Grade 12 Creative Writing Portfolio

1. The first sign of color in the town is seen by Skip, after spending a night out with (and hence having sex for the first time with) Mary Sue, when he notices a red rose blooming in a bush. When word of the discovery gets around, cars, bubblegum, and teenagers themselves become colored after the loss of their ignorance. Stunned, Betty sees the faces of the cards in color after she begins to wonder what occurs at Lover’s Lane and learns from Mary Sue what sex is. After neglecting to serve her husband dinner according to his routine expectation, Betty’s face itself becomes colored, as she disrupts her role as housewife. Johnson first sees the paintings in color as he delves into his love for art, and Bud is introduced to the world of color while driving to Lover’s Lane with Margaret. However, as almost everyone in Pleasantville develops some color to their faces, neither Mary Sue nor Bud themselves become colored until towards the end of the story. Though Mary Sue has been around with many guys in Pleasantville, she doesn’t become colored until she begins reading literature, remembering the content of previous books she had once neglected. Bud becomes colored when he hits the boy threatening to rape his mother across the face.

1.a. By the end of the film, the term colored is associated with sin and evil, as deemed by those who are not colored. “No coloreds” signs begin showing up in store windows and those in black and white refer to those in color with disgust, as when Whitey reprimands Bud for failing to attend the town meeting and spits out an “insult” about the influence his “colored girlfriend” has on him. Those who are colored are supposed to feel ashamed, as does Betty when she first realizes she is, but in truth with growth they feel the farthest from it. Those in color are separated from those in black and white, as depicted in the courtroom scene, to represent something like a racial barrier. The town people who take pride in the system of Pleasantville are ignorant, and cannot allow themselves to accept something that is different from themselves.

2. After Bud and Mary Sue arrive, Pleasantville's routines begin to crumble and brains begin to bubble. The townspeople start to think and feel independently from what is expected of them. Johnson learns possibilities outside of his simple "wipe-the-counter, wait-for-Bud-to-do-the-next-step" ritual, and Betty stops answering to "Honey, I'm home." Basketballs stop going in the hoop every shot, words start appearing on the blank pages of books, and teenagers realize there's more to a date than a burger at Johnson’s soda shoppe. With their arrival comes fire, rain, tears, fighting, pain; everything that is anything less than perfection.

3. It is human nature to fear change. When Pleasantville is swept by a wave of irreversible change, the people in charge start to lose their power and believe they have no choice but to prohibit what they see as threatening. Bans are enforced upon Lover’s Lane, the library, and even colors of paint beyond the realm of black, gray, and white. They're afraid of thought that they cannot control because it is dangerous to the harmony of their utopia, and further are afraid of something they don't yet know anything about; what is inside of all of them.

4. It is not until the end of the movie that conclusions can be drawn about David’s real mother. She seems to neglect her children to some extent as she is too acclimated with everyone and everything else going on around her. She goes away and leaves her children home so she can meet a man, and try to feel better about herself. By the end of the movie, when the man is a disappointment, she only feels worse and blames it on herself. As she cries to David, confessing that she is a mess, David advises her that “life isn’t supposed to be anything” and that she doesn’t have to be something that she’s not because she’s great how she is. It’s an important moment for his mother as she realizes that she should do what she wants and not what is expected of her by anyone else, as she had previously thought. Quite similarly, Bud helps his mother realize that she does not need to fulfill the double standard expected of her. Prior to his journey to Pleasantville, Betty, as every other wife in the town, was nothing more than a housewife. She was supposed to have dinner ready for her husband every night and act as a stepping stool for him, though deep down she wasn’t happy. Bud’s arrival aided in her rebirth as a woman who can satisfy her own needs and do what she pleases. Betty’s love and care for Bud allows him to begin to appreciate his mother in the real world.

5. Before David and Jennifer showed up in Pleasantville, Mr. Johnson had always stuck to his routine. He would do some tasks, wait for Bud to do the next ones, then he would do whatever came after. Upon their arrival, Bud became distracted by everything else happening in the town (and the fact that they were in a television show), so Mr. Johnson didn’t know how to think independently and finish the tasks that were “designated” for Bud. However, when Bud gradually explained to Mr. Johnson that he doesn’t need Bud to put the lettuce on the buns to complete the burger, the first signs of Mr. Johnson’s enlightenment became evident. At this point, Mr. Johnson begins to think; something he hadn’t really done before, and begins to contemplate different possibilities of life. He becomes very distracted by everything he understands that he can like, such as art. When Bud introduces to him a book from the library full with artwork, Mr. Johnson sees the photos in color, and quickly himself becomes colored too, as he indulges himself in paint and canvases. Though the town bans paint in color and destroys his soda shoppe, Mr. Johnson stands strong against the oppression with the support of Bud, and together construct a mural in color. Mr. Johnson falls in love with Betty and discovers his own personal preferences.

On the other hand, Betty had always been a stereotypical housewife, cleaning the home and cooking for her family. She obeyed to what her husband would tell her to do and do nothing outside of her typical routine. Her character is quite curious, and she begins to wonder and question Mary Sue about sex. It is upon her learning that Betty understands change and the concept of nonconformity, and begins to see color, herself becoming colored. At first, she wishes to cover up her color with makeup, as she is ashamed by the change. But after realizing that the color is okay, becomes more comfortable. Betty’s marriage begins to fall apart as she stops attending to her husband’s expectations, as she simultaneously falls in love with Mr. Johnson.

6. In the beginning of the movie, Pleasantville is full with ignorance and repression, lacking freedom, chaos, enlightenment; nearly everything that David and Jennifer's previous world possesses. However, because there is neither independent thought nor emotion, the townspeople do not understand that they are missing out on something beyond Pleasantville. Therefore, in their "perfect" little dystopia, everyone is content, whereas in David and Jennifer's world, nearly no one is truly content with their life. David and Jennifer's travel to Pleasantville is crucial to the town's development into a better society, where choice is possible.

7. Prior to her journey to Pleasantville, Jennifer is a shallow, extraverted teenager girl focused only on her reputation. When she gets to Pleasantville, she gains popularity and quickly becomes indulged in spilling secrets of the “real world” to other teenagers. Though she “does it” with many different guys, however, she doesn’t become colored as everyone else is. By the end, when she realizes she should not be telling the townspeople anything more that could distort their world, and becomes intrigued by books, she realizes that it is better to have free-will (rather than do what her friends in the real world are doing) than to be numb and go with the flow. Books and education are her passion, empowering Jennifer with the realization that no one should make her feel like she needs to act a certain way, and that it’s acceptable to disrupt what is considered the norm.

8. Prior to his journey, David is an introverted teenager who spends his time mainly in the house, enticed by the television show Pleasantville. Internally he is disappointed by his lack of friends and a social life, and seems to be quite hard on himself for it. In Pleasantville, he begins to thirst for the popularity that Jennifer initially receives by revealing secrets to the other teenagers, and allows himself to get carried away in enlightening them, as he primarily had advocated against. Over the course of the movie he comes to the realization that change is acceptable, and that it's okay to step out of his comfort zone. When David and Mr. Johnson stand up against the norm by painting the mural and staying strong at their court case, David learns that reputation and whether people like him or not doesn't matter, as long as he is doing what he pleases and standing up for what he believes in.

9. Within the movie, there are many underlying Biblical archetypes. Pleasantville can be compared to the Garden of Eden, as they both represent ideas of innocence, naivety, and perfection. However, when David and Jennifer appear and disrupt the "pleasantness" of the utopia, everything begins to change and the town becomes colored, as people begin acting in ways that are deemed sinful. In the Biblical story, Eve is tricked into eating the forbidden fruit, further bringing both knowledge and evil to all of mankind. Similarly in Pleasantville, there is a loss of both innocence and ignorance as the content of books is introduced (knowledge) and teenagers begin going to Lover's Lane to perform the forbidden (and evil) act of sex. Toward the end of the movie, Margaret picks an apple from a tree and hands it to Bud, who then eats it. At this point, in comparison to the Bible story, God, who is angered by all the sinning, unleashes a ferocious storm of thunder and rain, which had previously never happened in Pleasantville before. Additionally throughout the movie, there are Biblical references such as the burning tree in Bud and Mary Sue’s front lawn when Pleasantville starts to become “enlightened”, and a rainbow as to signal God’s forgiveness following the prior storm.