MESSAGES TO A FUTURE GENERATION 

         

 

Pleasantville and Brokeback Mountain: Two films set in very different eras yet very similar storylines. Visually stunning yet more importantly are their messages. Gary Ross director of Pleasantville and Ang Lee of Brokeback Mountain created two of the most meaningful and socially important films of our time. 

Pleasantville was released to audiences in 1998 with disappointing box office sales of $49.8 million. While this may seem great for a film of this caliber, this is after the studio spent nearly $60 million on the budget creating it. Although Roger Ebert gave it 4/4 stars, his opinion and excitement for the film wasn’t enough to persuade audiences of the importance of the film.

 

Director Gary Ross set out to create a film that was not only important message-wise but visually. The story actually takes place in a suburban neighborhood where David, played by Tobey Maguire, and his sister Jennifer, played by Reece Witherspoon, live very different lives. David is an avid fan of the popular 1950’s sitcom “Pleasantville” while Jennifer is the popular outgoing girl at school. One night in a fight between the two siblings over what to watch on TV they break the remote control which then brings a mysterious TV repair man (played by legendary Don Knotts) to show up and gives them a “magical remote” which transports them back in time. Not only back in time, but into the television show “Pleasantville”. The small town is full of people who are consistently upbeat, cheery and predictable. It isn’t until Jennifer starts to corrupt the young boys and girls at school that things begin to change in the perfect (literally speaking) black and white world. As things begin to become “corrupted”, the black and white world begins to change into technicolor. 

 

 

In the midst of these changes is where the film begins to take on a multitude of historical political and social issues such as racial injustices and women’s rights. The well thought out symbolism within the film is what makes the film so classic. As Mark Caro of the Chicago Tribune wrote after attending the premiere: “Pleasantville” packs in as many mixed messages as it does allusions to Adam and Eve, the Civil Rights struggle, McCarthyism and fascism. The characters gain color when they reach some sort of epiphany, usually sexual, which means that the teens having sex are the first liberated ones.

The film aims to tell the story of repression throughout history where violence begins to break out when the closed-minded and unenlightened people of the town feel threatened by those of color. We even see scenes that parallel the civil rights movement where the town’s people post signs saying “No Coloreds”, we view the verbal harassment of those people of color and eventually violence of a mob of the prejudice community when they attack one of the popular local hangout spots in retaliation of an owner who is open-hearted to the people of color. The other social issues that the film sets out to confront are women’s rights. David’s television mother, as well as all the women in the town, are ultimately complaisant and obedient to what the men tell them to do. Eventually through self-acceptance they begin to turn to color as they begin to be self-liberated and independant. 

 

 

While such a mesmerizing and concise message, some may argue that the greater hidden symbolism may be a little excessive and unnecessary. One blog article finds that there are signs that the director wanted to tie the story of Adam & Eve into the plot. In a scene where David’s crush hands him a colorful apple to eat as well as a scene where the mural in the background has a snake wrapped around an apple is pretty evident that the director wanted to play off of the idea that the women of the town brought the corruption through sexuality. 

 

 

With a rating of PG-13, a wide array of audiences were able to see the film. With the film’s underlying story of how unjust the world once was (and still is) hostile toward people of color, minorities and the female gender, young people are able to get an “entertaining” lesson on our country’s dark past and how we made strides to rise above it. Overall the film aims to remind us of part of our nation’s bleak history in an attempt to never repeat it. 

 

 

While Gary Ross’ 1998 film was hopeful in being an eye-opening experience for audience members, director Ang Lee was looking into a script for over a decade that he was finally ready to release in 2005 titled Brokeback Mountain. Notably one of the most important and monumental films tackling the social opinions, biases and prejudices toward the LGBT community, it’s $14 million budget surpassed the expectations of the producers when it grossed nearly $180 million at the box office. 

Set a decade after Pleasantville’s storyline, Brokeback Mountain tells the story of two sheep herder cowboys in the hills of Wyoming who while spending a long time together, fall in love. Ennis Del Mar, played by the late Heath Ledger, and Jack Twist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal are captivating in these roles of two individuals struggling to find themselves and coming to terms with their inner feelings for each other. 

 

 

Roger Ebert’s opening line in his 4 star review paraphrases Ennis’ story that gives us a deeper understanding of the inner-grapple he is dealing with: Ennis tells Jack about something he saw as a boy. “There were two old guys shacked up together. They were the joke of the town, even though they were pretty tough old birds.” One day they were found beaten to death. Ennis says: “My dad, he made sure me and my brother saw it. For all I know, he did it.”

In coming to grips with what society considers to be forbidden and disgraceful, the two men part ways and try to live a “normal” life when they marry women and have kids. At one point in the film, Ennis’ wife finds out and confronts him about he and Jack’s true relationship. They later divorce and when hearing about this Jack returns to Wyoming to visit Ennis in an unsuccessful attempt to convince him to move in together.

The amount of infidelity in the film gives an eye-opening look at how the men who were fighting and resisting their longing to be together creates a catastrophic turmoil for everyone involved including their families as they look for someone or something to replace the memories and feelings they had for each other. By the ending of the film, Ennis receives a postcard that Jack is deceased and when questioning about how the event happened Jack’s wife tells him it was a truck accident when in reality his fate was met by a hate crime that takes place outside of a bar by a group of homophobic men that beat him to death. This mirrors precisely what Ennis mentions toward the beginning of the film when he tells the story of the two older men who were killed for being gay.     

 

 

As one of the most socially important films of our era, this unconventional drama seeks human compassion, a hope for non-judgemental,  human open-mindedness and serves as a wake up call to those who don’t understand the daily struggles and tribulations of those in the LGBT community. It cries out for audience members to be more understanding and stand up to hate crimes. Although this is a story of two men in love, I can agree with the author of the Slate magazine’s article about the film where he states: Indeed, with the one exception of the scene in Juarez, nothing in Brokeback Mountain cries “gay.” 

Like the film Pleasantville, Brokeback Mountain is not only a movie that serves as a reminder of how dark our history has been for minorities living in our country (and the rest of the world) but also aims to shout a wake up call to a society who is quick to turn the other cheek at discrimination. The two visually stunning films may have different plotlines but they both seek hope of tolerance within every human heart and a dream of a better and more caring future for all. 

 

Sources:

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/pleasantville-1998

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1998/11/13/color-my-world-nostalgic-with-pleasantville/

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/102398pleasant-film-review.html

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1998-10-23-9810230070-story.html

https://slate.com/culture/2005/12/the-masculine-romance-of-brokeback-mountain.html

Brokeback Mountain

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/brokeback-mountain-2005