Pleasantville

Suddenly, I feel surreal...

So, the other movie I saw on Top 10 Magic Realism movies was Pleasantville, a 1998 dramedy starring Toby Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, Jeff Daniels, William H. Macy and Joan Allen.  When I was looking at these lists and saw Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Groundhog Day listed with this film and some others, my brain sort of had to do a double-take because that's one heck of a comparison. One movie (Life Aquatic) has very little that is false and characters that don't act in realistic ways. Groundhog Day is holiday themed with a magical bit that isn't explained about a change of character. The other... well, it's about people in our world who go into a TV Show like Brady Bunch or Leave It to Beaver and turn everything upside-down.

Both have themes that you can take away about life and reflect a sort of truth about the world at large, but otherwise they are two entirely different movies with two entirely different audiences in mind.

Also, Pleasantville has Don Knots. Enough said, really.

Now without bringing in the Magical Realism angle I'm trying to work with right now, Pleasantville is a pretty solid fantasy movie. Two teenagers, a nerd and his slutty fraternal twin sister, get sucked into a 1950's sitcom where they're influence changes the world in strange and beautiful ways. A lot of people see it and automatically look at the racist angle which is pretty upfront and in your face.

I mean, they had a sign that says "No Coloreds".  How blatant can you get without actually having a black guy involved?

However, when I watched the movie, I saw something... deeper. I don't know if it was just me, if it was the intended message, or if there's something else going on, but to me this movie always seemed like the perfect coming-of-age story for the world. Well, our Western world at least.

I mean, the thing about 1950's sitcoms is people always say they reflect a more "innocent" time. There were no drugs, no sex, couples slept in different beds. It's the world that people think little kids should imagine all sanitized and perfect where everything is always exactly the same and it always will be.

It's BORING!

And then... sex is introduced. You know... like the sexual revolution in the 1960's.

And... people start coming down with a strange condition where they have... color. First it's a pink tongue, then red lips and then peach skin.

The sanitization starts to disappear gradually  There's no more black and white, but colors of the rainbow.

Life is no longer as simple as it once was because you're learning new things about the world.

And to reflect learning... the books start having stuff in them and they gain color too!

One thing leads to the next which leads to the next. It's a domino affect showing how people grow into the world or the world grows as people themselves grow. As we grew over the past fifty years.

And yes, there's a brief fling with Civil Rights and Liberties, but that goes away quickly because one person can't stay ignorant of the way the world really is and the Truth of how things work without sharing that knowledge with someone else who shares it with someone else who shares it with someone else. Knowledge is made to be shared. Growing up is a shared experience for a whole generation!

I mean, I learned more about life from what few friends and peers I had than from my parents and grandparents. Yes, I learned a lot from them, but the sort of things that lead to a loss of innocence don't come from those who try to protect you.

However, once you lose that innocence and gain the knowledge of the world at large, there's so much more than those simple things you enjoyed as a child. The simple things are still enjoyable, but the world is a beautiful and dangerous place. Yes, some things would scar you for life, and some books really should only be read once lest you lose your mind (House of Leaves), but there are things you can enjoy as an adult that you could never enjoy as an innocent child.

For the record, I'm not just talking about sex.

Jeesh! Get your mind out of the gutter!

This is most evident in Mary Sue who basically makes everyone grow up by first introducing sex which leads to her introducing everything else, but she sees sex in an immature way.  She only grows up and gains color when she decides to appreciate everything else. Like books and studying! You know, taking life seriously.

And Bud/David only grows up and gets his color when he actually grows a spine and stands up for what's right. Like not abusing women!

And the whole town only grows up and gets their color when they realize that change is part of life!  And it's GOOD!

So, I really liked this movie. And everyone probably sees what I saw and my brain is just alienating itself to make itself feel more important, but I really liked what I saw in the movie. I would like other people to watch it more and comment on it more (intelligently) about the things they see in the movie.

As for how it pertains to Magical Realism. I think this film is probably more fantasy in the strictest sense of the definition, but it's still fun to watch so go pick it up! Watch it again! It's only been out there for fifteen years!