Color In Pleasantville

862 Words2 Pages

Rusty Ludwigsen

The contemplative film Pleasantville written and directed by Gary Ross may suggest that society pursues perfection but perfection is antithetical to human nature.
In the movie Pleasantville the brother and sister pair, David and Jennifer, are transported to the small TV town Pleasantville where they become the characters Bud and Mary Sue. Pleasantville is a small concealed USA town that basically lives in a world of its own. Through investigation Mary Sue found that every street in Pleasantville is a loop; once you reach the end you just start at the beginning again. This shows how Pleasantville is in its own world and cannot interact with anything beyond it. Pleasantville is described as the perfect society. Everyone has …show more content…

For example because Bill Johnson was stuck in a never-ending routine, he became paralyzed with fear when he even thought about straying away from it. Earlier in the movie when Bill was talking to Bud about how he felt closing up the dinner on his own was able to express his emotions through the phrase, “It felt good.” He was starting to feel emotions that were not standard in his routine. Throughout the movie he begins to discover his human side when he sees color and starts using colored paint to create his artwork. The catalyst for him turning color was seeing the beauty in Betty’s rose tinted skin. He finally discovered his humanity. He discovered new emotions, new habits and new skills that let him explore the world in several possible ways and not just the one that was chosen for him. Eventually, all the people in Pleasantville turned color for their individual reasons. Mary Sue turned when she discovered her love for knowledge. Bud turned when he found his courage and George turned when his discovered his wife equaled love and not just dinner. All of these gave the character the ability to discover their human side and live life and not just witness

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