Freedom & Identity

Now that we have finished watching Pleasantville, take some time to consider and
reflect on individual freedom and identity. In a narrative format, write the answers
to the following questions. You do not need to break up your thoughts from one
question to the next.

• Choose one character and start by discussing what held that person
back from being free. Was it an outside force or a force within
themselves that held them back from being free?
• At what point did the character become “free” during the movie? What
symbolism or metaphors surrounded that character becoming free?
• How was their life now different as someone who is “free”? Did their
freedom make their life better? Did their freedom make their life more
difficult? How did it become difficult?
• Did the community improve or become more difficult/dangerous as
freedom was growing?
• Discuss one symbolic or metaphoric moment in the film and what
importance it played in the meaning of the film.
• Using what you read from Martin Luther King Jr and Abraham Lincoln,
where does freedom come from? What responsibility does freedom
come with?
• Who controls freedom and identity?