The Battle for Pleasantville

I just got done re-watching one of my favorite and, I believe one of the most underrated films, Pleasantville.  If you haven't seen it I highly recommend giving it some consideration and adding it to your playlist.  Two modern day teens are transported into the black and white existence of an Ozzie and Harriet like utopian television world as the main characters the story line centers around.  As they work to adjust while trying to get themselves back home, they end up bringing change to the people of this perfect little town where nothing ever changes and there is no existence beyond its borders. As people, one by one, slowly become enlightened and discover things from within themselves, things gradually begin to turn to color.  Those left in black and white fight to quell the growing trend as they want to keep things just the way they are, the way they have always been, the perfect little picture where nothing ever goes wrong and everyone lives in peace, harmony and happiness.  I can't tell you how many parallels I can see in today's society.  Whether it's race relations, LGBT issues, or gender equality just to name a few, the story line of the film leaves so many meanings open to interpretation by the viewer.  It was interesting to me watching for what specifically triggered the transformation to color for each person as it was different for each character.  For some it was a sexual awakening and awareness, for others it was some inner realization or knowledge gained.  One character was transformed by exposure to art and connecting with his previously undiscovered love of painting, while another realized her own value as a woman and broke free from the gender politics and a seemingly loveless marriage.  The symbolism of emerging from the black and white world of ignorance into a colorful one of knowledge and experience became very moving for me.  It seems that here in 2015 we are still in a fierce battle for Pleasantville, the old guard holding on to their viewpoint of what has always been and the new fighting for their sometimes newly found individual rights and freedoms as well as for those of others.  Have we really not progressed as a people here in the United States beyond such differences?  The only answer to that question in my own mind is a resounding no.

For those of us in the LGBT community, it is a constant struggle for recognition and acceptance.  Not that we, or at least I, expect approval from anyone, but rather long for the respect and acknowledgement that we are humans who have the same rights to exist, strive for happiness in our lives, and be in committed and legally recognized relationships with the people we love.  For many in the religious right wing community these demands appear to be wholly unacceptable.  For some reason they feel that by acknowledging our existence and allowing us to live our lives free from oppression and ridicule they somehow must condone or approve.  In my view, this isn't the case at all.  We are all free to have our own thoughts and beliefs and shouldn't have to fear having them.  I respect those people who disagree with me on any number of issues and I hope they have the same level of respect for my viewpoints as well.  I think where we get into so much trouble as a society is when we feel we must force our beliefs on everyone else and we cannot be truly happy until everyone in the world believes exactly as we do.  Of course this will never happen, but it seems to me that there will always be a portion of the population, hopefully in ever dwindling numbers, who will never stop trying to legislate their own religious and moral judgments on the rest of society, and anything that is even slightly abhorrent to them will either disappear or be swept so far under the carpet that it simply cannot even be discussed at any level of public discourse.  This level of intolerance has such a deep and scarring impact on so many people.  I grew up believing that I had no right to be who I was, that I could be fired just for being me, that it was alright for me to be beaten up and ridiculed just for being different from others.  I felt caught in a vicious circle where I knew I couldn't be accepted for who I was but at the same time was powerless to change anything.  This belief was so deeply ingrained in me that to this day I still struggle with accepting and being comfortable with who I am, even though times have certainly changed for the better.  It isn't easy to unlearn and remove those beliefs that have taken literally decades to entrench in my innermost being.  I can't help but wonder if those people who are so vehement in their fight to rid the world of homosexuality and any freedoms that don't coincide with their own have any understanding of the impact they have on those they oppose, including the lives lost through the tragedy of suicide.

I couldn't help but also think about all the craziness going on with these unarmed black men being shot and killed or choked to death.  It's a terrible indictment on our society that we haven't progressed to the point that all human life is valued and cherished.  Some of the most conservative people preach this concept when it comes to the unborn child in the mother's womb, but then seem to lose all sense of caring once that child is born, at least if it's a non-white child or one who doesn't grow up to be heterosexual.  It doesn't surprise me that so many countries in the world view the US as backwards and hypocritical.  How can we enforce peace among people who have been at war with each other for centuries, even millennia, when we can't even get along among each other here at home? What gives us the right to judge, as a country, other populations; for that matter what gives us the right to judge each other as individuals?  I know this all sounds very Pollyanna of me, happily trying to play the glad game and looking for the good even within the bad surrounding us every day.  I'm also fully aware that there will always be bigotry and hatred, judgment and prejudice.  What those kinds of people don't seem to understand is that none of us are going away.  There will always be people of color, there will always be people of other ethnic and religious backgrounds, and yes Virginia, there will always be gay people.  The best that even the most fundamentalist right wing conservative can hope for is simply returning to to a false utopia like Peyton Place, where everything seems perfect on the surface but all the things the pious don't want to admit to still do exist, even if they're never spoken about.  As near as I can figure, the real issue is that these people just don't want anyone to talk about who they are or where they come from.  Everyone should just be, or act, white and heterosexual and all would be right with the world.  Just like in the movie, for some people the appearance matters more than the substance; the ignorance of bliss is more important than the brilliant and colorful world that comes from enlightenment, understanding and tolerance.  As long as this remains the case, where some desire the beauty and color of diversity while others clasp tightly onto only the black and white of what conforms to their narrow and singular beliefs, the battle for Pleasantville rages on!