The Giver and Pleasantville

There are many similarities and differences between the book The Giver and the movie Pleasantville. As to being similar, they deliver more or less the same message. “You can’t help who you are.” Full of clichés, but still true to real life. Of course, there are the similarities between setting such as them both being in black and white, and the differences of time period. You really need to look at the main characters to see any major similarities and differences between this book and this movie.
Comparing Jonas in The Giver and David (Bud) in Pleasantville, they both seem to be from a different time. Although we know David is from a different time, seeing him being sucked into the television right at the beginning of the movie, but there is just something about Jonas that makes him seem that way. With Jonas, there was a sign, his eyes that were lighter than the others. With David, there were not any specific physical features that set him apart from the rest other that he looked completely different from the real Bud which no one in Pleasantville seemed to notice. Then there are the feelings.
In The Giver the people in the community are capable of having feelings, they are just suppressed by pills. In Pleasantville, there were no feelings until David and Mary-Sue (Jennifer) showed the people of Pleasantville what it was all about. Then, once they started to change within themselves into what they would be like in modern times, they start to see color. In The Giver, Jonas is the only person that can see color, but he changed due to receiving the experiences of the world. With all of the new realizations of who people actually are, David and Betty Parker (the Mother) create a strong bond known as compassion. It is a sad goodbye when David goes back to his time period, contrary to when Jonas left. Jonas most likely would have had a fond farewell from the Giver if he had left on time, but his compassion for Gabriel and knowledge that Gabe would be released the next day prompted him to leave early. They both had ambiguous endings, leaving you wondering whether or not Jonas and Gabe lived and whether the Betty stayed with George Parker (the Father), or with Bill Johnson (the man from the ice cream shop).