Pleasantville

                                                                                
                                                   "Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it."   
                                                                               Confucius 

It’s a shame to say that I enrolled in a class that I had no clue about. But during the introduction it made more sense to me what kind of class I was in. The way I understood it, ASTETA is like philosophy, it talks about beauty and how people see it in different ways. A person may look at a painting and may see no sense in it, but another person observing it may be drawn to its beauty. It really depends on the different perspective of beauty each person has.

What broadened my knowledge on this subject is the film that was presented to us “Pleasantville.” It captured what people thought of as “the perfect world” where nothing goes wrong. It presented a closely knit family with very strict values, and towns’ people who are kind to one another. This was very different from the world we live on in the present. Today families are usually broken, jobs weren’t done if people didn’t feel like it, and sex meant nothing special to the youth and a lot more. This was the world where David and Jennifer lived in. This is the reason why they were in awe when they were magically transported to Pleasantville. If I were in their shoes I would feel the same way. I leave the house without eating anything but a granola bar, every teenager usually does but in their world kids get stuffed with real food before getting to school. This is because they have all the time in the world and nothing can go wrong, not like in this world. Soon many people were becoming colored and many of the town fathers did not want this to continue spreading out. Even if David and Jennifer wanted to “break” the rules in Pleasantville, they had to stop themselves from doing so. They had to go with the flow of the episode, they had to play the part of Bud and Mary sue. This was much easier for David because he loves the show, but his sexually active sister thought that playing the role of a conservative teenage girl was not a role she could play. Jennifer tried, but she ended up changing the ways in Pleasantville. And during that night when the guy was going home, he saw a red color in the bushes. This was the first sign of Pleasantville changing. As soon as time passed, a lot of teenagers lost the value of purity. Any person who changed their ways or had a burst of emotion noticed a hint of color appearing on them. They went to see doctors because this was not a normal thing for them. They were so used to their world of black, white, and grey.

Betty Parker was one of my favorite characters. At first she didn’t like the fact that she has turned into a colored person. Betty parker couldn’t show herself to her husband, she was so ashamed of the person she has become. She started to think that she was ugly because she didn’t fit in like she used to. With the help of David they were able to conceal her true color but it wasn’t long when Mr. Johnson made her realize that she didn’t have to conceal her true color, because she was beautiful the way she was. Mr. Johnson found so much beauty in colors because of the book david presented to him. It showcased a number of modern art paintings. That’s when his perspective of beauty totally changed.  At first the citizens of Pleasantville detested their self for being colored but with this change they were able to discover the beauty in being colored.

It’s not easy to agree with what everyone thinks, especially when it comes to beauty. It cannot be scientifically proven that one thing is much beautiful than the other. We just all have to accept that everyone will not have the same taste as us. Through history many architects have disagreed with each other when it comes to the style of a structure. An example of this may be during the gothic period. Many people found it beautiful because the churches were made to be very high with a lot of sculptures and details but many critiques were not so proud of these structures. 

I am a big fan of modern architecture. I find beauty in simplicity. I like how the glass can serve as a window and an aesthetic feature as well.  I also like the way modern houses are shaped, using simple geometric shapes like a cube. If ever I become an architect I would like to design structures this way but I will also encounter clients who may not see the beauty of these buildings. Even if I disagree with what they think of as beautiful, I should accept their criticism and try to work with them because it’s the way they want their house or building to look. I think the role of an architect is to help the client visualize what they want their structure to look like and give them an opinion on how to make it look better. As Confucius said “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”