A Comparison of "Pleasantville" and "The Zoo Story"

Paper Summary:

This paper compares Edward Albee's 1959 play "The Zoo Story" and the 1998 film "Pleasantville", written and directed by Gary Ross. The paper explains that though it is fairly obvious that they were created in different forms, one as a stage play and the other as a film, both began life as different forms of the written word, and both manage to handle and deal with various angles of human life and behavior, but they do it in two very different periods: one in the 1950s, the other in the late 1990s. The paper looks at how "Pleasantville", in an ironic way, tends to undermine and examine some of the social and personal realities of the 1950s, whereas "The Zoo Story" examines these realities in a more subtle way appropriate to a comedy/fantasy aimed at a mass audience. The paper also compares the actions, reactions and attitudes of the two protagonists, Jerry in "The Zoo Story" and David in "Pleasantville".

From the Paper:

"The Zoo Story holds a mirror up to the culture of the late 1950s, with its well known constraints in the political, social and cultural spheres of life - constraints most ironically illustrated in 1950s television series such as "Leave it to Beaver," "I Love Lucy," etc. It is some of these constraints that the play works against, for instance, in its criticism of middle class life and the ordinary, conformist lifestyle as typified by the character of Peter. Notice how Jerry asks him where the dividing line is between "upper middle middle class" and "lower upper middle class," for example, showing that Jerry is very aware of these fine class differences."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Albee, Edward. "The American Dream and Zoo Story." New York: Plume 1997.
• Pleasantville." Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia. 20 Jan 2007. Wikimedia Foundation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasantville.
• Ross, Gary. "Pleasantville. A Fairytale." The Daily Script. http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/pleasantville.html

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• Analytical Essay # 52072 : "The Zoo Story"

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