I don't really love the movie Pleasantville. Before seeing it this most recent time, I have seen it many times before and I have never really been a huge fan, but one part I have always particularly enjoyed comes when the men of the town are in the bowling alley trying to figure out what happened to their wives and what they can do about it.
I thought it was interesting that the scene in the bowling alley was created by George coming home and saying "Honey, I'm home," and immediately checking the oven, the stove, and each individual pot and pan in the kitchen, assuming that if his wife was home she would be in the kitchen. And if she wasn't home she would have cooked his dinner and left it in the oven.
Then once he got to the bowling alley, after the men were done picking up 7/10 splits, they started to discuss the problems they were having with their wives. And one of the most serious problems one of the men came up with was his shirt having an iron mark on his shirt. I thought it was interesting commentary that the two major things the movie references women doing were cooking and ironing, two household jobs, but also that the only place the men felt comfortable talking about was in a bowling alley. Bowling alleys are dirty, smoky, and disgusting yet the film portrays the bowling alley as a heterotopia for the men. I thought this was particularly interesting because I would never think of a bowling alley as a type of perfect place where I could find refuge.
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