The first time I watched Pleasantville and Inception I was quite young, still in high school. Looking back my understanding of these movies was limited because I lacked experience in life. Watching them again at age 26 they have a whole new meaning. Both speak about a person’s place within reality, our perception of that reality, and how it can turn on you. In Inception, the main character Dom Cobb is struggling after his wife committed suicide and his children were taken away from him. He is a conman of ideas that travels through dreams. Cobb and his team carry objects like totems, to help them realize whether they are within true reality or not. Sociologist Brian Brutlag puts it as, “…when a person is in the dream state, they are vulnerable to manipulation and their knowledge and secrets can be stolen through a process called extraction. Or, more nefariously, an idea can be implanted in their head through inception. In social reality, the behaviors of extraction and inception are performed through the process of Socialization, the clearest examples of which come from media advertising and the manufacturing of desire.” Not just desire but any extreme emotion can challenge your perception of reality. After the death of a loved one it is actually quite common to hallucinate that you can see or hear them. And in the dream world Cobb has constructed a facsimile of his dead wife. “I can’t imagine you with all of your complexity, with all your perfection and imperfection. Look at you. You’re just a shade, a shade of my real wife. I am sorry, it’s just not good enough.” Even if the version of your loved one created in your mind wasn’t real, would you still want to live in a reality without that projection? “Viewers are left to wonder whether DiCaprio is indeed back in waking reality or still living in a dream. The fact that his totem top never slows or falls down indicates he has chosen to inhabit his dreams rather than reality. When outer reality proves too painful or overwhelming for the fragile human psyche, retreat, regression, avoidance and escape into the dreamworld, the unconscious, can provide temporary respite. But lingering there too long leaves one exiled in limbo, unable to return to the land of the living (Dr. Stephen A. Diamond).”
While Cobb realizes that his dreams are not reality, for the residents of Pleasantville an idyllic dream is their reality. For teen David all he wants to do is escape the harsh climate of his life and live in a 1950’s soap opera called Pleasantville. It’s understandable considering every class talks about the bleak future his generation will face and the fact that his parents just divorced. The topics talked about in the clip are similar to what my own teachers taught us in high school. In 2008 the housing market had just crashed causing instability and fear so it was a dark time to grow up in.
Through magical happenstance David and his sister are projected into their television set and are now living within the TV show called Pleasantville. They resume the identities of Mary-Sue and Bud. In Pleasantville there is no sadness, anger, violence, or negativity of any kind. Every basketball shot lands in the hoop, the fire department saves cats because there is no danger of fire, and “dinner was always on the table at a quarter to six (Ebert).” But underneath that there is no challenge or zest in life. Every day is the same unexciting cycle or romanticized white suburbia. There are no homeless people, the books are all blank, and sex doesn’t exist. “There is literally no world outside of it. In geography class, Jennifer (now Mary Sue) is taught that the roads in town are all circular and lead back to Pleasantville (Noah Gittell).”
After the new Bud and Mary-Sue arrive things start changing. People experience anger, art, and weather. And color is introduced into the world, through objects and persons. “Why aren’t I in color?” Mary Sue asks Bud. “I dunno,” he says. “Maybe it’s not just the sex.” It isn’t. It’s the change (Ebert).” Not everyone is happy the town is changing. “Sadly, not all are positive to change, and their fear spills into racist segregationist behavior. Suddenly, nothing is pleasant any more, and it is time for each person to stand for the values they believe in, whether newly found or deeply entrenched (Haflidason).” Violence rapidly escalates for a place that had never experienced it before. And there’s an easy target, coloreds against non-colored.
Some individuals do not want to escape the perfect “reality” Pleasantville has been. These new ideas are destroying the town! Director Gary Ross explains “This movie is about the fact that personal repression gives rise to larger political oppression.… That when we’re afraid of certain things in ourselves or we’re afraid of change, we project those fears on to other things, and a lot of very ugly social situations can develop.” Like Cobb they would rather live in a lie than true reality. At the end of the film even Mary-Sue decides to live in the new Pleasantville and leave her previous life. It’s important to not romanticize or reminisce the past. Before re watching these films I thought I didn’t need to see them again because I understood the gist of it. Not true. Each film carries the promise that you can choose your reality. How real it is or not is up to you.
Sydney,
I commend your extensive exploration of Inception’s plot, especially your use of Cobb’s quote as he speaks to his mind’s image of his deceased wife. Your analysis concerning how Pleasantville’s citizens steadfastly avoid change in their world, is entirely opposite from the aspects of Inception that I chose to focus on in the short essay, as the innovative technology used to film the scenes was employed in order to demonstrate the ushering in of a new era in filmmaking. Prior to reading your post, I was not aware that the idea behind Pleasantville was to illustrate the damaging effects of repressing change and personal thought. The clip from Inception that you utilized in your post, wherein Cobb faces his wife, is a very moving and thus useful scene which I might use in order to reinforce the emotional facet of the film.
Hi Sydney,
I really liked how you connected both films with a theme regarding perceptions of reality, as tying “Inception” and “Pleasantville” would initially seem to be rather difficult. Like yourself, I also found the social commentary within “Pleasantville” to be the key factor in what made it such a great movie, and made it a centerpiece within my own review as well. Its always interesting to learn about how our own perceptions of reality regarding films we’ve seen before can change upon re-watching, and I felt that was an excellent way to tie your ending into the overall theme of your review. Something I would very much like to apply within my final essay. Good post!
Hi Sydney!
I have seen Inception; however, I haven’t seen Pleasantville. I like how you unit the perception about “reality” of both films. I enjoyed your analysis of both films. For the film Pleasantville I found interesting Haflidason’s quote “Sadly, not all are positive to change, and their fear spills into racist segregationist behavior. Suddenly, nothing is pleasant any more, and it is time for each person to stand for the values they believe in, whether newly found or deeply entrenched ”. I believe we can relate this issue with reality. Nowadays, people are scared of change, and they use a racist segregation behavior to hide their fear. They tend to attack without listening the other side. For the film Inception I liked the quote from sociologist Brian Brutlag “In social reality, the behaviors of extraction and inception are performed through the process of Socialization, the clearest examples of which come from media advertising and the manufacturing of desire”. I found interesting how Brutlag compares the movie with the real life. I never thought that way before, but after all, I believe that the writers ideas was that, they introduce a belief through fiction. I enjoyed your essay, thanks for sharing it!
Hi Sydney,
First and foremost I applaud you for connecting these films–to me, it seems like an incredibly daunting task so the fact that you did so in such an eloquent, cohesive manner is admirable. I also enjoyed reading your insight on these films and how you brought forth the philosophical topic of our perception of reality. Your quotes are picked nicely and integrated well in your essay. I’d like to have my narrative flow as well as yours did when I write my final essay. You wrote about social aspects here and I wrote about that too in my essay, it’s cool to see how connected we are to the concepts within society rather than simply picking topics based off of the technical sides of film.