Episode 6
Pleasantville
Ahh, the 1950s. A time of tradition; where fathers were the breadwinners and worked the 9 to 5, mothers were homemakers and caregivers and children were obedient. Men ruled the roost, women ruled the kitchen and children were seen and not heard.
Are you looking for the ideal place to raise your nuclear family? Choose Pleasantville! An idyllic black and white utopia with no sex, drugs, rock and roll or emotion of any kind. It's swell!
Ahh Pleasantville. The town of choice for repressed sitcom families everywhere. The town of choice for 90s movie siblings to crash into and change irrevocably.
Are you looking for the ideal movie about repression and the power of change? Choose Pleasantville! An idyllic black and white utopia, where you can introduce sex to the people, words into books, art onto walls and emotion into the every day lives of the perfect residents. It's pasty, but it won't be for long!
Pleasantville is a movie that uses the metaphors of inserting colour into a predominantly black and white movie to represent change, and also the fear of change. On the surface it’s the story of a pair of teenagers who upset a fictional world, but underneath it has layers of deeper meaning. What is a perfect life? Who are we if all we do is follow the status quo? It’s a story about being more than what other people might want you to be.
I would love to hear your thoughts on Pleasantville! You can get in touch on
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And remember, nothing is as simple as black and white.
Special thanks to the following people for their contributions to this episode:
Kristin from @soimwatching
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