Fantasy movies are structured by a Pelagian optimism, in which protagonists discover that they can solve their own problems. This contrasts with a more hopeful Christian anthropology, which locates human flourishing in the Triune God. The essay makes this case by a close theological reading of “Pleasantville,” structured around the movie’s climactic courtroom affirmation that “there are so many things that are so much better, like silly, or sexy, or dangerous or brief.”
In brief, “Pleasantville” recommends a silly life where people live as if actions bear no consequences; a sexy life where transcendent sex is the path to genuine self-knowledge and fulfillment; a limitless life that refuses external limits in the name of freely creating the self; and a mobile life that refuses to allow past promises to bind our futures. The essay disputes these points along the way, and concludes with the counter-suggestion that the Triune God is our true home.