Pleasantville - Wednesday 4th February 2026

I remember when this movie first came out (back in the late 90’s); a big deal was made about the special effects (a black and white world with characters in colour), but I never got around to watching it.
I recently stumbled upon it whilst browsing ‘Imdb’, and it had great reviews, so I decided to finally give it a go.

It’s decent, but it’s not as good as it thinks it is.

There’s a very obvious and blatant message wrapped up in novel concept, and the lack of nuance is what stops the film from being great. The messaging is very ‘black and white’ which is ironic, considering the film’s setting.

The film’s ideology is that if you believe in conservative values, then you’re a ‘black and white’ character, akin to a book burning Nazi. But if you believe in progressive, liberal ideals, you’re colourful (literally) and full of life. The lack of subtlety is pretty silly.

This film could easily have been made today, as the so called ‘culture war’ between conservative and liberal (woke) values is more pertinent than ever! Just goes to show, this sh!t has been going on forever!
Still, my memory of the late 90s is that we all just agreed to live and let live, and not impose our ideologies on others.

I still adhere to that mindset; live and let live.

I consider myself quite liberal, but I also appreciate conservative values. I think most people exist on a spectrum; no one is ‘black and white’, completely one way or the other, as the film (and our current news media) suggests.

So whilst I appreciate that societies must change, and people must be free to fulfil their own desires, unshackled from the chains of dogma, I also believe that adultery in marriage is wrong, as is promiscuity in general; both things that seem to be celebrated in this movie. According to this film, I’d be one of the ‘black and white’ book burning Nazis, which is absolutely ridiculous!

So yeah, the ideology and messaging of the movie frustrated me. But that aside, it was very well-made, and the concept definitely has potential!

Toby Maguire was especially good, anchoring the film and being the voice of reason amongst all the characters.

If the messaging was more nuanced and also more subtle, the film would be great.