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Universal Truths In Pleasantville

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In the film called "Pleasantville", there are several themes and universal truths. But the truth that stuck out to me is best said in a quote by Andrew Smith: "People fear was they don't understand and hate what they can't conquer". It is after all, human nature to be scared of the unknown. There are blantant examples of this throughout the film, however I won't merely state each group of examples. I will prove my statement by breaking down the movie as it corresponds to each part of the qoute. The first examples are when Skip Martin misses the shot due to frustration. Ball ricochets off the backboard, lands on the floor, and rolls toward the rest of the team. The coach then tells them to not touch it. The group parts like the Red Sea, as the assumed ball rolls past the team. The scene is comical, but it is one of the most obvious examples of the fear of the unknown. Next, the men at the …show more content…

That fear we harbor can grow into a seething hate for those mysterious things that we cannot conquer, because we are too afraid of what may happen. In the end, the people of Pleasantville moved past that fear of things alien, even though it was thrust upon them it turned out to be for the better. The movie Pleasantville is the story of twins, David (played by Maguire) and Jennifer (played by Witherspoon), that live polar opposites lives socially during high school in the 90's. David being the socially awkward brother and Jennifer being the popular, yet sexually promiscous girl. During during an arguement they break the remote to the television and a mysterous repair man shows up. The repairman (played by Knotts) gives them a remote, which sends them into the called Pleasantville. The show is in black and white and is based in the 1950's. In this world everyone sees them as Bud and Mary Sue

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By doing so they are fighting the past identities they had created and once known themselves to be, and creating new ones. The choice to do this was forced upon them and changed their perceptions of who they once knew themselves to be. Originally the people in Pleasantville were living in a town where they didn’t have much choice or freedom and everyone had the same views. However through the choices they were forced to make to change the town they realised that who they had always known themselves to be was not an accurate representation of who they were. This led to them trying

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