The DVD cover tagline for Pleasantville declares that “nothing is as simple as black & white”; but in this nostalgic throwback to the B&W picturesque, sanitized family sitcoms of the 1950s – nothing could be further from the truth. Simple is a misleading word to describe the wishful thinking and guileless morality plays that comprised such long running broadcast sitcom hits as The Adventures Of Ozzie & Harriet Nelson (1952-1966), Father Knows Best (1954-1961), Leave It To Beaver (1957-1963) or the Donna Reed Show (1958-1966) that Pleasantville is both a celebration and an indictment of.
This 1998 film deftly straddles two worlds that begins with two dysfunctional late twentieth century teen siblings: David (Tobey Maguire) and Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) who are caught up in a time warp and transferred into David’s introverted fantasy life – – which is comprised of watching a continuous marathon of Pleasantville reruns; circa 1958. For David this is a utopian dream come true – but quite the opposite for Jennifer as they are forced to play two of Pleasantville’s central roles.
For David, the transition into the sitcom world of Pleasantville is practically a relief as he acutely felt the unhappiness and alienation of a broken home and invisibility at school in his 1998 life. As the introvert of the two, David is enthusiastic about his new, utopian fantasy life and eager to play along with the show’s plot as much as possible; although Jennifer has to be persuaded to go along with this. However, their physical, emotional and social transferral into the reel world of Pleasantville creates new sets of issues for them as their real lives from 1998 with its advanced technologies, self-centered attitudes and values clash with those of 1958.
These inconsistencies put a damper on David’s wish fulfillment as it soon becomes apparent to him Pleasantville is not entirely pleasant either (pun intended) and has its own problems and dysfunctions as any other era does – just not necessarily the same ones. Although Jennifer manages her role to better effect with her Pleasantville peers and gets to date the most desirable guy at school (Paul Walker) the inevitable drawbacks of Pleasantville are like the “behind-the-scenes” reality which spoils the utopian veneer – it can’t hold up against honest scrutiny.
Nonetheless, David and Jennifer’s participation in Pleasantville allows them (David especially) to “pull” something of value from the television medium rather than just sitting passively (during his 1998 life) while images, ideas, dialogue, and the all-pervasive commercials are just “pushed” onto them. David and Jennifer have their work cut out for them as the sitcom denizens of Pleasantville prove to have feelings and issues much more complicated than their wholesome relatively well-behaved, well-scrubbed counterparts on Father Knows Best or Leave It To Beaver and so forth.
For David in particular it becomes quickly apparent that Pleasantville life is messier and more complicated than he ever imagined: problems aren’t neatly packaged up and resolved in 22 minute episodes. Trouble has been brewing in “paradise” and the fantasy bubble David has been locked into is ready to pop!
While they don’t encounter such 1990s pitfalls as date rape, teen pregnancy, STD’s or gang violence on their journey through the Pleasantville construct (which quickly goes awry and veers off plot) … there are the timeless ills of bullying, discrimination, ignorance and repression which tarnish David’s Pleasantville experience and propels him (along with the reluctant Jennifer) to step up to the plate – shake off 1998 and plunge full-fledged into 1958.
So much happens that would have unmentionable — unthinkable in fact; in the shaken up, turned upside down Pleasantville or any of the actual 50s sitcoms of our past that it emulates. With the arrival of David and Jennifer everything from female masturbation, adultery, premarital sex, overt discrimination based on “color”, rioting in the streets etc. are realities presented in the movie which surely existed in our “spic & span” sitcom past but that we see way too much of in our reel/real so-called “enlightened” society right now, and which Pleasantville captures so successfully. At any rate the transferral into Pleasantville’s duality is a tremendous experience for David and Jennifer. For David especially, though; the search for utopia is elusive.
By: William J Smith
