Fantasy, Comedy, Drama  •  1998  •  124 min  •  Teen (13+)

Pleasantville (1998)

Pleasantville poster

Pleasantville (1998)


Rating & Dimensions

Bias Rating
Analyzing...
Leans Progressive
Political: Strong Left
Diversity: Moderate
Christianity: Negative

Viewer Rating
7.6

Overview

Geeky teenager David and his popular twin sister, Jennifer, get sucked into the black-and-white world of a 1950s TV sitcom called "Pleasantville," and find a world where everything is peachy keen all the time. But when Jennifer's modern attitude disrupts Pleasantville's peaceful but boring routine, she literally brings color into its life.


Starring Cast

Tobey Maguire  •   Jeff Daniels  •   Joan Allen


Where to watch

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Detailed Bias Analysis

Analyzing...
Leans Progressive

Primary

Political: Strong Left
Confidence: High

The film's central thesis explicitly promotes progressive ideology by critiquing a repressive, conformist society and championing individuality, emotional freedom, and diversity, exemplified by its allegory for civil rights.

Diversity: Moderate
Confidence: High

The movie features traditional casting without explicit race or gender swaps, consistent with its premise of a 1950s sitcom world. However, its narrative strongly critiques the conformity and repression of that idealized traditional society, advocating for individuality and change.

Secondary

Christianity: Negative
Confidence: High

The film critiques a rigid, conservative social morality, deeply rooted in a generic 1950s Christian ethos, by portraying it as oppressive and fearful of change. The narrative condemns the dogmatic adherence to 'rules' that stifle individuality, emotion, and freedom, leading to bigotry and suppression.

LGBTQ: N/A
Confidence: Medium

Pleasantville explores themes of individuality, social change, and challenging conformity through allegory. While its message of embracing difference can broadly resonate with LGBTQ+ experiences, the film does not explicitly depict any identifiable LGBTQ+ characters or specific queer themes within its narrative.

Trans: N/A
Confidence: High

Pleasantville explores themes of social transformation and the challenging of traditional gender roles within a 1950s sitcom setting. However, the film does not feature any identifiable transsexual characters or explicitly address transsexual themes, resulting in an N/A rating for its portrayal.

Female Combat: N/R

The movie does not contain any action or adventure elements.

Gender Swap: No
Confidence: High

Pleasantville is an original film with new characters, not an adaptation, reboot, or historical biopic. There are no pre-existing canonical or historical character genders to compare against, thus no instances of gender swapping occur.

Race Swap: No
Confidence: High

Pleasantville is an original film with characters created specifically for its narrative. There is no prior source material, historical record, or previous installment to establish a canonical race for any character, thus precluding a race swap.


Viewer Rating Breakdown

7.6

Viewer Rating

Combines user and critic ratings from four sources

User Ratings

IMDB logo
7.5
The Movie Database logo
7.3

Critic Ratings

Rotten Tomatoes logo
8.5
Metacritic logo
7.1

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