Essay TOK
Pleasantville Responses
1. In Pleasantville, the women stay at home and cater to their husbands and children whereas the men work and earn the money to support the family. For example, when Dave and Jennifer first arrived to Pleasantville, the first thing their mother did was serve them a delicious intricate breakfast that she had prepared, while their father sat by reading the newspaper then headed out to work. Women are expected to be trophy wives that do everything perfectly; they must always be home cooking and cleaning all while looking beautiful. It is against the “rules” for women to have priorities other than attending to their families. Because of this, when the mother was not home to greet the father when he said “honey, I’m home,” chaos erupted. Furthermore, the group of men was horrified to find out that one of the wives had burnt a shirt because she was thinking. Not only had the wife done something un-perfectly, but she was also thinking for herself. Women aren’t support to think since the men are the ones who do all the thinking. It’s almost like they are expected to be servant robots that don’t have a lives outside of the home. Case in point, when the mom stated that she was going out the father had to question her because it was extremely unorthodox and improper. He was confused and somewhat angry that she had other plans and didn’t even cook dinner!
2. The Parents of Pleasantville weren’t worried about the things parents in our world worry about. Most teenagers didn’t know drugs, alcohol, or sex even existed, so their parents didn’t have to worry about those things. The most they did worry about was if they held hands or if they got their huge breakfast before heading out to school. The teenage life, before David and Jennifer, was very innocent and not corrupted, unlike our generation. Today teenagers experiment with a variety of things from drugs to sex peer pressure, drinking and driving, HIV/AIDS, and other illnesses. Today, parents
1. In Pleasantville, the women stay at home and cater to their husbands and children whereas the men work and earn the money to support the family. For example, when Dave and Jennifer first arrived to Pleasantville, the first thing their mother did was serve them a delicious intricate breakfast that she had prepared, while their father sat by reading the newspaper then headed out to work. Women are expected to be trophy wives that do everything perfectly; they must always be home cooking and cleaning all while looking beautiful. It is against the “rules” for women to have priorities other than attending to their families. Because of this, when the mother was not home to greet the father when he said “honey, I’m home,” chaos erupted. Furthermore, the group of men was horrified to find out that one of the wives had burnt a shirt because she was thinking. Not only had the wife done something un-perfectly, but she was also thinking for herself. Women aren’t support to think since the men are the ones who do all the thinking. It’s almost like they are expected to be servant robots that don’t have a lives outside of the home. Case in point, when the mom stated that she was going out the father had to question her because it was extremely unorthodox and improper. He was confused and somewhat angry that she had other plans and didn’t even cook dinner!
2. The Parents of Pleasantville weren’t worried about the things parents in our world worry about. Most teenagers didn’t know drugs, alcohol, or sex even existed, so their parents didn’t have to worry about those things. The most they did worry about was if they held hands or if they got their huge breakfast before heading out to school. The teenage life, before David and Jennifer, was very innocent and not corrupted, unlike our generation. Today teenagers experiment with a variety of things from drugs to sex peer pressure, drinking and driving, HIV/AIDS, and other illnesses. Today, parents