Congress: 90% white |
Keeping to our own kindSome Americans still want to return to the myth of the 1950s when wives stayed at home to serve their husbands dinner every night, when holding hands on lover's lane was the height of sexual adventure, and when people kept with their own kind in insulated communities. Others know that not even legislated morality can turn back the clock. Make America pleasant again?For white people, life in the spirit -- life in justice -- is hampered by myths that say that all was "pleasant" in the past, and that all we (middle class white people) really need to do is to make America pleasant again. It can likewise be hampered by a fear of disruptive yet creative chaos: a fear that, if we welcome rather than hide from the disorderliness of life, we will somehow die. A spirituality of Open Horizons avoids the false "transcendence" of middle class myths of golden ages and seeks instead the presence of God in the thickness, the messiness, of ordinary life in its brutal and chaotic beauty where the hope emerges that we might together say "yes" to the possibility of beloved community. |
Uniform houses and matching green lawnsA dystopian fairy tale of sorts, it didn’t do so well in the box office despite the talented, well known cast, stunning cinematography and nostalgic soundtrack. The film has always resonated with me because of its strong undertones of civil rights, the mostly peaceful dismantling of a patriarchal society, ignorance and fear being the root of all violence, individual and collective awakening through art, compassion and human connection; the kind of transformation I’m noticing a particular hunger for these days. It’s the story of David and Jennifer, twin teenaged siblings, one hot, one not, dealing with their parents recent divorce. David copes with reality by romanticizing his favorite t.v show. A twist on Leave it to Beaver, Pleasantville is a fictional place where happy white families live in uniform houses with matching green lawns. It never rains, is always 72 degrees and sunny and the greatest challenge the townspeople ever face is having to rescue a cat from a tree. What's for dinner?David is initially invested in his notion that Pleasantville really is as great and wonderful as he imagines. He wants to believe mothers thrive on being perpetually emotionally available, decked in pearls, waiting to unobtrusively serve the family warmth and buttermilk pancakes. He wants to believe fathers are equipped with wealth, words of wisdom and appropriate, cheery wit all wrapped up in a tidy Windsor knot. David drowns in the intoxication of playing out his fantasy likely because it appears to offer the nurturing and security he’s not finding in his real life. The honeymoon doesn’t last long as free will starts to take over and the grip of order begins slipping. His sister immediately calls bullshit on the mildly fascist facade and quickly finds someone to sleep with. She believes the people aren’t really as happy as they appear, mostly due to the confinements of their underwear and lack of emotional authenticity. She decides to scratch the surface, filling in the cracks with bubble gum and books. Between the two extremes of compliance and rebellion, truth is slowly revealed. The townspeople learn to read, begin thinking and feeling which turns their predictable black and white world, colors. Women abandon servitude and discover orgasms. The accessibility of art, music and travel challenge the value of conformity. All the white men in power run to hide in a bowling alley, shed tears of rage and plot revenge. Their efforts to reclaim preexisting order fail when they too are confronted with the fact that they’re human, fallible and involuntarily vulnerable to changes of heart. David returns wiser from his trip, to messy, complex reality where he comforts his real-life mom whose found crying at the kitchen table. Jennifer decides to give up sleeping around to pursue a higher education. The remaining characters are left dumbstruck, sitting on a park bench passively questioning their newly deconstructed reality. Long story short, this is why we fight wars, stigmatize differentness, exploit ‘otherness’ and protest; because of writer’s block. I’m kidding. The end of the film is perfect and beautifully illustrates the problem with paradigm shifts. Social change creates disruptive chaos as everyone suddenly questions who they’ve been, what they’ve done, what’s right or wrong, how to make amends, how to devise the architecture of tomorrow and answer the most terrifying question of all: What’s for dinner? ... more |