Un-Pleasantville
A little while ago, I saw that CityTV was showing the movie Pleasantville. I had seen this movie before, and didn't like it, and I knew what to expect. I still watched it, partly because I'm lazy, and prone to sitting at the TV for longer than I need to, and also partly because there are things about the movie that appeal to me. Listening to Oldies like I have, I have grown an appreciation for the culture of that era, 50s, 60s and 70s. The movie is mostly in black and white, but progresses into colour as it goes, which I think is a neat artistic idea. And what was that other reason? Oh yeah, Reese Witherspoon.

Here is essentially the plot. Two modern era kids get sucked into their TV and are thrown into the life of Pleasantville, a stereotypical 50s TV show. There is no mention of what happens to the two characters that they replace, maybe that's the sequel, what happened to two 50s era teens in today's world. So the guy, meek and mild David Wagner (played by Toby Mcguire), whose name gets changed to Bud Parker upon being sucked into the show, is a big fan of the show and knows exactly what is supposed to happen. His hope is that if they just act out the predetermined episodes, eventually they'll get back to real life. His sister, rebellious Jennifer Wagner (played by the aforementioned Reese Witherspoon) whose name gets changed to Mary Sue Parker, quickly tires of the boring lifestyle and rebels. She is supposed to go on a date with the captain of the basketball team, and instead of having a milkshake and a cheeseburger, she takes him to lover's lane where they ... well, you know. This sets off a whole domino effect of people's lives getting turned around. Couples are having sex all over the place, which causes the guys to start playing basketball poorly, and people start getting confused about why things are changing. Then a whole bunch of traditional things start changing, like the restaurant guy learns how to think for himself and starts to embrace art. The rest of the movie is a process of people learning to think for themselves, and when they do that, they get colour despite their black and white surroundings. As the movie draws to an end, there is a growing clash between those who have colour, and those who think colour is a sign of evil.

As big a fan as I am of independent thought, there is too much of an emphasis on sex being the deliverer of freedom from stale tradition. Two people get their colour for an extra-marital affair, not to mention the glorification of pre-marital sex. I remember a conversation with a friend where they were defending the theme of this movie, and watching it this second time, I was looking for some redeeming moral quality, and I couldn't find any. We can't hold blindly to our stale traditions, but we can't just frivolously throw them all off whenever we want. Reese Witherspoon's face can only take a movie so far.

Am I missing something? Is there somebody out there that liked this movie for it's underlying moral message? Is there an underlying moral message that I didn't get? Help me out here.

   [ posted by William @ 9:59 AM ]