Pleasantville is a seemingly perfect utopia. Men go home on time after work, women bring out a sumptuous dinner, children go to school obediently, and fall in love obediently. There is no rain or fire. The only task of firefighters is to save the little ones on the tree. cat. However, everything here is only in black, white and gray. The book has only the cover and the content is blank. In any case, the people in Happy Valley enjoy themselves. But the intrusion of David and Jennifer changed everything. People are beginning to realize that they are not so satisfied. When people face their inner emotions, the world begins to change, and the black and white world becomes colorful and colorful.
I think this story is basically based on the changes in the United States. The "Happy Valley" in the film is a TV series in the 50s, like the American society before the 1960s, conservative, calm, and changes after David and Jennifer broke into. , Similar to the changes brought about by the rise of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Of course, as far as the audience is concerned, the things associated with it can be richer.
In the small closed world of Happy Valley, everything is done step by step. On the surface, everyone is very happy, but in fact it may not be the case. Their lives are based on written scripts. Like the owner of a fast food restaurant, they work according to established procedures. Once there is a small change, they don’t know what to do. The new plot and the new conception brought people confusion at the beginning. David’s confusion may be like the collision between old and new civilizations. If people in a world live well according to their own habits, shouldn’t they? Let it continue to be intact? However, no matter how peaceful and happy it is on the surface, people will always have anxiety and restlessness in their hearts. The first thing to change is young people. They actually have the urge to change in their hearts. They will learn to say the words they find "cool", like to try new things, want to enjoy the pleasure of sex, and want to know the outside of Happy Valley. What kind of world is it, and I want to know what kind of story the blank pages tell. Adults also have their own secret pursuits. The step-by-step fast-food restaurant owner, in fact, loves painting and is a good wife and mother who does housework. In fact, he has a longing for sex in his heart. Perhaps, seeking knowledge and seeking happiness are the eternal driving force of social change. Therefore, changes start from youth, from art, and from women. ——The civil rights movement at that time was also expressed in the way of youth rebellion, radical artistic expression, and the feminist movement.
Not surprisingly, the change in color caused fear among the conservative people. It seemed that it was mainly men (middle-class white males, :P), because the wife’s heart was restless, the shirt was burnt, and the dinner was gone (feminist movement) as a result of). As a result, the color became guilty. Someone smashed the stained glass windows of the fast food restaurant and burned the books in the library. Soon, the Chamber of Commerce in Happy Valley promulgated a law to maintain the harmony and stability of Happy Valley. Seeing this, I can’t help feeling that this Happy Valley really talks about the law in everything and opposes violent acts. It’s nothing to change to another Happy Valley, smashing windows and burning books, maybe it's a heroic act. Under the civilized law, David and the fast-food restaurant owner were able to adopt a civilized revolutionary method-"non-violence and non-cooperation". They painted on the outer wall of the fast-food restaurant in colors prohibited by law, and were not accidentally arrested and prosecuted. In court, David forced the diehards to face their inner desires, so everyone was overjoyed, and the entire Happy Valley became colorful.
The layout of the court is very similar to that of the court scene in To Kill a Mockingbird. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the blacks are on the second floor and the whites are on the first floor. Here too, the colored people are on the second floor, and the black and white people are on the first floor. . Some people say that this reflects the racial issue of the movie, but I think this is also related to the social changes in the 1960s and 1970s mentioned earlier, because a large part of the civil rights movement back then was actually a black civil rights movement.
The story always progresses in a pleasant atmosphere. If you don't correspond to social changes, you can regard it as an ordinary fable. The society is changing and people are changing. As long as you face your own heart, you can change yourself, and at the same time, this society will become colorful as a result. However, this kind of ease, after all, is only in the story. In another story, the lawyer played by Gregory Peck leaves the court lonely. In the other world, there are still only a few colors, but the movies and television are colorful and harmonious. Therefore, this story is also a utopia, a utopia of social change.
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