Pleasantville Parody

                                             

At first glance Pleasantville seems like masterpiece of religious symbolism and moral inquiries…and in a lot of ways it is. It certainly has the imagery and the thought provoking cinematography but something is off. This could just be me asserting my cynicism, but the whole movie almost came across as a parody of a thought provoking film. Before you beat me down with blunt objects hear me out. First off the religious imagery: Especially the scene where David is offered the apple in the picturesque park. This scene is so overt that it borders on an SNL sketch. The symbolism does not even attempt to be subtle. Another thing to note is the color. Again the aspect of of color seeping into a colorless world to represent "Enlightenment", is so glaring that it is hard to not find it funny. Finally lets talk about sex. The whole idea of the characters discovering the appeal of intimacy and the physical expression of love in a community that discourages such an activity, was certainly not a new subject. But the film puts a spin on this idea with character of Jennifer, who discovers that sex is not the solution to the emptiness she feels and finds a cure in the radical idea of love. With its overt imagery and story that contradicts the general ideas about sex and rebellion, the film comes across very much as a parody film, the question is: Is this a bad thing? Well no, not at all. Now when I'm talking about a parody , I'm not talking about Scary Movie or anything else those producers have poisoned the waters with, I'm thinking satire. Satire is really just holding a mirror up to ourselves and hoping that we see what it looks like. The film does this very well. By putting a spin on the concept of imagery (which usually tries to be more vague and subtle) it forces us to pay attention and gives us the opportunity to discuss ideas without fear of too much misinterpretation. By demonstrating the character change through something as noticeable as the colors changing we are once again forced to pay attention rather than something that is more subtle like a characters clothes changing, the room color or anything else that is commonly used and can be ignored. Finally by twisting the perception of sex and placing a mirror on the idea of rebellion among a younger generation, gives perspective to a topic that is often hard to discuss outside of a raunchy comedy. The overtness of the film always bothered me but looking back on it I finally understand that it is not meant to create many interpretations on different topics, but a distinct cohesive, worthwhile dialogue about a subject that needs to be discussed without being danced around.
                         
What do you think? Was it the intention of the filmmakers to do a parody, if you even think that it is a parody? Or do you think that the filmmakers thought they were being subtle? or if you think I'm am an idiot who knows absolutely nothing let me know.
 and Thanks for reading.