Observation Techniques: Film Analysis This week, you will analyze a three- to five-minute segment of a movie or a television episode depicting con

Page 1 of 1 PSY3011_Social Psychology Lab

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Conformity and Obedience Pleasantville begins with a scene in which David (played by Tobey Maguire) is preparing to watch a marathon of the hit 1950s series Pleasantville. David and his sister, Jennifer (played by Reese Witherspoon), are twins leading dramatically different high school social lives. David’s life, till now, has been spent in fantasizing and longing to be part of the idealized life as seen in Pleasantville. One day, David and Jennifer get into an argument about which television show to watch. They are using a new and unfamiliar television remote control, which breaks during the argument. Suddenly, they are transported to the world of Pleasantville, where everything is just perfect and also black and white. This new black-and-white world lacks knowledge and craves similarity and conformity. People in this world conform to the idealized lifestyle of Pleasantville. David and Jennifer are in different clothes than before and have new and pleasant parents. David joins the basketball team in his school, where even if the ball is thrown offside, it bounces off the walls and ceiling and finally makes a perfect basket. David and Jennifer are seen to influence the people and events of Pleasantville. After sometime, both David and Jennifer want to get out of the situation. Although David tries to blend in, Jennifer does what she likes to do. One event leads to another, and finally, one day, a red rose blooms in Pleasantville. When everything was black and white, everyone conformed to the idealized lifestyle of Pleasantville. The slow and subtle change from black and white to color (one character at a time) implies individuals being empowered in their thinking and behavior. Finally, the residents decide not to conform to the rules of Pleasantville. The more they break rules, the more colorful life gets in Pleasantville. In one of the final scenes in the movie, the town leader, Big Bob (played by J. T. Walsh), in a town meeting, accuses David and Bill Johnson (played by Jeff Daniels) of sedition (burning books and destroying the local soda shop) by drawing a color mural (color was outlawed to prevent further change). An argument between Big Bill and David causes Big Bill to become angry. Since anger is not part of Pleasantville, Big Bill is the last one to become colorized. The show ends with a panoramic view of the now colorized Pleasantville. What does the movie depict? Expert’s Opinion The way in which the story unfolds helps you understand how conformity and compliance may work and, at times, how events may shift or change your attitudes toward conformity. On the one hand, Pleasantville depicted an idealized version of the shift in conformity and obedience from the 1950s through the 1960s. On the other hand, the movie demonstrated on an individual basis how a person, often, is not really aware of how much he or she is conforming to the environment. When some event or someone (David and Jennifer) introduces change into the routine of compliance, there is reluctance to change. In the case of Pleasantville, this reluctance led to behaviors much out of the context of conformity that defined Pleasantville.