Who among us hasn’t fantasised about escaping the dreariness of the real world and instead existing within our favourite television show, where every day is sunny? Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon do just that, playing twins David and Jennifer who, while fighting over a TV remote, get magically transported from 1998 into the seemingly idyllic black-and-white 1950s sitcom Pleasantville, where the most pressing emergencies are getting cats out of trees.
Pleasantville is the directorial debut of Gary Ross, who wrote the Tom Hanks comedy Big, and begins by showing the US in the twilight of the 20th century – fraught by environmental problems, job scarcity and fear of Aids. Nothing seems to go David’s way; he struggles to ask a girl out at his high school and his parents have divorced. The only thing he is passionate about is the eponymous vintage sitcom. So when he and Jennifer become trapped inside it as characters Bud and Mary Sue Parker, David suggests using his vast knowledge of the show to follow its rules and avoid disrupting it.
But with her queen bee status taken away from her, the popular Jennifer has no intention of listening to David. Her open sexuality and modern vocabulary send shock waves through the town, causing bursts of colour to appear in the otherwise greyscale world. After the captain of the high school basketball team, Skip (Paul Walker), tells his teammates about his sexual encounter with Jennifer/Mary Sue, the players miss their shots – something that has never happened before. The townsfolk’s saccharine and scripted lives have begun to change.
These changes are not without challenges. When the twins’ onscreen mother, Betty (Joan Allen), finds herself in colour she doubts her marriage and starts detaching from her husband, George (William H Macy), mirroring the twins’ parents’ breakup in the real world.
Meanwhile, the malt shop manager and David/Bud’s boss, Bill (Jeff Daniels), has an existential crisis after realising just how monotonous his life is. To cheer him up David gives him a book of famous paintings, inspiring him to take up art. Around town, young people grow more infatuated with the world outside Pleasantville as they become absorbed in art and literature.
Ross’s innovative use of colour in Pleasantville yields some of the film’s most visually striking moments. David, finally scoring a date as Bud with a popular cheerleader, Margaret (Marley Shelton), remains in monotonous hues while she is decked out in a floral yellow dress, twirling a red plaid umbrella. It rains in the town for the first time, and cherry blossom petals decorate the black-and-white roads with splashes of pink.
Alarmed by the town’s kaleidoscopic transformation, the mayor, Big Bob (JT Walsh), assembles a group of middle-aged men, including George, to help pass new laws to halt these changes. A shaken-up George tells the men that Betty has not cooked dinner for him, eliciting gasps. “It’s a question of whether we want to hold on to those values that made this place great,” Big Bob proclaims. And so begins the mayor’s efforts to make Pleasantville “great” again.
Having worked for Democratic presidential campaigns (including Bill Clinton’s), Ross offers some pointed social commentary. The contrast between greyscale and colour becomes emblematic of the conflict between conservatism and progress. As Big Bob’s movement gains traction, people who have become colourised are persecuted. Books are burned and storefronts display signs saying “NO COLORED”, a clear reference to racial segregation in the US. (This message is unfortunately undercut by the fact that Pleasantville has an all-white cast.)
David is a dorky do-gooder with a nerdy charm that closely resembles Maguire’s most famous role: Peter Parker. Jennifer is brilliant beneath her somewhat conceited demeanour, inviting comparisons to Elle Woods, the bubbly protagonist Witherspoon portrayed in Legally Blonde.
As the twins lead the charge against Big Bob and the council, Pleasantville becomes a parable about how fear of progress leads to political oppression. As rightwing movements gain power while targeting minorities around the world, the film feels surprisingly relevant for a teen romance from nearly 30 years ago.
Pleasantville is available to stream on Netflix in Australia and the US. It’s also available to rent or buy on Apple TV in the UK. Find more recommendations of what to stream in Australia here
