| “ | David, listen to me for just a minute. These people don't want to be geeks. They want to be attractive. They've a lot of potential — they just don't know any better. | „ |
| ~ Jennifer on making Pleasantville "cool". |
Jennifer Wagner is one of the two supporting protagonists of the 1998 comedy-drama film Pleasantville.
She is portrayed by Reese Witherspoon, who also portrayed Annette Hargrove in Cruel Intentions, Elle Woods in the Legally Blonde films and Ginormica in Monsters vs. Aliens.
Personality[]
Unlike her brother David, she is popular and conceited, and somewhat promiscuous. Beneath her flirtatious demeanor, however, she in insecure and lonely, and wants someone to love her for more than her body.
In the film[]
She and David are transported into the world of David's favorite TV show, "Pleasantville", and she immediately shocks the townspeople with her open sexuality (the characters not even knowing what sex is). She helps her "mother" Betty discover her own desires and realize that she does not truly love her husband, George.
Meanwhile, she rapes the "all-American boy" Skip Johnson, which (literally) introduces color into the greyscale world of Pleasantville. This arouses the ire of the townspeople, particularly Big Bob McGee, the mayor, who has David arrested. Jennifer sits in the gallery to support David as he helps the town realize that life "in color" is better than their previous isolated, predictable existences. As David returns to their world, Jennifer wishes him well and tells him she is going to take college classes in the show's universe first.