Pleasantville

The Truman Shows meets Leave It to Beaver in this high concept fantasy-drama about a pair of teenagers who get trapped inside a 1950s sitcom. Pleasantville uses a gimmicky idea to pass comment on the ways that our world has changed, contrasting the cynicism of the late '90s with the American apple pie ideology found in hokey '50s television. It becomes a life-affirming experience for each of the major characters, calling to mind classic literature like The Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird, and tackles some big issues in a refreshingly positive and entertaining fashion.

David (Tobey Maguire) is a dorky kid who harbours an obsession with the fictional '50s sitcom Pleasantville. He yearns for the simpler, traditional life that the characters in the show enjoy, finding comfort in their wholesomeness. His sister, Jennifer (Reece Witherspoon), is less idealistic - a mildly slutty and typically boy-mad girl who prioritises her social life over school work. One night, David and Jennifer are fighting over the remote to the television and cause it to break. A mysterious TV repairman (played wonderfully by sitcom legend Don Knotts) ominously appears and gives them a replacement remote; a strange device that actually transports both teenagers into the black and white world of Pleasantville, where they become the two teenage leads. David is elated, Jennifer is less than impressed, and soon they find themselves inadvertantly affecting a disquietening amount of change amongst the idyllised inhabitants.

The first thing that will pop out to anyone watching this film is the way that it uses colour. The titular sitcom is a black and white TV show, so everything becomes black and white once the two leads get transported through the fourth wall. As they begin to affect change this means that other colours begin to get introduced into the film, something that the characters are startlingly aware of. The use of colour is interesting for two big reasons, the first is that it puts the films' themes right at the forefront of the viewing experience (it's easy to viewers to understand what's going on, which means they can actively engage in thinking about what is happening). The second of these is that it allows a civil rights parallel with use of the word 'coloured' taking on a slightly different meaning. At the heart of this is a message that's essentially about daring to dream, questioning the parameters of your existence and making your own destiny. The 'coloured' label calls to mind segregation and the civil rights movement of the '60s (which fits with the pre-60s setting of the sitcom). The adult characters mostly represent a fear of change, and they also represent the status quo fighting back against the rebelling youth. It's the story of our lives... the liberals vs the conservative, the open-minded vs. the close-minded.

The contrasting of the '90s and '50s is very important too. We initially expect for the cynical '90s to get a kicking from the moral '50s, but this film is really about taking the best bits from both to create a better world... I guess it's about the importance in differentiating between cynicism and idealism. The '90s were an era that brought increased awareness of environmental decay and other issues like famine, disease, AIDS and divorce. Pleasantville starts out by talking about how the modern world has gone to hell, and then contrasts this with the idealised version of the world as seen in the '50s. David and Jennifer infect this '50s-world's wholesomeness by seemingly introducing imperfections (sex, swearing, routine-disrupting, breaking with conformity) but then the paradigm flips around (EG. The civil rights subtext) to show how the modern world has also changed for the better - equality, sexual freedom, freedom of choice, etc.

The best thing that Pleasantville has going for it is the fact that it happens to be a really fun, entertaining and original film. The fact that it also happens to be quite thematically dense and complex is just a bonus. I especially like the fascistic iconography that the disgruntled adult characters in Pleasantville come up with; the shaking-hands symbol calls to mind right wing icons like the Mosley lightning bolt and Hitler's swastika. Anyway, this is a great, underrated film, easily on par with the similar and more acclaimed The Truman Show.

DIRECTOR: Gary Ross
WRITER/SOURCE: Gary Ross
KEY ACTORS: Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, William H. Macy, Joan Allen, Jeff Daniels, J. T. Walsh, Don Knotts, Marisa Ribisi, Paul Walker

RELATED TEXTS
- As mentioned, the most obvious parallel is The Truman Show, about one man's attempts to break out of a TV show.
- Director Gary Ross and Tobey Maguire worked together again on Seabiscuit.
- Maguire also starred in a more sombre dissection of a bygone era in The Ice Storm.
- For other '50s/modern contrasts, see Peggy Sue Got Married and Back to the Future.
- Gary Ross also wrote the similarly uplifting comedy-classics Big and Dave.

AWARDS
Academy Awards - nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design and Best Music