The Film Pleasantville - Essay Example

Pleasantville (1998) in the Context of Cornelius Plantinga Jr. and Bruce Epperly Introduction The film Pleasantville (1998) is a morality tale in which the concept of the authentic life is explored in contrast to repression and the oppressions of governing authorities who try to determine the personal lives of the individuals of their town. Based on the idea that 1950s television represented an ideal, the imagery of evoked by those programs is challenged for the inauthentic way in which they revealed life in America. Although they are often considered programs that represent the ideal of the American dream, the truth of life is that the innocence and polished world they represented did not express the truth about life, thus giving people a false belief about what it means to live in the United States. Looking at the writings of Cornelius Plantinga Jr. and Bruce Epperly, the film Pleasantville is analyzed against writings that express the meaning of God within the life of the Christian, creating a discourse on how the perfection of this world is measured against the expectations of God. Plantinga reminds his readers that God expects us to embrace suffering, to go out into the world and serve without expecting to find glory. Epperly reminds us that the world is bigger than the human experience, that finding the whole world gives the human experience the authenticity that God had intended. Through looking at Pleasantville through the writings of Plantinga and Epperly, the Christian experience in the world is expressed as more than just the illusions of perfection as it is sought after within the confines of the American dream. Overview of the Film The film Pleasantville (1998) is a fantasy in which the idea of what is the ideal of American life is explored through the concept of 1950s television. Television shows such as Leave it to Beaver and Daddy Knows Best are often used as measures against which the American dream is examined for the best case scenario. In the film Toby McGuire and Reese Witherspoon are sucked into an alternate universe of Pleasantville, a black and white television program. Pleasantville is McGuire’s favorite television program and a bit of magic occurs during a marathon which pulls them into this universe. The perfection of the world is challenged as the black and white life of the characters begin to give way to bursts of color as they emerge on landscapes and people when their belief systems are challenged by the two interlopers. This symbolizes the nature of the oppression of emotions as they are released so that a greater depth is experienced. The restrictive, always content and serenely bland world is suddenly transformed into a place of passion and drama, the experience of life literally blossoming into a world with far more emotional range. The conflict comes as the town elders, who are not experiencing this awakening, begin to blame those who are beginning to have more color and depth in their life as representing immorality. Those who experience the change and begin to show a more colorful exterior become literally called ‘colored’, reviled and held responsible for the ills of their world. The morality of prejudicial behaviors comes into play as stores are destroyed; young men become vigilantes of the style of the 1950s as prejudice was once experienced with rocks through windows and epitaphs written on walls. The world devolves into a chaos as the oppressors try to keep their grip on the time, holding it back from evolution and change. Through gaining understanding of the depth of the human experience, the world begins to open up, the loop of Main Street no longer holding everyone within the borders of Pleasantville inside the town. Eventually, Pleasantville and its inhabitants are able to engage the rest of the world, their lives beyond the repression of their emotions and experiences and having shed the oppressions that have kept them locked within their world. Witherspoon’s character decides to stay in the alternative universe because she sees a more moral and successful future for herself within that world, while McGuire goes back to the ‘real world’ in order to assert all of the lessons that he has learned into his life. Pleasantville is a morality tale in which the effects of repression are explored for the ‘perfection’ that is held within it in contrast to the release of those repressed emotions and desires in order to live a more authentic and fulfilling life. Repression may contain potential problems, but the gritty, flawed experience of being human is a far better experience to never expressing one’s true emotions. Cornelius Plantinga Jr. One of the discussions that Corenlius Plantinga Jr. makes in his book Beyond Doubt: Faith-building Devotions on Questions Christians Ask, is about the way in which God seeks to liberate people from those things that hold them in a state of repression. Appetites is one of the things that he discusses as something that holds people in repression, the idea that desires distract people from the life that they should be leading. Plantinga states that “God speaks liberation to slaves, including people enslaved by their own appetites” (7). This idea can be explored from two perspectives in regard to the film Pleasantville. From one perspective one might see the blossoming of the people of Pleasantville as being the expression of appetites, the course of the world tainted by experiences that denote pleasure and distract the people from experiences that are more wholesome and pure. Some of those who continue to elevate the 1950s as the best time for the experience of being an American believe that the release of emotions and social revolution of the 1960s damaged and destroyed much of the purity that existed during that time period. As expressed by Olson, the television of the 1950s showed strong nuclear families that were based upon unity and wholesome connectivity. Using the example of Leave it to Beaver, Olson writes “The Cleavers were a perfect American family – kind prosperous and white – perfect at least for America in the 1950s” (167). The problem with this ‘vision’ of the 1950s is that it is an illusion that was created by television producers who were following a trend. In examining Plantinga from a different perspective, it can be seen that the hand of God would have been the cause of the blossoming of color in Pleasantville, McGuire and his sister the instruments through which the repressions of the town were released. Plantinga writes about the experience of God becoming flesh, his experiences as a human giving him a more authentic understanding of what it is to be human. One might wonder if God would need that experience as He is all knowing, but the proof that authenticity is important to him can be found in the fact that He did become flesh. Therefore, the alternate perspective from which to compare Plantinga’s writings to Pleasantville is in the understanding that repression is something that God does not desire for His children. Therefore, he chooses for them to live a more authentic life, their belief systems reflecting truths as opposed to illusions such as those created by 1950s television. The illusion of Pleasantville is in the building of a belief system that some forms of living are superior to others. Of course, living well fed with a roof over your head is superior to living without food security or a safe home, but the illusion that is often built concerning the American dream is that it is based upon one superior way of life that does not include a great number of people. The illusion of living in a world with one way is that it is arrogant and supports an ideal that does not represent the majority of people in the United States, nor in the world. Christianity supports the lives of a great more people than can be represented by “– kind prosperous and white –“ (Olson 167). Through living with the idea that this illusion is the ideal, the rest of human experience is excluded, thus creating an inauthentic life. The illusion of Pleasantville is that there is no suffering, and Plantinga speaks about the fact that suffering is a part of God’s expectations for his children. In designing a perfected configuration of lifestyles, God’s expectations are not fulfilled. Plantinga states that “Christians must suffer for the sake of the Gospel” (34). The idea of suffering for beliefs suggests that if one closes ranks and refuses to step into the world, risking sanctity for the sake of doing service, the expression of Christian beliefs are not fulfilled. Those who choose to not serve others in need and instead revile them for their poverty are not living in God’s light. Stepping into the world and understanding its truths gives Christians the power to make true and authentic change, rather than closing ranks and creating a world in which there are those who are included and those who are excluded. The film Pleasantville reveals how beautiful the world can become when life is lived authentically as color and emotional clarity begins to blossom throughout that world. Suffering for the sake of the freedom from expression becomes a central theme within the film. Bruce Epperly Epperly writes about the importance of the authenticity of the experience of life. He states “whatever ultimately exists, at every level of experience, can be described as an actual occasion or occasion of experience each one of which creatively synthesizes or integrates the data from which it emerged” (23). Once again Christians are responsible to experience real life, not an illusion of life. Just as the citizens of Pleasanteville walked through the world oblivious to the real problems and experiences that were all around them, shut off from an authentic life, Christians sometimes shield themselves away from the world, cloaked in a belief that in denying the existence of real problems that they should engage, they are creating a world in which suffering does not exist. Epperly also writes extensively about embracing the beauty of authentic experiences, that life is more than just the superficial concepts that have been taken for granted. He writes “Process thought advocates a re-enchantment of nature, which experience, feeling, value, and beauty, are understood to be inherent in the nature of things” (23). This is a clear message in the film Pleasantville as the population of the town begins discover the beauty of the world through its realities, the grit, pain, pleasure, and experiences of an authentic life giving to the people an understanding of what life truly means. The character that Jeff Daniels portrays discovers both his love of art, something that is beyond his simple job in the food service industry, and his love of a woman is integrally connected. The appreciation he finds when color begins to emerge opens up his ability to feel, his emotional life given depth and meaning as he finds there is more to life than the role he was assigned. Another perspective that Epperly gives is that the world is more than just the human experience. The world is filled with a diversity of God’s creations, His work having developed a system that is beyond that of just the human experience. Epperly states “Today we are discovering the wonder, beauty, and value of the non-human world on its own terms and apart from human interests” (23). The world is more than just the tunnel vision view of experience that directly relates to only human interests. As Pleasantville awakens to discover that the world is more than just a black and white controlled experience, it is important to understand that this includes more than just the human existence within the world. God has created an entire world, not just a human world, thus in opening up to the authenticity of life, the whole world must be taken into consideration. Epperly states that “God can be perceived as moving through all things as a companion and guide, inspiring all creatures toward beauty and fulfillment for themselves and the world from the inside, rather than as an external clockmaker” (26). In understanding the value and beauty of all things under the hand of God, the importance of all the world opens up, denying the Christian the ability to hide away behind an illusion of life. Just as in Pleasantville, living without all the colors of the world is repressive and without depth. In using Epperly’s theories in comparison to the message of Pleasantville, one sees that closeting away behind an illusion of what life means is one of the ways to deny God, pushing out all his creation in favor of one’ s own closed off world. Conclusion The film Pleasantville presents a story of morality in which a world that has denied the full experience of being human is opened up, the colors of the world representing the desires and appetites which bring depth and deeper meaning to life. In understanding this world, it is essential to embrace both the pain and pleasures of being human, life being an expression of more than just a superficiality which denies the authentic. The film presents the illusion of the American dream as it exists in a vacuum in which one perspective on how life should be lived is presented, without the truth of the many levels and shades of life being presented. In examining the film against the writings of both Plantinga and Epperly, the context of how it expresses the emergence of God in ones’ life can be appreciated. In examining the film in comparison to both Plantinga and Epperly it is clear that God expects authenticity in life, thus it is not living with God if life is repressed and closeted away from the realities and challenges within the world as understood through a greater understanding of God’s creation. Works Cited Epperly, Bruce G. Process Theology: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: T & T Clark, 2011. Print. Olson, James S. Historical Dictionary of the 1950s. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2000. Print. Plantinga, Cornelius. Beyond Doubt: Faith-building Devotions on Questions Christians Ask. Grand Rapids, Mich: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2002. Print. Read More