Woo hoo, Pleasantville. LOVE this movie. It came to my mind along with The Truman Show (that I used last time I won) as films I like that have a similar theme--and I thought of these two films to begin with as I reflected on why I liked M. Night Shyamalan's The Village when Matt didn't). I guess all three movies work for me on the level of the deep philosophical truth that you can't successfully design a life or world that goes against allowing people their full freedom to be; you can't keep chaos at bay; that remind us that reality is not something you can control against, for it will always break into even the best-laid plans. Dictators eventually learn this. And to me, it's Plan of Salvation 101, yet unfortunately many Mormons (and, of course, conservatives from many religious and philosophical traditions) forget that fact and end up pretty miserable and disappointed (and feeling unnecessarily like a failure) because we just CAN'T live in a protective bubble. We must be IN the world even as not OF it, yet too many of us think we can just stay in "not of the world" mode without really even starting the wrestle that leads to where all the real blessings lie. (Okay, preacher mode switching off now. Please don't let my soap-boxing stop you from seeing these films. And still happy to argue about The Village with Matt or others...).
A couple of you who got it right from the clues admitted that you haven't seen Pleasantville but always intended to. I highly recommend it for all of you. It's a bit adventurous about sex in spots, but no nudity or anything overt or in your face. Mostly part of the storyline as a none-too-innocent teenaged Reese Witherspoon from the present day gets sucked into a 50s television show with characters that don't know what to do at lover's lane, and housewives who don't know sex can be pleasurable and they have the right to their own enjoyment, etc. I promise that there's more robustness to the reasons than sexual awakening for the characters turning from black and white into color, but that is one part of it. Overall a good, thought-provoking movie that deals with tons of important themes and with the metaphor of black and white vs color standing in well for other issues that have played out (and still do) in society.
So who won the contest?! Almost every one of you eventually got it, but from the initial quotation and hint about the two actors who were early in their careers but are now big timers, George (Pops) Wright came in strong the first day! Way to go! Back in the lead by himself, now!
Following George, Alex got it on Wednesday morning BEFORE I put up the Wednesday clues. Said he got it mostly from thinking about the first quote and the clue that was basically my whole playlist, which had tunes with either Black and White, White, Color, or the name of a color in their titles. (All of you serious players should remember that my playlists almost always contain hints. This time was, by far, the biggest hints yet.) Nice job, Spoon!
When the Wed clues went up, Matt sent in the right answer pretty quickly, followed by B a couple hours later. Haley came in with correct guess on Thursday. When the Friday quotes went up, both Sue and Emily got it right within 7 minutes of each other. So, overall, a strong, clear win this week, plus lots of other folks "on the board." A good week--very pleasant one--in WTB land, I think!
Take it away, big Poppy George!
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