I had just gotten layed off from my posh Silicon Valley job and it really hit right on target; it was terrific.

I am a huge Barbara Ehrenreich fan. I've read several of her books. Not only is she a compassionate and perceptive researcher and analyst, she is also a clear and elegant prose stylist and a trained scholar who documents her assertions and conclusions very effectively. I'm sure Tom would love her.

BTW, the Wiki entry on Pleasantville had this entry...

Director Gary Ross stated, "This movie is about the fact that personal repression gives rise to larger political oppression...That when we're afraid of certain things in ourselves or we're afraid of change, we project those fears on to other things, and a lot of very ugly social situations can develop".

Robert Beuka says in his book SuburbiaNation, "Pleasantville is a morality tale concerning the values of contemporary suburban America by holding that social landscape up against both the Utopian and the dystopian visions of suburbia that emerged in the 1950s".

Robert McDaniel of Film and History described the town as the perfect place, "It never rains, the highs and lows rest at 72 degrees, the fire department exists only to rescue treed cats, and the basketball team never misses the hoop." However, McDaniel says, "Pleasantville is a false hope. David's journey tells him only that there is no 'right' life, no model for how things are 'supposed to be.'"

But you better not let Tom know you're reading BE. She's been on the Conservative shitlist for years now.