Pleasantville Essay - 1690 Words

Pleasantville Essay A lot can happen in sixty years, and America is no exception to that statement. It is arguable that one of the biggest differences regarding America in the 1950s to modern America is culture. The movie â€Å"Pleasantville† reflects much of these cultural differences from 1950s to today in a creative and thoughtful way. It also provides much useful insight into the cultural conflicts America faced throughout the 1950s. The many differences between 1950s culture and modern day culture, my own opinion which time period I would personally choose to live in and cultural conflicts of the 1950s will be discussed throughout this essay. There are many differences between the 1950s and modern day culture as illustrated by the†¦show more content†¦We definitely have more peace of mind in today’s era rather than in the 1950s. Furthermore, the movie Pleasantville reflects some of the cultural conflicts of the 1950s. To begin, racial discrimination in the 1950s was extremely prominent in society. Whites discriminated against blacks because they were taught that anyone different than themselves was evil. Pleasantville portrays this when the citizens thereof begin changing color from black and white to color. These people represent an embrace of cultural change which goes against the normal, stable and secure status quo. The people of color are persecuted against by those of black and white color because they feel their existence is threatened by this symbol of change. For example, this persecution is seen in the scene when Betty Parker is persecuted by five black and white people while out in town. The five boys threaten her with verbal and physical attacks, as would blacks or â€Å"coloreds† would be by whites in the 1950s. Another cultural conflict exemplified by Pleasantville is changing teenage culture. Two ideas that challenged the cultural status quo in the ’50s were the idea that sex is ok, and Rock n Roll. Teena gers embraced these changes, and these changes are seen in Pleasantville. For example, a location called â€Å"lover’s lane† is where teens would go in this movie to participate in taboo, status quo-challenging sexual activity with the opposite sex. The idea of this in the 1950s was not even considered,Show MoreRelatedPleasantville setting essay1151 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Describe at least ONE important setting in the text(s). Explain how the setting helped to show the author / creator’s idea(s), supporting your points with visual and / or oral language features. The film Pleasantville written, directed and produced by Gary Ross shows a time period in American History where life was more comfortable, stable and ‘perfect’ if you would generalise it. However, as the film ironically shows, this was a time when people were more ignorant, racist and most certainlyRead MorePleasantville Film Analysis Essay765 Words   |  4 PagesThe film Pleasantville directed by Gary Ross is about two modern teenagers, David and his sister Jennifer, somehow being transported into the television, ending up in Pleasantville, a 1950s black and white sitcom. The two are trapped as Bud and Mary Sue in a radically different dimension and make some huge changes to the bland lives of the citizens of Pleasantville, with the use of the director’s cinematic techniques. Ross cleverly uses cinematic techniques such as colour, mise-en-scene, camera shotsRead MoreEssay on Pleasantville - Change1449 Words   |  6 PagesThe movie ‘‘Pleasantville ’’, written, produced and directed by Gary Ross, approaches a period in America’s history which subsequent generations idealise as a better and more stable society. 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Not only is it a great film, (made popular by New Line Cinema) it contains numerous biblical references. Some of the biblical references in this film may be easier to see and understand than others. But when asked to analyze this film and critique the biblical references you will understand jus t how many there are. To me the most obviousRead MoreThe Stylistic Conventions of Pleasantville Essay1087 Words   |  5 PagesThe Stylistic Conventions of Pleasantville Pleasantville is a film that uses stylistic conventions to help anchor the ideas suggested by the plot and reinforce the meaning of the text. There are many ways it does this. The narrative starts of from TV stations giving the idea of sci-fi as the basic genre. Pleasantville is introduced by the clips of the TV marathon; this is an old 50s TV show. There is a boy called David and his twin sister Jennifer. David is seen inRead MoreAdam And Eve And Pleasantville Essay1994 Words   |  8 Pages1. Pleasantville most closely parallels the story of Adam and Eve. The similarity presents itself using symbols and themes. Both stories naive to knowledge in the world, caring only about their lives. Both stories have individuals that are close minded to accepting values and experiences out of their comfort zone. A theme included in both stories is temptation. The temptation presents itself in Adam and Eve by the snake offering the couple an apple, the apple will give them knowledge. After eatingRead MorePlatos Allegory of the Cave in Pleasantville Essay1087 Words   |  5 PagesGary Ross captured the essence of Plato’s philosophical views in his movie, Pleasantville. The movie is about two siblings, David and Jennifer, who live in completely different high school social scenes. Jennifer is the wild, extroverted teen who is obsessed with partying and boy dra ma. David, on the other hand, is a social outcast and spends most of his time watching TV, specifically, his favorite show, Pleasantville. David idolizes the show because of the perfect town in which everyone is acceptedRead MoreAn Image of Utopia in The Scarlet Letter and Pleasantville Essay542 Words   |  3 PagesAn Image of Utopia in The Scarlet Letter and Pleasantville In both The Scarlet Letter and Pleasantville, there is an image of utopia, a perfect world that has been created and everyone that lives inside of it is happy with their lives and couldnt wish for anything better. Also in both utopias there is something or someone that challenges the perfect world because they do not believe it is perfect and thinks that it needs to be changed. In both stories those that cannot accept the change