Daniel RodriguezProfessor SchneiderEnglish 1DateTheColor of Pleasantville is Pink The film “ Pleasantville” portrays a period in Americanhistory where everyone is wholesome and happy. It’s a picture-perfect scene forthose who lived in 1950, where everyone knew their place in society and lifewas ignorantly blissful and less complicated. However, everything changes whenDavid and Jennifer find themselves transported into the old sitcom where theirinfluence beings to affect the residents of Pleasantville causing profoundchanges in their world. A series of conflicts occur within the movie overfamily matters, government control, race and censorship as the residents ofPleasantville find something new about themselves.
One of the themes thatstands out to me is the racism that is experienced in the film for those whobecome technicolor as the people still in black and white have a strong dislikefor their appearance as it begins to threaten their way of life. The metaphorsdisplayed in the film are still relevant today as race and equality are stillbeing fought by those who feel oppressed by the status quo. The film follows two young siblings who getteleported into a 1950s sitcom. They assume the roles of Bud and Mary Sue, theson and daughter of the Parker family. Things begin to change as David andJennifer bring new ideas and a sense of freedom to the residence ofPleasantville. Their presence incites changes to their classmates causing themto change from black and white to color.
At first, the other residents ofPleasantville ignore it hoping it will go away but soon discover that itsthreatening their simple way of life. This eventually causes the populace tobecome confused, scared and then angry as the changes are now affecting themand some members of their household. In a later scene in the film shop ownersand placing signs in their windows stating, “ No Colored’s Allowed”. This event that takes place is just a metaphorfor things that occurred during the Civil Rights movement. Stores placed signsoutside their business to segregate colored people from whites as they didn’twant them around them. This caused more resentment towards colored people forwanting equal rights and privilege as it threatened the white people quality oflife. In today’s world, people are still being ostracize based on their color. A good example is President Trump labeling the Mexican people as illegalimmigrants while excluding other illegal immigrants from other countries suchas Russia, Europe, and Norway.
These unfortunate events in our history can beseen occurring in Pleasantville as the black and white inhabitants becomereluctant to accept the change that occurs. Eventually, this causes the mayorto start a campaign to eliminate these changes through strict rules andregulation specifically targeting the people of color. The strict legislationthat occurred in Pleasantville could be found in our modern day. Alabama triedto suppress black voters during the Senate election by trying to limit peoplewho could vote with literacy test.