destroy ourselves?”

        Though some use such questions to challenge the very existence of God and suggest that no god would create a world like ours, most realize that love cannot exist without freedom.

        Ultimately, everyone in “Pleasantville” is transformed by their passions into people of color and freedom.  Here is where the film is at its weakest, leaving the viewer with no sense of what the people of “Pleasantville” will do next with their lives.

        The residents of “Pleasantville” need someone who can help them use their freedom to love and to choose, individually, to live moral and respectful lives, not because it is written in a script, but because they themselves become persons of moral maturity able to use their freedom for good.  Until this occurs, the colors of their passions may be seen in shades that bring far more sorrow than joy.

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