The Giver vs. Pleasantville

The Giver vs. Pleasantville
The Giver and Pleasantville both have one lesson in common; you can only change yourself no-one can change you for you. This is one of the most significant lessons of reality that everyone can relate to. As in The Giver, Jonas grows and changes as he learns how different he really is from everyone else. Jonas realizes that change isn't so bad and he accepts how his knowledge makes him different. As for Pleasantville, Bud and Mary Sue realize that the people in Pleasantville need change and the only way to change them is by showing them that they are capable of change.
Pleasantville does have some differences from The Giver. In Pleasantville, the characters Bud and Mary Sue have already experienced "reality" but they do make some change throughout the movie by realizing that they should be thankful for what they have. The main character that stuck out to me in this situation was, Father (Bud and Mary Sue's dad). In the end he changed himself by the love he felt for his wife, he didn't just love the cooking and the cleaning he loved her presence in general and he missed her. In Pleasantville at the end, everyone changed themselves, but in The Giver the ending was ambiguous.
The Giver made me think a little more about changing yourself, you had to dig a little deeper. The memories showed Jonas that there was something deeper inside people, feelings, but he had to figure the feelings out himself through experience. One thing that proves an automatic change for people is the "stirrings" that Jonas began to get, which shows that no-one can help there change unless you intentionally prevent them, like when they gave him pills. In my opinion both the novel and the movie have great lessons of change, and it has helped me realize how change in you is good and perfectly normal.