1. “The first thing we have to do is to separate out the things that are pleasant from the things that are unpleasant” HUM 2052: Civilization II Spring 2010 Dr. Perdigao April 16, 2010

2. The End of the World…? Pleasantville (1998) Fin de siècle mentality? Twenty-first century: 1950s culture Normative identities for women, men Social constructedness Performativity Film begins with 20 th century contexts, famine, poverty Escapism through the show (from familial problems) Pirandellism? Geography class End of Main Street is its beginning Overemphasis on order

3. Contextualizing Utopia 50s programming, twin beds, Brady Bunch scandal Shifts with rock and roll, rebel culture Books filled in when remembered: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Catcher in the Rye Book burning, censorship Garden—Eden, Eldorado? Eve offering apple, replayed, “go on, try it.” “You don’t deserve this paradise.” Question of values, “holding onto those values that made this place great”

4. “Across the Universe” Civil Rights in 1950s “Whitey” “colored girlfriend,” “no coloreds” Now violence, threat of rape, looting, mob, book burning— dystopic Non-changes view of history in classes, favoring continuity over alteration, new rules Mural on wall: woman, kiss, records, bowling, town hall into water, Catcher in the Rye, Huck Finn, Moby Dick burning Now court system, first trial ( Oresteia? ) After court case is resolved, color tv, images of world, history Multiple possibilities at end? Prototype for “The Garden of Forking Paths”? Donnie Darko ?