Stanley's+Pleasantville+Film+Review

//A Pleasantville Film Review // By: Stanley Beginin

David (played by Tobey Maguire) and his sister Jennifer (played by Reese Witherspoon) are siblings who attend the same school but are in completely opposite social circles. Jennifer is a social butterfly, but David is a nerd with little to no friends. This unfortunately reality all changes when they are transported to a place called Pleasantville. The kicker of this movie was the fact that Pleasantville is actually a TV show and none of the characters know it. The town is a loop meaning whenever you reach the edge of Pleasantville, you always just come back around. This was all very entertaining but things in Pleasantville were very off. The acting in this movie was absolutely fantastic as it was really easy to believe that the characters truly were from the 1950's and it was also easy to believe that the actors and the characters on Pleasantville were one. They seemed to have no idea they were on a TV show.

David uses his extensive knowledge of the show to his advantage and figure out how to go about dealing with this kind of situation. They quickly realize that they have no idea what kissing is, what fire is, etc. Basic things. Their books are blank and they don't know any stories or history outside of their town. They dont know anything outside of Pleasantville. They also notice that the weather is always perfect in Pleasantville.

Personally, I can see this as maybe even being an inspiration to the creator of Desperate Housewives. The show is filmed on a lot at the Universal Studios. Desperate housewives has very prevelant 1950's themes as they are all suburban housewives and they're all conservative women who have to deal with themes such as affairs, murders, drugs, etc. They also deal with many joys in life as well. They are almost exactly like the Pleasantville characters in a few generations who are still trying to come to terms with the things that they are being exposed to just like in Pleasantville. The cinematographer's (John Wililam Lindley) work was simply outstanding. Through out the movie, we see that every time Jennifer exposes people to sex, or David exposes people to books, the black and white setting slowly starts adding splashes of color. This movie was excellent at pointing out the kind of dull, knowledgeless world we would live in if there was such extreme censorship as there is in Pleasantville. It would be impossible to advance in any direction with censorship. We would literally be stuck in time.