Pleasantville

It was pretty obvious how the movie Pleasantville related to our previous readings, especially Marling. One distinct connection I made was how media has such a powerful influence over people. In the movie, David was so infatuated with the TV show Pleasantville. He enjoyed the lifestyle of the 1950’s so much that when he was placed into the TV show directly, his first instinct (which he thoroughly enjoyed) was to be like everyone else in the town. This makes me think of, in general, how people desire to be like what the media shows them. Bourdieu addressed the power of television in his essay On Television. He was speaking of the influence of television shows on the general public saying “[these] programs serve the establishment and ever-more obsequiously promote social conformity”. David was a direct representative of this social conformity and “sameness” that media has the potential to increase. When George Parker (the father in the movie) was given the Chamber of Commerce button, he felt like he fit in and was part of an important group. This relates to Marling writing about Mamia Eisenhower’s “New Look”. She stated, “The newest “New Look” dramatized the American woman as an eternal American girl, as Maime’s younger sister in spirit…” Her new look was seen in catalogues, on TV, and in person. Women desired to have that same essence of Maime, and they would achieve it by dressing and carrying themselves like her. These women were “sisters” to Maime, which was just the same type of relationship George Parker gained when receiving the pin.

The material world in this movie was one of the most important in portraying the culture of the 1950’s. When things began changing in the movie, color started appearing and people began breaking their routine, I was reminded of how the first interpretation of something can be wrong, and further investigation is needed to show the “true colors” of the object. When some people began changing colors, the ones that didn’t looked negatively at those that were, and assumed it meant one thing. But when everyone ended up turning colors, and experiencing that deep emotion, the change of color was associated with something else. I was reminded of the Haitian moneybox written about by McLane in American Artifacts. McLane initially thought the box was only made for a tourist’s enjoyment, but came to later discover the true meaning of the moneybox used by Haitian women at the markets. This idea that there is always something more to an object or a media broadcast can also be seen in Pleasantville when Bill Johnson (the ice cream parlor worker) discovered the color paints and painted the entire window of his store. It was a symbol of change; he created a media within the media of the movie. This type of profound media, that designates a big change in lifestyle goes along with the change appliances, TVs, and TV dinners made within families. Marling addressed how all these things changed the dynamics of the family. The housewife would move away from using the appliances for cooking casseroles to bring the family together, but would now pant all the family members in front the of the TV with their TV dinners. This was a big change in family routine, and was a kick off for the idea of constant mobility in the 1950’s

I thought it was clever how the movie addressed the idea of racism by using colored vs. non-colored. The courtroom in the last seen was a clear definitive of this idea, the colored people were seated in the balcony, while the non-colored people were on the main floor. Marling seemed to dance around racism (and other happenings in the 1950’s) as well. Pleasantville and Marling both focused on the typical white American family; desiring the cars, the outfits, and the appliances, but at the same time were able to portray what was going on the in the 1950’s but not actually referencing them at all.