“Pleasantville” however, is focused more on how young people today can be influenced by the media, and that television is now a part of their lives. The films emphasis this by David/Bud being almost hooked on the T.V. sitcom “Pleasantville”, David/Bud knowing almost every word of the T.V. show. “Pleasantville” also shows how change in routine can transform a perfect society into hatred, racism and as a result splitting the town into two. Nevertheless, this can also be positive; it shows that even if we look or act in a different way, we are still so alike it also reminds us to be more accepting towards those who may be a little different to you.
In “Pleasantville”, life is perfect, everyone likes one another, dinner is never late, toilets don’t exist and marital beds are strictly single. Until David and Jen from the 90s, (where life is completely the opposite from Pleasantville) are zapped into the sitcom and take on the life of Bud and Mary. They both destroy the perfect world by changing routine and bringing, hatred, racism, violence and sex, which lead to adultery.
In “the Truman show”, Truman is the star of the world’s most popular soap, being watched non-stop 24 hours a day, living in a make believe life in a make believe town where all who live there are actors of the show and the buildings are sets. Everything is controlled and set up in Truman’s life (even the weather), so that he has an almost perfect life. However, when finally he gets suspicious about weird goings on, he decides to leave the town, where then he bumps into the outside world, the real world, FREEDOM! But also realises that all he lived for was all fake,
Both “The Truman Show” and “Pleasantville” are very similar in theme. People trapped inside television show, and life is a routine and they can expect what will happen the following day.
Both films share, the God-like characters that control the events of each story. In “Pleasantville”, a mysterious TV Repairman first introduces the two main characters of the movie David and Jen to this special remote control, which zaps them to the black-and-white town-Pleasantville.
Meanwhile, the TV Producer Christof in “The Truman show” commands the environment around the controls Truman’s life unknowingly in the make believe world that is “The Truman Show”.
These two films also have differences; the main difference between the two is the moral. The moral of “The Truman Show” is this: "You can't cage the human spirit." Any attempt to control it and show it onto television for the public will fail.
“Pleasantville's” moral is slightly different: "You don't have the right to hold back human happiness." Any attempt to control the way a person wants to be, will cause aggression and hatred, but however, you may finally end up accepting the difference.
The focus is different too. In Truman, the watchers and makers of the TV show in the film are focused entirely on one man. So in a way, almost everyone is guilty of entrapping this man in our selfish and greedy desire for entertainment.
With Pleasantville, the opposite is true with the focus ending on each individual. We watch the brother-and-sister duo "free" the people of Pleasantville with the idea that their way of life is resisting their creativity.
The use of music in these films is, I think perfect, they both deal with different experiences in life. “The Truman show” uses music to show how Truman is feeling and going through during his life, for example, when Truman reunites with his father who he believe was dead the music brings in emotions and makes the scene more dramatic, it brings joy to Truman’s life.
“Pleasantville” uses music to show how life is in the town and how the people are feeling to change. Before change takes place, the music is mostly calm and joyful, when change in life occurs the music also changes, for example when text appears in the book, the music plays in a way to show excitement and amazement.
The music used in both films fits perfectly with how people are feeling and can create an atmosphere of happiness, sadness, excitement, amazement, joy and disbelief.
In general, the two films reminds us to be more accepting towards different/strange ways of doing things and understand that we are all different to one another (“Pleasantville”), it also tells us that whatever we do, it will affect someone else in someway, so we shouldn’t be just think about ourselves (The Truman show).
Overall, the two films were both highly watch able. I found both story lines very interesting. Both were well written and highly entertaining. If I was to decide on the better one however, I was more satisfied with “the Truman show”. As I found some scenes of “Pleasantville” quite boring and slow moving and lacked entertainment, “The Truman show” was more realistic, and it had comedy…………
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Ironically, the weakest moments of the film come when Carrey reverts back to low brow comedy for brief moments.
The lack of depth of all the other characters besides Truman is also a bit disconcerting: Christof and the media are collectively faceless and evil, and the audiences that raise The Truman Show to a powerful ratings grabber are depicted as mindless sheep. The young woman who falls for Truman and can't keep her mouth shut about the conspiracy comes off as the token love interest required in a Hollywood film of this size. Unfortunately, her presence and assistance only serve to weaken Truman's ability to unravel the mystery for himself. Had Truman stumbled through the maze on his own in cold isolation, his discovery might have come as a more powerful revelation about the state of reality.
The one failing of Pleasantville is its tendency to be a bit heavy-handed with its message — but then again, it is a fairytale. Who criticizes Mother Goose and the Brothers Grimm for waving their messages around (do what your parents tell you, be good, and watch out for trolls)? Pleasantville asks us to suspend our disbelief and enter into its world, where life is magical and anything can happen.
David (Tobey Maguire), a whey-faced teenager with no discernible social life, a sister who'd rather he didn't exist, and a divorced mother who can barely hold herself together. David is the master of Pleasantville trivia, and as the movie begins, he's gearing up for the 24-hour Pleasantville marathon, which to him is something like a dream come true.
