Prep Work: Pleasantville

Name______Due Date______

Prep Work: Pleasantville Pre AP English 10 McCartney

Key Terms: Status quo, catalyst, values, morality, ethics, norms, deviance, stratification, repression,

restraint, conformity, ______

1. List key differences between Pleasantville versus your world today, especially regarding values and norms.

2. List specific signs of the world changing after Bud and Mary Sue enter Pleasantville.

3. Select any one character who initially opposes the changing world. (a) What reason do they have to resist it? What are they valuing? (b) Does this character ever change their attitude? 4. Select any one character who embraces the changing world. (a) What are they valuing? (b) What is the turning point for this character – which event brought about this change in attitude? (c) Briefly describe this character’s demeanor before versus after this turning point.

5. What makes the town turn from black-and-white to Technicolor? Identify this catalyst as specifically as possible.

6. (a) Identify one relationship between characters that changes. (b) In what significant ways is this relationship changed? (c) Is this changed for the better or worse, or is it complicated? Explain.

7. (a) Why does Jennifer decide to stay rather than return to the 1990s? (b) As you see it, list the advantages, disadvantages with the changed world on the below spectrum.

Negative Neutral/It’s Complicated Positive 8. When David and Jennifer first enter Pleasantville, the locals know nothing of a world outside their city. By the end of the film, they see images of other countries on TV. What does this symbolize?

9. (a) Is Gary Ross implying that values and stability are unnecessary? (b) Does any character make a decision which suggests that the original values and stability of Pleasantville were actually helpful for him or her?

10. (a) List binaries (e.g. happy/unhappy, pain/pleasure, restrained/liberated, familiar/unfamiliar) that result from the change introduced to Pleasantville and the breaking down of its social norms. (b) Choose one binary and discuss, in one paragraph, its relation to the whole film. Use the back of this page.

Binaries:

Bonus: Did you find any allusions within the film? Describe them.