Pleasantville (film)

Pleasantville
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gary Ross
Produced by	Gary Ross Steven Soderbergh Jon Kilik Bob Degus
Written by	Gary Ross
Starring	Tobey Maguire Reese Witherspoon Jeff Daniels Joan Allen William H. Macy J. T. Walsh
Music by	Randy Newman
Cinematography	John Lindley
Editing by	William Goldenberg
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	October 23, 1998 (1998-10-23)
Running time	124 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$60 million
Box office	$49,805,462

Pleasantville is a 1998 American fantasy comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by Gary Ross. The film stars Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, William H. Macy, Joan Allen, Marley Shelton and Jeff Daniels. Don Knotts, Paul Walker, Jane Kaczmarek, and J. T. Walsh are also featured. The film was released in the United States by New Line Cinema through Warner Bros. on October 23, 1998.

Plot

David (Tobey Maguire) and his sister Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) are siblings leading dramatically different high school social lives. Jennifer is shallow and extroverted, while David is shy, introverted and spends most of his time watching television. One evening while their mother (Jane Kaczmarek) is away from home, David and Jennifer fight over the use of the downstairs TV; Jennifer wants to watch an MTV concert, while David needs the TV in order to watch a marathon of his favorite show, Pleasantville, a black and white 1958 sitcom that centers around the idyllic Parker family. During their fight, the remote control breaks and the TV cannot be turned on manually.

A mysterious TV repairman (Don Knotts) shows up uninvited, and quizzes David on Pleasantville before giving him a strange-looking remote control. The repairman leaves, and David and Jennifer promptly resume fighting. However, they are somehow transported into the television. David and Jennifer find themselves in the Parkers' black and white Pleasantville living room. David tries to reason with the repairman (who communicates with him through the Parkers' television set) but succeeds only in chasing him away. David and Jennifer must now pretend they are, respectively, Bud and Mary Sue Parker, two of the main characters in the show.

David and Jennifer witness the wholesome nature of the town, such as a group of firemen rescuing a cat out of a tree. David tells Jennifer that they must stay "in character" and not disrupt the lives of the Pleasantville citizens, who do not notice any physical differences between the old Bud and Mary Sue and David and Jennifer. In order to keep the show's plot in line, Jennifer agrees to go on a date with a boy from high school, but during it she has sex with the boy, a concept entirely unknown to him and everyone else in the town.

Slowly, things in Pleasantville begin changing from black and white into color, including flowers and the faces of people who have experienced bursts of passion or change. Meanwhile, David becomes friends with Mr. Johnson (Jeff Daniels), owner of the local soda fountain, and introduces him to colorful modern art via a book from the library, sparking in him an interest in painting. Johnson and Bud Parker's mother, Betty, fall in love, causing her to leave home, throwing George Parker, Bud and Mary Sue's father, into complete confusion. The only people who remain unchanged are the town fathers, led by the Mayor, Big Bob (J.T. Walsh), who sees the changes as eating away at the moral values of Pleasantville. They resolve to do something about their increasingly independent wives and the rebellious teenagers.

As the townsfolk slowly becomes more colorful and passionate, they also discover more unsavory aspects of 20th century human culture, such as racial segregation, expressing itself as a ban in some public venues on "colored" people. Eventually a riot is touched off by a nude painting of Betty on the window of Mr. Johnson’s soda fountain. The soda fountain is destroyed, piles of books are burned, and anyone who is "colored" is harassed in the streets. As a reaction, the town fathers announce a list of rules preventing people from visiting the library, playing loud music, or using paint colors other than black, white or gray. In protest, David and Mr. Johnson paint a colorful mural on a brick wall, depicting things relevant to the changes in their world, but are arrested. Brought to trial in front of the entire town, David and Mr. Johnson defend their actions, eventually arousing enough anger and indignation in Big Bob that the Mayor himself becomes colored as well.

With this, the entire town becomes colored, and the people of Pleasantville are finally introduced to the rest of the world. Televisions at the repair shop now display full-colored images of various scenic vistas around the world; Main Street, which had previously been a circuit looping back on itself, now leads away to other streets, and ultimately to other towns and cities as well.

Having seen Pleasantville changed irrevocably for the better, Jennifer chooses to stay behind in the alternate world for a while to finish her education, but David returns to the real world using the remote control.

Cast

• Tobey Maguire as David: He is a high school misfit who feels out of place in the 1990s. He has few friends and is too shy to speak to girls. He feels more at home in the idealized world of the sitcom Pleasantville.
• Reese Witherspoon as Jennifer: David's more confident twin sister; more concerned with boys and being popular than academics.
• Giuseppe Andrews as Howard: David's best friend who loves the sitcom Pleasantville as much as David.
• Jenny Lewis and Marissa Ribisi as Christin and Kimmy: Jennifer's closest girlfriends.
• Jane Kaczmarek as David and Jennifer's mother: the opposite of the mother character on David's beloved Pleasantville, she never cooks or cleans house.
• Don Knotts as a TV repairman: the repairman grants David's wish to be a part of Pleasantville.
• Kevin Connor and Natalie Ramsey as Bud and Mary Sue Parker: The main characters on Pleasantville.
• William H. Macy as George Parker: Bud and Mary's dad, a 1950s working father stereotype.
• Joan Allen as Betty Parker: Bud and Mary's mom, a 1950s housewife stereotype.
• Jeff Daniels as Bill Johnson: a soda shop owner.
• J. T. Walsh as Big Bob: Pleasantville's mayor with McCarthyism tendencies.
• Marley Shelton as Margaret Henderson: A high school cheerleader on Pleasantville and David's love interest.
• David Tom as Whitey: Margaret's love-interest in the original storyline of the Pleasantville sitcom.
• Paul Walker as Skip Martin: The basketball captain for the high school on Pleasantville and the obtuse love interest for Jennifer.
• Dawn Cody, Maggie Lawson, and Andrea Taylor as Betty Jean, Lisa Anne, and Peggy Jane: Mary Sue's friends on Pleasantville.

Production

This was the first time the majority of a new feature film was scanned, processed, and recorded digitally. The black-and-white meets color world portrayed in the movie was filmed entirely in color and selectively desaturated and contrast adjusted digitally. The work was done in Los Angeles by Cinesite utilizing a Spirit DataCine for scanning at 2K resolution

Themes

Director Gary Ross states, "This movie is about the fact that personal repression gives rise to larger political oppression...That when we're afraid of certain things in ourselves or we're afraid of change, we project those fears on to other things, and a lot of very ugly social situations can develop".

Robert Beuka says in his book SuburbiaNation, "Pleasantville is a morality tale concerning the values of contemporary suburban America by holding that social landscape up against both the Utopian and the dystopian visions of suburbia that emerged in the 1950s".

Robert McDaniel of Film and History described the town as the perfect place, "It never rains, the highs and lows rest at 72 degrees, the fire department exists only to rescue treed cats, and the basketball team never misses the hoop." However, McDaniel says, "Pleasantville is a false hope. David's journey tells him only that there is no "right" life, no model for how things are "supposed to be'".

This movie depicts the emotion and negativity toward cultural differences. When the changes occur and color is introduced, the mayor of Pleasantville states "Pleasantville is no longer pleasant". A town meeting is called and results in the dictating of cultured values that must be accepted. These required cultural values are expressed as “Codes of Conduct”. They are outlined as (1) all public disruption and vandalism must cease; (2) all persons in Pleasantville must treat each other in a courteous and pleasant manner; (3) Lover’s Lane and the library are closed until further notice; (4) the only permissible music shall be written by by Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, Jack Jones, and the band music of John Phillip Sousa or the Star Spangled Banner – all other music is deemed unpleasant; (5) no public sales of umbrellas or props for unpleasant weather; (6) no bed frame or mattress may be sold that is more than 38inches wide; (7) only permissible paint colors are black, white, or gray;(8) all high school curricula shall teach “no change” history and emphasize continuity over alteration. It is the mayor's belief that forcing these cultural values will put Pleasantville back to a place where everyone is the same.

Throughout the movie there are ample evidences of both sexism and racism. The signs in the store window indicating “no colored” are a very blatant form of racism. During the court hearing the colored people all were made to sit up in the balcony and separated from the non-colored people. As emotions rise during the court hearing more and more people in the majority start to change color. An example of the sexism is inherent in Betty’s role which was to stay home, take care of the family and do whatever George asks of her. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120789/combined</ref>

Reception

Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 86% of 83 sampled critics gave the film positive reviews and that it got a rating average of 7.5 out of 10. Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars calling it "one of the best and most original films of the year".

Awards and nominations

The film won the following accolades:

• Saturn Awards (1998)
  • Best Performance by a Younger Actor/Actress—Tobey Maguire
  • Best Supporting Actress—Joan Allen
• Boston Society of Film Critics Award (1998)
  • Best Supporting Actor—William H. Macy
  • Best Supporting Actress—Joan Allen

The film was nominated for the following achievements:

• Academy Awards (1998)
  • Best Art Direction/Set Decoration —Jeannine Claudia Oppewall and Jay Hart
  • Best Costume Design—Judianna Makovsky
  • Best Music, Original Dramatic Score—Randy Newman

Pleseantville was nominated for AFI's Top 10 Fantasy Films list.

Soundtrack

Main article: Pleasantville (soundtrack)

The soundtrack features music from the 1950s and 1960s such as "Be-Bop-A-Lula" by Gene Vincent, "Take Five" by The Dave Brubeck Quartet, and "At Last" by Etta James. The main score was composed by Randy Newman; he received an Oscar nomination in the original music category. The soundtrack also includes two songs by Fiona Apple.

References

Alsobrook, A., Lynn, E. (Co-producers) & Ross, G. (Director). (1998). Pleasantville

     Motion picture. United States: New Line Cinema.

External links

• Pleasantville at the Internet Movie Database
• Pleasantville at AllRovi
• Pleasantville at Rotten Tomatoes
• Pleasantville at Box Office Mojo