Summary
The mayor holds another meeting at Town Hall, telling the citizens that they need to set a code of conduct for the town. He begins to list the rules, as the scene shifts to the soda shop, where the colorful members of the town are reading the rules. The rules put a stop to vandalism and urge courteous treatment, but also announce the closing of Lover's Lane and the public library. The only permissible music under the new code includes Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, Jack Jones, the marches of John Philips Souza or "The Star-Spangled Banner." Other rules include the prohibition of umbrellas and preparations for inclement weather, the prohibition of full-sized mattresses, and the prohibition of colorful paint.
One of the teenagers tries to turn on the jukebox, but another urges him to stop lest they get arrested. David walks over to the jukebox and turns on a Buddy Holly song, assuring the teenagers that they can keep doing as they please and should not be discouraged by the new laws. That night, they all sleep at the soda shop, and David assures Bill that they will find a way for him to paint.
The next day, the newspaper boy is surprised when he finds David and Bill sleeping underneath a colored mural that they have painted on the side of a building. The painting is abstract and depicts various prohibitions in the town, memorializing the burning of the books in the library and showing nude women and couples kissing. A crowd forms and begins to voice their disapproval.
In jail, David is visited by George, who brings him a jar of cocktail olives. He then tells David that Betty left three days ago and hasn't come back home. He confides that he's forgotten what day of the week it is, because he and Betty didn't play bridge with the Jenkins' like they usually do on Tuesday. "What went wrong?" George asks, to which David replies, "Nothing went wrong. People change." "Can they change back?" George asks, and David says that it's just part of life. The two men commiserate about the fact that change is hard.
At David and Bill's trial, they are charged with "the intentional use of prohibited paint colors." The mayor reads the various prohibited colors that were used in the painting, and David asks if they have a lawyer. The mayor assures them that they are not using a lawyer to keep things "pleasant," and asks if either of them have anything to say in their defense. David stands and tells the mayor, "You don't have a right to do this...I know you want it to stay pleasant around here, but there are so many things that are so much better. Like silly or sexy or dangerous or brief, and every one of those things is in you all the time if you just have the guts to look for them."
The mayor tries to silence David, but he insists that there is nothing different between the black-and-white people and the colorful people. He calls to George and asks if there's more than just the cooking and cleaning that he misses about Betty, saying, "Maybe it's like there's a little piece of you that's missing too." George tears up and looks up at Betty, as David asks him if he thinks Betty looks beautiful. As George cries, he becomes colorful, and a number of other people in the courthouse turn colorful as well.
The mayor pounds his gavel, but David insists, "You can't stop something that's inside you!" He provokes the mayor to get very angry and the mayor turns colorful, as the people in the room gasp. Betty throws David a mirror from the second floor and he shows the mayor his own reflection. Horrified, the mayor flees the room. Just then, someone rushes into the room to tell them to come outside.
Outside, everything in the town has turned colorful. Margaret kisses David, and David then wanders over to the television store, where he sees that they have turned to color as well, and are depicting images of the sphinx in Egypt and the Eiffel Tower.
Later, Jennifer tells David that she's going to stay in Pleasantville for a while. "Do you think I even have a chance of getting into college back there?" she jokes, and adds, "I did the slut thing, David. It got kind of old." He tells her he'll come back and check on her soon, and they hug. She then boards a bus to go away to college.
At the Parker residence, Margaret tells David not to forget about her, even if he doesn't come back, then hands him a bag with a meatloaf sandwich. Betty comes into the room and puts a cardigan over his shoulders, weeping. "I am just so proud of you," she says. She and Margaret stand back as David takes the remote control and transports himself back to his real life.
Back in his living room, it is only an hour into the Pleasantville marathon. David turns off the television when he hears his mother sobbing in the kitchen. He goes in and asks her what's wrong. She tells him she had a change of heart when she realized her new boyfriend is nine years younger than her. She cries about the fact that life hasn't gone the way she wanted it to, and David hands her some tissues, wiping her eyes. "I'm 40 years old, it's not supposed to be like this," she cries, as David tells her, "It's not supposed to be anything." She smiles and asks, "How'd you get so smart all of a sudden?"
We see a montage of life in Pleasantville, now colorful and changeable. Betty and George sit on a bench discussing their future. They laugh about the uncertainty of it all, and George suddenly turns into Bill.
Analysis
While the violence that was stirred up with the mural is quelled in this section of the film, it is replaced with a number of prohibitions and forms of structural violence. The citizens of Pleasantville are advised to treat one another courteously, but they are prohibited from doing any of the activities that made their lives more colorful, such as reading, painting, going to Lover's Lane, or thinking curiously about the world. In order to maintain order, the mayor adopts a more strict and unforgiving code of conduct that he imposes on the citizens of Pleasantville.
David is resolved to continue to stoke the fires of change, even if the authorities that be disapprove of what he has created in the town. Throughout the course of the film, the introspective teenager has gone from a Pleasantville devotee to the leader of a revolution against Pleasantville's more oppressive structures. After the code of conduct is released, he encourages the colorful citizens to begin resisting by continuing listening to rock and roll music and making art. Artistic resistance becomes the primary resistance in the town.
The film depicts the members of the community who long to preserve the status quo not as inherently evil, but as ignorant, and scared of the changes that come with life. For instance, when George visits David in jail, he complains innocently about his desire for life to stay as it always was, and not to have to keep up with the changing tides of time. David is patient with his Pleasantville father, smiling and assuring him that there's nothing wrong with the fact that people change, and even commiserating when George tells him it's hard. The film examines both sides of the argument, the fact that change is difficult, but necessary.
In his trial, David makes a formal case for change and for embracing the color of the world over the status quo. He insists that there are values and feelings that are far better than just pleasantness. Not only that, but he insists that these feelings and ways of being are actually available to everyone. "Every one of those things is in you all the time if you just have the guts to look for them," he tells the quiet courtroom, suggesting that perhaps the thing that the black-and-white residents are most afraid of is something inside themselves.
Not only is David able to change life in Pleasantville for the better, but he is able to take the lessons he learns in Pleasantville back to his real life. When he arrives back in his living room, he finds his mother crying about the strange turn her life has taken. Wiping her tears, he assures her that life isn't supposed to be anything, and these wise words comfort her. The lesson for both the citizens of Pleasantville, and for everyone, is to embrace the unpredictability of life and to learn to diverge from expectations.
