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How are the worlds of the 90s and 50s represented in the opening of Pleasantville? ‘Pleasantville’, directed by Gary Ross in 1998, is a story of two very different worlds, the 50s utopia world of black and white, and the 90s modern world of technology and social difference. These differences are illustrated by the use of iconographical and representative devices throughout the start of the film. At the beginning, there is a montage of images about different aspects of 50s family life, such as the narrator talking about ‘family values’, ’proper nutrition’ and ‘safe sex’. These ideas, in fact, are different to those of the 90s, where sexuality was (and still is) opening spoken about and single-parent families were more common than average 2 parent families. Irony is used, where, while explaining ‘proper nutrition’, there is an image of a breakfast table full of mountains of pancakes and other fatty foods. This also illustrates the differences in the 50s and 90s idea of what was considered healthy. When explaining ‘safe sex’ there was an image of a room with two separate beds in, again showing how their ideas about such issues differ from modern times.
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