Pleasantville "To Kill a Mockingbird"

Not only was the film Pleasantville a great depiction of American culture, but it also touched on social problems, of today’s age and of history. The use of colors was a great way to represent the issues of race in a satirical and covert manner. The American society is fearful of change and Pleasantville effortlessly symbolizes the past American society’s fear of racial integration. As the movie progresses, the citizens of Pleasantville begin to change and find more fulfillment in their lives. Once this happens, the people turn from dull black and white to vibrant Technicolor. As the people suddenly change into color, black and white citizens believed that whoever was changing into the colors was corrupt.

Scene: Courtroom scene: The mayor of Pleasantville tells his people, “if you love a place, you can’t just sit back and watch this kind of thing happen!” So after a majority of the town’s people had seemingly turned into color, the “true citizens of Pleasantville” (or, black and white people) decide to have a town hall meeting for change. During the town hall meeting in the courtroom, the people have a strong resemblance to the courtroom scene in the movie To Kill a Mockingbird. There, the people divide themselves, as the “coloreds” on the top of the courtroom, in the balcony, and the black and whites, on the bottom. Because as Bob, the Mayor of Pleasantville tells them, “…you must separate out things that are pleasant from the things that are unpleasant.” The mayor and the “true citizens of Pleasantville,” create the Pleasantville Code of Conduct, containing eight strict rules for the people of Pleasantville to abide by. Rule number seven, “The only permissible paint colors will be black, white, or gray…” proves that color was looked at to be an evil thing. Throughout America’s history, there has always been the problem of racism and especially towards “colored” people. The ending scenes in the court house were a perfect representation of America’s history with racism, and the stubbornness of the American people to change.


Your "colored" girlfriend...

Prejudice is amongst all American’s, and it’s not just about race. Prejudice is about being intolerant to differences. Pleasantville powerfully displayed the discrimination American’s can show towards each other. The “true citizens” of Pleasantville, or the black and white folks were prejudice against those who turned to multicolor. Each person who turned into multicolor was “changed” because they began to find their “own selves”. The multicolor was symbolic of change, finding one’s own personality, and breaking out of the “social norms.” Color became a sign of evil in the town of Pleasantville, the Mayor even made a law number 7 in the Code of Conduct at the town hall meeting, to read, “the only permissible paint colors will be, black, white, and gray…” Those citizens of Pleasantville in color, were looked down upon, and not even treated like real/true citizens.


Joan Allen, the mother in the film, put black and white make up on her face, even just to go out in public, to cover up the fact the she had turned into color.
“Nothing is as simple as Black and White.” –Pleasantville Theme