Pleasantville (1998)

Centering on two teens in the then-modern 1990's getting transported to the world of an idyllic (yet vaguely unsettling) 1950's sitcom, Pleasantville uses broad symbolic imagery to paint a picture about personal growth, the pressures of conformity, and the ever-lingering threat of authoritarianism. Gary Ross, the film's writer and director, was the son of a Hollywood screenwriter who was blacklisted by McCarthyism; that background infiltrates much of the movie's text and subtext. Pleasantville overtly uses visual metaphors lifted from both the Bible and fascist iconography. It makes pointed, unambiguous statements about everything from sexual repression to artistic modernism to conservative anti-intellectualism. Ryan first saw Pleasantville at a formative age and it has remained with him ever since. He is joined by Rachel, who hadn't seen it before. Discussion topics include the movie's thematic connections to the work of David Lynch, the groundbreaking special effects used to manipulate the film's color palette, the historical memory of the 1950's in America, and what Pleasantville has to say about the notions of propriety and civility in public discourse.