stating that his mother’s responsibility in a family and society is to stick within the nuclear family and that she should be a supporting wife and responsible mother. While David is not affected by the “enormous cultural dominance of the baby boomers” (Levin 24), he is in fact nostalgic for the past as a result of his current circumstances.
These current circumstances which cause David’s nostalgia for the past all of a sudden have a literal manifestation as David magically enters into the past that he is so nostalgic for. With a remote given to them by a mysterious repairman, David and his sister Jennifer get sucked into the TV, and straight into the town Pleasantville. They are consequently forced to adapt to their new aliases as Bud and Mary Sue respectively. While David and Jennifer slowly experience the town, David is delighted to be a part of a world that he so longed for. He had a mother and father who get along, a life in which everything is predictable and stable, and moreover, everything is ‘pleasant.’ What David does not realize yet is that there are fundamental underlying problems with Pleasantville.
Despite the depiction of the longing for the ‘good-ol times’ of the past, both David and the baby boomers fail to identify the negative aspects and continue to believe that their view of nostalgia is good. So much so that Levin argues that “the baby boomers so dominate our national memory and self-image means that we don’t think enough about what came before the golden age of the boomers’ youth and that we don’t think clearly about just how things have changed since the time” (28). Levin recognizes this and states that “Nostalgia, after all, is by no means all bad” and states that “we must be careful not to dismiss what they see, but also not to ignore what they miss” (Levin 29). Furthermore, Levin argues that nostalgia is usually “selective in the wrong ways, and is so intense as to be blinding” (Levin 29). Tilburg et. al provides a solution. Tilburg et. …show more content…
al in the introduction of the paper quotes Caryl Flinn stating that “many authors have argued that nostalgia takes people back to a glorified past” (1). Tilburg then goes on to say that in their research, they found that nostalgia can actually “harness the past for engaging with the present and future” (1), specifically in a way that involves a utilitarian contribution. Specifically, in the context of Pleasantville, David uses his nostalgia for the past, which was triggered by circumstances from the present, in order to create a useful new view of the role of women, specifically in his family and for the broader community in the show. Before David and Jennifer joined Pleasantville, everything followed a uniform plot and people did not stray from the norm at all. Throughout the movie however, strange things began to happen in Pleasantville such as color appearing in objects, empty books suddenly filling up with pages, even the undefeated basketball team beginning to miss all of their shots. These were all as a result of the presence of David and Jennifer, and specifically, the actions of Jennifer as she feels uncomfortable and out of place in this place. Against David’s wishes, Jennifer begins to directly change things in Pleasantville by asking overcomplicated questions in class, teaching new words to her friends and most significantly, pushing sexual promiscuity. The scene when David confronts Jennifer reflects one of the first moments in which David is faced with the reality of what Pleasantville actually is. David angrily told Jennifer, “you’re messing with their goddamn universe” (Pleasantville). Jennifer responds by stating “Maybe it needs to be messed with David. Did that ever occur to you?” (Pleasantville). David, similar to the baby boomers is holding on to his perspective of nostalgia for the past without realizing how that despite the ‘good’ of the time, there were many evils. One of the first and most important moments of David realizing that his nostalgia for the past may not be as good as he imagines is his own interaction with his mother Betty. Betty achieved color very soon relative to many of the characters and cries as she cannot bear to let her husband see her in a way that makes her different from the
These current circumstances which cause David’s nostalgia for the past all of a sudden have a literal manifestation as David magically enters into the past that he is so nostalgic for. With a remote given to them by a mysterious repairman, David and his sister Jennifer get sucked into the TV, and straight into the town Pleasantville. They are consequently forced to adapt to their new aliases as Bud and Mary Sue respectively. While David and Jennifer slowly experience the town, David is delighted to be a part of a world that he so longed for. He had a mother and father who get along, a life in which everything is predictable and stable, and moreover, everything is ‘pleasant.’ What David does not realize yet is that there are fundamental underlying problems with Pleasantville.
Despite the depiction of the longing for the ‘good-ol times’ of the past, both David and the baby boomers fail to identify the negative aspects and continue to believe that their view of nostalgia is good. So much so that Levin argues that “the baby boomers so dominate our national memory and self-image means that we don’t think enough about what came before the golden age of the boomers’ youth and that we don’t think clearly about just how things have changed since the time” (28). Levin recognizes this and states that “Nostalgia, after all, is by no means all bad” and states that “we must be careful not to dismiss what they see, but also not to ignore what they miss” (Levin 29). Furthermore, Levin argues that nostalgia is usually “selective in the wrong ways, and is so intense as to be blinding” (Levin 29). Tilburg et. al provides a solution. Tilburg et. …show more content…
al in the introduction of the paper quotes Caryl Flinn stating that “many authors have argued that nostalgia takes people back to a glorified past” (1). Tilburg then goes on to say that in their research, they found that nostalgia can actually “harness the past for engaging with the present and future” (1), specifically in a way that involves a utilitarian contribution. Specifically, in the context of Pleasantville, David uses his nostalgia for the past, which was triggered by circumstances from the present, in order to create a useful new view of the role of women, specifically in his family and for the broader community in the show. Before David and Jennifer joined Pleasantville, everything followed a uniform plot and people did not stray from the norm at all. Throughout the movie however, strange things began to happen in Pleasantville such as color appearing in objects, empty books suddenly filling up with pages, even the undefeated basketball team beginning to miss all of their shots. These were all as a result of the presence of David and Jennifer, and specifically, the actions of Jennifer as she feels uncomfortable and out of place in this place. Against David’s wishes, Jennifer begins to directly change things in Pleasantville by asking overcomplicated questions in class, teaching new words to her friends and most significantly, pushing sexual promiscuity. The scene when David confronts Jennifer reflects one of the first moments in which David is faced with the reality of what Pleasantville actually is. David angrily told Jennifer, “you’re messing with their goddamn universe” (Pleasantville). Jennifer responds by stating “Maybe it needs to be messed with David. Did that ever occur to you?” (Pleasantville). David, similar to the baby boomers is holding on to his perspective of nostalgia for the past without realizing how that despite the ‘good’ of the time, there were many evils. One of the first and most important moments of David realizing that his nostalgia for the past may not be as good as he imagines is his own interaction with his mother Betty. Betty achieved color very soon relative to many of the characters and cries as she cannot bear to let her husband see her in a way that makes her different from the