The media portrayed in The Truman Show in a positive way because Truman can have a perfect life because most of the people are nice to him. But it can also be negative because he is tricked to believe that his life is real and that he hasn’t got a choice about who he wants to be. The movie is nothing to the real world because there is no swearing and violence. People watching the shows are shown as being fixated by what happens to Truman. They are obsessed with the TV sitcom watching it everywhere they can. The media portrayed in Pleasantville is in a negative way by having our lives ruled and influenced by television and the media. It shows that life was better and easier before all the negative influences so society became evil.
The main storyline of Pleasantville is about a brother and sister get teleported into a TV show called Pleasantville, which is set in the 1950’s. They become the new characters of the Bud and Mary Sue whose parents are George and Betty Parker (William Macy and Joan Allen). Then they notice the innocence life of Pleasantville. When the people of Pleasantville find true happiness they become colour. They become racist and hatred when they become colour. The people in black and white are scared because they don’t understand when they see “coloured people”. In The Truman Show the storyline is showing a reality show, it shows the audience watching Truman Burbank being treated inhumanly by the director by controlling what he does and what he feels.
The use of music to create atmosphere in Pleasantville is when Bud and Sue go to “Lovers Lane” when pink petals fall down from the trees there’s romantic music while the rest of the background is still black and white. When the black and white people turn into colour there’s music to reflect it. In The Truman Show the music is used by creating different types of moods and it controls and changes the emotions of the audience such as from happy to sad.
The main characters of The Truman Show are Truman Burbank and his wife Meryl, and the director of the show (Christof). Truman is unaware of what’s happening around him. He is naïve and funny. Meryl is lively and advertises certain products and she hasn’t have a social life because the Truman Show is her life. Christof wants Truman to be happy but he also wants the show to be big. The main characters in Pleasantville are David/Bud and Jennifer/Mary Sue. David is obsessed about the show and he is a geek. Jennifer is a chain-smoking flirt and sluttish.
The good things about The Truman Show is that the movie is original and unique because no other types of films have done the same as The Truman Show by having different types of angles, such as inside the car radio, a mirror, and unlikely places you would expect a camera to be. The movie is suitable for family viewing because it contained no violence. In Pleasantville the good things are that it is unique in visual effects and good special effects. It’s a good movie to be black and white. In both of the films they have good acting.
What was bad about The Truman Show was that by watching it the first time it can get really confusing. The setting is unrealistic and in the beginning of the movie the actors and editor gives away the story and plot. I think that the story would have worked better if we were as clueless as Truman so then we could figure it out too. In Pleasantville the people in the TV sitcom are a little over-emotionally and overreacted when they see coloured people. In the movie they exaggerate when a fire brigade has to save a cat from the tree and then don’t know what to do when there’s a fire. Some parts of the movie seemed a little slow. Not suitable for young people because of the sexual content and swearing.
The way the teenagers would react to The Truman Show by most of teenagers would be interested in this kind of films because most teenagers nowadays watch TV programs such as “Big Brother” where there’s hidden cameras everywhere in the room while the person being watched don’t know it and not having any privacy. In Pleasantville most of the teenagers would not be interested in this film because it’s some parts of the movie is in black and white and they think of it as being boring.
After watching these two films I think that The Truman Show is better than Pleasantville because it teaches that you can’t control somebody’s life, only they can control it.
