However, it begins with the youth. Mary Sue introduces sex into their social lives and all of a sudden they become more curious about the world around them. As the other kids start to have sex, they become colored, along with their cars and the local soda shop hangout. The parents are unable to explain why this is happening, obviously because they are not aware of the fact that their children are spending time at "Lover's Lane". When one teenager is taken to the doctor because of her color, the doctor insists it will go away if she simply lays off the sweets and the fried foods. It is this attitude that begins the separation between the black and white and the colored. They simply cannot imagine that this is a change that could take over their comfortable society. .
As the movie progresses, the changes become more and more pervasive. Bud and Mary Sue's mother (Joan Allen) begins a change of her own when she fails to have dinner ready for her husband when he returns home from work. It is inconceivable that the routine they have had every day of their lives could be broken, and it is ultimately her fault that the family is broken down. There is no place in their society for change without major repercussions, and now the invasion of color begins to affect everyone's family. When George, the father played by William H Macy, is lost by the change, he joins in the other black and white males in discussing how to stop this. They begin calling them colored with a negative connotation and discuss how they can stop this catastrophe and how they can make their Pleasantville go back to being pleasant. Signs start appearing in windows that say "No Coloreds". This immediately evokes a strong feeling from the audience, as this is obviously a reference to the segregation of African-Americans. From this point on in the movie, it becomes an us versus them attitude. .
The racism of the black and white characters becomes obvious and it is not until the strong characters in this position, like Whitey, change themselves.
