Poster Presentation
Paradise Lost, Perfection Found:
Pleasantville, Genesis, and the Beauty of Conflict
Antoinette Leveille
Faculty Mentor: Everett Hamner
Liberal Arts and Sciences
This paper will explore the ways in which the film Pleasantville represents original sin in the biblical garden of Eden. It will look at the negativity attached to original sin as a byproduct of man ’s innate quest for knowledge. The film’s implication is that perfection should be thought of as a complete experience
—a balance of ups and downs, a word that encompasses a whole, dark and light in coexistence with one another, multilayered rather than one-dimensional perfection. Without the experience of both pain and pleasure, then, it is impossible to fully know either. The film ’s town of Pleasantville, much like Eden, looks like perfection on the surface but is not without shortcomings, and this paper shows that they are necessary. Instead of making a mockery of the
Genesis account of Eden, the film actually sheds light on the fall of Adam and Eve. In both cases, the
“perfection” of paradise is far more appealing because of the presence of conflict, sin, and the need for change.