The first change is when bud implies to Skip that Mary sue won’t go out with him. The basketball misses which is unheard of in Pleasantville; no one wants to touch it. Their world is starting to change. The next change happens at lover’s lane when Mary sue and Skip have sex and this is when there rose turns red showing colour in Pleasantville. Then the next objects that change are Bubble gum, car headlights this change starts off with the youths.
It begins to affect the adults. Mary sue tells her mother about sex and masturbation. The mother’s experience makes the bathroom colour, and then because of that there is a fire in a tree. Bud becomes a hero because he is the only one that knows about fire, nothing normally burns in Pleasantville. Book pages start filling in, then the teens have a thirst for knowledge and go to the library, and they want to learn. Betty’s face and skin is now color, its showing that she is developing. She is too ashamed to show it so bud covers it up with makeup.
Bud gives an art-book to Bill who want to paint (Bill is a crucial character who is involved in the changing of Pleasantville). Everything in lover’s lane is now coloured not a single bit of black or white. Bill paints the diner windows, and Mary Sue starts studying. George has no dinner and is shocked. There is lightning and rain for the first time in Pleasantville and this is a major night of changes coming to a climax.
The mayor represents those who fear change and want the status quo to remain. The problems are highlighted to him by George not having dinner, rays shirt being burnt and the rain. He wants to get back to the Pleasantville values.
This is an important night where characters realize what they want. The rainbow diner is all in color, but Bud is still grey. There is a town meeting and the mayor said only non-coloured citizens of Pleasantville can go. The next day bud shows emotion and stands up for Betty and he becomes colour. The mob rule tears apart the diner now Pleasantville is no longer pleasant. Then there is book burning and you can see how much Jennifer has changed because she won’t allow her book to be burnt.
The mayor and other non colours come up with a code of conduct for Pleasantville. This includes of: no music, no colour paints, library closed, lovers lane closed and no history that shows change. Then Bud and Bill paint a mural depicting the recent events in Pleasantville and they get put in jail. In court black and white colours are segregated, and bud stands up for the rights of people in Pleasantville in court. He makes the mayor angry and this causes him to be colour. This was a catalyst for the whole of Pleasantville to become a real place. Now shops have colour TV’s, now able to get to other place and signs are up in town.
Jennifer decides to stay and goes to college. David goes home and hardly anytime has passed. His jacket proves that Pleasantville exists and he is now able to talk with his mother.
The use of colour is introduced when there is a change in the Pleasantville society. This is shown in many ways like when the rose turned red, this happened because skip slept with Jennifer and red indicated passion and the rose symbolizes romance. Also when the bubblegum was pink this is because skip told the basketball players what happened so other young people are moving away from Pleasantville’s behavior, it also means that young people are the first to change. The car turned green because it had been taken to lover lane which is where there are most colours, because of the passion. Bud turned colour because he had the courage to stand up for Betty and help her out, unlike before when he didn’t care about anyone else. Everyone else turned colour because they all realised what they wanted in life and how they really felt about themselves.
I think that when the audience first saw that bud and Jennifer were trapped inside a show the aim of the movie would be to get them out. But when the first bit of colour was shown and they were changing their surroundings, the audience realized it was about making Pleasantville into a fully coloured world. Bud and Jennifer changed the whole society of Pleasantville. First it starts off with Jennifer having sex with Skip. This is when the rose appears and Skip tells everyone. As the story unfolds and more people start changing the audience realise that it’s about how the characters are feeling and what they want. But when the books once burnt and there is vandalism they realise that there has to be peace between the 2 kinds.
I think the sci-fi genre is suspected when the old electrician comes in and gives bud and old remote. But it is, wired how they didn’t call him or tell anyone else they had broken the remote. When they get sucked into the TV the audience realise it’s a sci-fi film. Their expectations are for bud and Jennifer to escape. But as you go along these expectations change.
The stylistic convents help to anchors the ideas, and reinforce the text by using colour. A certain object in the movie changed for a reason and because something happened. This makes the audience think why that certain object and what effect it has on the Pleasantville society. In conclusion colour helps anchors the ideas by making a certain object colour for a particular reason.
By Pritesh Sodha
