Lowman: Media Analysis

Written and directed by Gary Ross, the renowned 1998 film “Pleasantville” tells a multifaceted story of a television series about a 1950s town that seems content having foundations built on perfection and consistency; however, when two siblings from the nineties embody characters on the show by transportation via a special remote control, they introduce Pleasantville to modern day principles of equality between sexes. The town discovers its unhappiness and its need for change. David, an avid fan of the television series, tries his best to maintain the false sense of contentment during his embodiment of Bud Parker. His sister Jennifer holds a different agenda during her embodiment of Mary Sue Parker. Realizing the repressive nature of the town, Jennifer stirs the winds of change and becomes the catalyst for the transformation of the modest, patriarchic society of Pleasantville into a dynamic, equal-opportunity seeking town. In the process, Jennifer discovers her own strength as a woman and finds she no longer needs a man to define who she is. In this paper, I will address concepts of gender roles and norms, limitations established by a patriarchic society, and female empowerment through “the transformation of women’s roles” in the movie (Taylor 58). Ultimately, “Pleasantville” contains a feminist agenda and portrays the evolution of the female struggle for equality against an oppressive patriarchic society. In this paper, I will illustrate how the use of masculinity represses both women and men in the film, and how the film shows the need for the feminist fight. My argument stresses the need for the continuation of feminist efforts in order to subvert forces of the patriarchic system that desire to confine women and men to pre-determined and socially constructed identities.
To begin, the movie establishes the societal tradition of establishing gender roles and the activities and behaviors appropriate in fulfilling that gender role. The movie opens in the colorful setting of the nineties. The two siblings use a mysterious television remote control that transports them into the conservative 1950s town of Pleasantville, creating juxtaposition between the colorful, free decade of the nineties and the strict, constraining black and white decade of the 1950s. The socially progressive nineties contains color to symbolize the social acceptance of change; thus, the decade transcends the gender roles established by society by identifying more than just black and white binaries. Pleasantville, however, leaves no room for colorful interpretations, progressive interpretations and establishes black and white limitations for the sexes. Betty Parker, the mother of the Bud and Mary Sue, lives within her gender role as wife, mother, child caretaker, and domestic housewife. Society’s black and white rules as to how she should perform her femaleness is clearly defined and overseen by the patriarchic system that governs the town. Her husband George Parker is as much confined as Betty. He is expected to work and earn money to support his family. The patriarch separates him from any association with female designated activities such as cooking and cleaning because “the historical characteristics of manhood [forces] men into participating in the replication of the system constraining them” (Taylor 58). Essentially, Pleasantville remains under this constraining patriarch due to its unwillingness to change or the town’s incapability of recognizing a need for change. The patriarchic society created a definition of what normal is: the nuclear family. Under this family model, the father reigns supreme, establishing his masculine dominance over his wife and children. Again, Pleasantville constrains its people into a false notion of what all families should be, represented by the black and white appearance of Pleasantville. The town leaves no room for any deviation from the decided ideal and through the patriarchic system makes abiding by the nuclear family a moral issue. In doing so, Pleasantville give full power to the patriarchic system: “Morality is an invention of the powerful which the powerful use to maintain their position of power and control” (Konkl).
Soon after arriving to Pleasantville, Jennifer injects the progressive views of the nineties into this black and white world, and for Betty as well as Pleasantville progressives, she represents the straw that broke the camel’s back, the beginning of the feminist revolution. Jennifer introduces sex into Pleasantville, a previously unheard of activity, and young people within the town catch hold of this change in society quickly. Jennifer represents a third wave feminist activist, embracing her sexuality to gain equality within a male-dominant society. Sexual exploration alters the way many people in Pleasantville think and brings color into their black and white world. It represents full assumption of the female voice, and the feeling that they no longer need to submit themselves to men. Jennifer teaches Betty how to masturbate, symbolically representing Betty’s freedom from repression in her marriage to George, her release from masculine oppression. Betty transitions from black and white to color, an indication of her identity’s ability to change and evolve. Within the film, “the use of color [demonstrates] change, diversity, the [loss] of identity and resistance to change” (Parker). Women now believe they have a control over at least one aspect of their lives by choosing who they want to give their affection to. For example, in the original version of “Pleasantville” a girl named Margaret bakes cookies for Whitey; however, after David and Jennifer introduce the idea of change, Margaret chooses to bake cookies for Bud and insists that she baked the cookies for Bud, though David attempts to maintain the original plan. David confronts Jennifer about introducing sex into Pleasantville, stressing that they should not cause change in the town; Jennifer replies, “Maybe it needs to be messed with” (Pleasantville). Indeed Jennifer is correct. Without her spark, men and women would continue to live repressed. The people of Pleasantville respond receptively to the change in society because they do not want to remain confined by a system of living and pre-established identities.
Though being taught that nothing exists beyond Pleasantville, the townspeople question Pleasantville’s boundaries despite as if to ask what lies outside of patriarchy. Women and men feel confined by their expected roles and desire to know change. Leaders of the patriarchy begin to feel threatened by the growing strength of the feminist fight. Similarly, modern society fears the idea of female choice and our ability to think and evaluate, resulting in sexual harassment and unequal pay within the work force. In Pleasantville, the patriarchy attempts to subvert “their women” by concentrating their masculinity into one giant oppressive force; eventually they resort to sexual harassment to degrade women as a means of control. Betty faces a battle of harassment but is protected by a positive masculine force—David. After fighting against the symbolic patriarchy, David gains his own color. He accepts a new identity as a colored person, expressing the fluidity of identity and, more importantly, that change is necessary and inevitable.
At the end of the film, David returns to his real life in the nineties only to find his real mother crying at the kitchen table. She believes she has not lived the normal life, the life with the right car and the right house and in a marriage that does not end in divorce. David comforts his mother, stating, “Mom, there is no way it’s supposed to be” (Pleasantville). His mother fell prey to the assumption of the nuclear family, the family that is essentially false. David clearly destabilizes the notion of any norms established by society’s standards.
Ultimately, we all must ask ourselves “what is normal?” Certainly not a world where identity is controlled by a force beyond the individual, and especially not by one that intends to hinder the growth of individuals throughout their lives. Summarily, the film “Pleasantville” provides an effective case study of power placed in full male control. Such power creates an imbalance and must be counter-acted with a continuous effort by feminists to maintain equality. Further, we must remember that change is an evolution and an inevitable process; therefore, as our identities change, society must be willing to accept the transition from one identification to the next.

In the following clip, Betty refuses to submit to her husband, thus she refuses to deny her evolution.