Over the little time that Ruthie and I had off, HBO was
playing the movie Pleasantville. I
enjoyed this film greatly when I first viewed it years ago. Upon viewing it
multiple times, at least 3 times over the past week, I found the film having a
tremendous impact on me. I have been at a loss over the obsession I have felt over
this film.
The premise of the film is essentially how a teenage brother
and sister from the 1990’s change a society that has been locked in the black
and white world of the 1950’s. In fighting over a remote control that has special
powers, they are pulled into an old black and white family sitcom from the 1950’s
named Pleasantville, where the sun
always shines, the temperature in always a pleasant 74 degrees, everyone is
happy, the basketball team is undefeated, there is no illness or death, and the
only purpose for the town’s fire department is to rescue treed pussycats.
In this world, where husbands and wives sleep in separate
beds, and their roles are distinctly and clearly defined as breadwinner and
homemaker, these two teenagers introduce sexuality, art, literature, knowledge
and personal growth. All of a sudden, color begins to enter the black and white
world of Pleasantville, first in a
flower and then in the complexions of individuals as they begin to explore
their own selves, intellectually, sexually, their roles in society, and the
development of their own particular gifts.
Dissatisfaction enters this “perfect” world on the part of
those who no longer want to be trapped in black and white stereotypes, and
those who do not want to see their black and white world change. The “coloreds”
who desire change begin to clash with the “black and whites” who resist change
producing thunderstorms that disrupt the perfect weather of this place. The conclusion
of the film sees Pleasantville, once
the black and white society turned in upon itself, transformed into a society
of brilliant color, expanding beyond its world of Main Street and Elm Street,
into a world of the unknown and uncertainty, with the teenage sister choosing
to remain in Pleasantville in order
to grow into a different person than she was in the modern world, and the
teenage brother returning to the world of the 1990’s more self-assured and at
ease with less structure and less certainty.
I have been wondering why this film had such an impact on me
this time around, when I noticed that as I was watching this film multiple
times during vacation, I was following with as much great interest the Synod on
the Family in Rome. It came as no surprise to see that the two, though on
different parallel tracks, were exploring themes fairly similar.
From the Council of Trent to Vatican II, the Roman Catholic
Church had been living a Pleasantville
existence, removed and isolated from the larger world. While within this
self-imposed cloister, societal forces, both good and evil, were moving and
shaking up the real world. At times, these forces battered against the walls of
the cloister, calling for response, but the response was for the most part
feeble and everybody remained within the safe, secure black and white confines
of the cloister. Then, Pope John XXIII opened the doors of the cloister and let
the real world into the Church.
As in the film, the abrupt changes to liturgy, ecclesiology,
the roles of clergy, religious and laity disrupted the Church. The Black and
Whites railed against the changes and during the pontificates of John Paul II
and Benedict XVI, tried to shut down and persecute the “coloreds” of the Church
that Vatican II introduced and restore the “black and whites” of the Triumphant
Church of Trent.
The Synod on the Family, over the past 2 weeks, has begun to
bring color back to the repressive black and white pallor of the Church. All
the “forbidden topics” of John Paul II and Benedict XVI were brought out once
more into the open for discussion and dialogue. Of course, the neo-cons of the
Church brought their fear mongering of exclusivity to the fore only to find
themselves countered equally by more inclusive clerics with a greater vision of
welcome to the “coloreds” of our lived reality. While the Synod was only part
one of a two part process and nothing definitive can be stated about it at this
time, it makes me hopeful that the repressiveness, the persecution, and the
fear that has dominated the Roman Catholic Church for the past 30 years may
finally have come to an end. I believe it was Fr Jim Martin, SJ, who dubbed the
Synod as a continuation of Vatican II. Let’s hope and pray that he is right and
change and color will continue to grow in the Roman Catholic Church.
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