Talk:Pleasantville (film)

Just wondering, what is the jazz music that is playing in the backround in the scene where the teens ask Bud what's outside Pleasantville?- B-101 1 July 2005 14:40 (UTC)

It's playing right now on TBS in the other room. I don't know what scenes they are in, but I have heard both "Take Five" from Dave Brubeck's Time out and "So What" from Miles Davis's Kind of Blue. Taco Deposit | Talk-o to Taco 21:26, July 9, 2005 (UTC)

Yes, it is Take Five from Dave Brubeck. Pils 20:49, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

Fantastic film. Do you know what the music is when they're looking through the art book? It plays again when they look at the mural. Oh, and do you think the colour-divided scenes are more based on the film of To Kill a Mockingbird, as the article currently states, or the book, or even the basic ideas and practices as brought to many young, modern people's attention by the film?

The final song is also a big surprise. Covers are usually worse than the original and covering a Beatles song is an especially dangerous thing to do, but this version of 'Across the Universe' is even better than the original! DirkvdM 09:41, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

Social comment?

I just moved the tagline up because it's not really a spoiler and actually a good indication of the kind of film it is for people who consider watching it. And for those who are put off by the start, which is rather tacky and gives the wrong idea about what kind of film it is. But isn't there more social comment than just the colour thing and resistance to change? It comments on US society, and I don't know too much about that. But isn't there also something about the prosecution of 'communists' by McCarthy? And I can't remember now, but I noticed several other things while watching the film.

By the way, the buildup is a bit like Fidel (film), just in reverse. Both start in one mode and then switch to the opposite. 'Fidel' starts off very pro-Castro and ends very anti-Castro. In Pleasantville that isn't as strong, but I suspect there might be the intention to catch the interrest of people who liked the 'atmosphere' of the 50's that others find so oppressive and then exposes the bad aspects of it. Or am I reading too much in this? DirkvdM 09:41, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

There is definitely social comment, and while it's a pretty good film, the message is a rather dubious countercultural myth that doing things like having fun or getting angry are 'subversive' activities that disrupt the 'system.' This is debunked very nicely in the book The Rebel Sell, where the authors comment specifically on this film. 38.112.113.242 23:00, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

Ehm, having fun and getting angry are presented as disrupting the system, yes, but not in a negative way, as your wording suggests (although you don't really say it, it's just the way it sounds). Quite the contrary, it brings colour into their lives. DirkvdM 08:41, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

No, the changes are viewed as positive in the movie, no question. But this mode of thinking -- that the system can't 'handle' small localized actions and crumbles as a result -- is very outdated 1960s thinking which has long been disproven. 64.231.208.136 13:00, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

I thought it was more about them becoming complete people. After all 'Mary Sue' had to start studying and developing her mind before she became a 'full colour' person. It's about there being more to life than just pleasantness, and not being able to stop things changing because everyone changes all the time. And yes, there are parallels drawn with various situations in America in the past, but situations that are now in the past and pretty much uniformly agreed were bad. It's not just about counter-culture, it's about every way of being a fully rounded person, living every part of themselves. Or at least, that's how I saw it. 16:35, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Yeah. It's not about rebeling against the system. They come color when they become more than two dimensional archetypes and become "real" people, in that they become well-rounded. Mary Sue had to explore her intellectual side, Toby McGuire's character had to learn that being angry was alright. Etc.

When is a plot summary not a summary?

When it recounts the plot in minute and rather tedious detail, I would suggest. I can see that a lot of effort has gone into this by the anonymous user, but in my personal opinion it does little for the article. I'm not sure whether I'm suffering from a personal prejudice here, which is why I haven't reverted it, but I'd appreciate the views of others, even if only to disagree. --Stephen Burnett 13:42, 25 June 2006 (UTC)