The Truman Show is an epic film that was released in 1998, heaping praise on the great works of Peter Weir for the widely loved comedy-drama film. Truman Burbank, the star, acknowledges his existence as just an ordinary man in a routine with nothing of interest. The film is projected to a worldwide audience through hidden cameras to capture the pure and authentic emotions that Truman portrays that the audience can relate to (Wise, 40). Truman’s life is filled with unreal events and people that he rarely notices until later in the show. The idea being put to light is the reality of what we all experience and with little knowledge of how much of an illusion life can become. The play can be cleared from gender issues as it projects the balance of cast and focuses on the leading actor whose life is used to drive the main themes and points to the audience.
The show’s audience is people who feel the immediate impact of the project ideas of media and fake reality around them. Truman can notice things that do not appear right which prompts him to question his life. He is worried about whether life revolves around him (Niccol,12). He seeks the truth that the world does not revolve around us since his life was not really what it seemed to be. The undying desire to quench our own needs and curiosities is never satisfied like the life of Truman roved. He is in love with Sylvia, the character that he does not necessarily marry. The person he marries in Truth is Meryl, but a late realization makes him notice that her fingers were crossed in the wedding photo, which opens his eyes to the lack of truth and sincerity in their marriage. The additional fact that he still dreams of Sylvia is the ultimate evidence that life is not what really what we all see but a series of unveiling hidden events that do not necessarily please us.
The film projects a very great idea on an existence of a superior being and, at the same time, drives its central theme on power and influence that the media has on the current generation. The whole essence of having cameras everywhere in Truman’s surroundings is to bring the idea of being watched, in this case, by the god of Truman. The audience watches him in the bathroom and every private place he believes and visits. The notion that an audience borrows on this scene is that we are being watched constantly, listened and then, worst of all, controlled. When we indicate the idea of being controlled, we invite the media in today’s society that is doing every for us, and we have become entirely reliant (Gold and Ian, 23). It is a challenge to figure out or think innovatively on our own to better the surrounding. The idea is drawn all over the scene to warn everyone watching to be aware of the influence. Accepting the universal nature of Truman’s god makes him visible to the audience in whatever he does and controlled even to an emotional level. An attempt to control Truman is evident when he tries to escape this current life through the sea, where he has to face a godly triggered storm, but he still overcomes it. A past episode shows him living in fear of the ocean since the exact cause robbed him of his father’s life. Christof being Truman emphasizes the virtues of staying at home and avoiding blindfolding Truman to his former fears.
Light falls off and triggers Truman’s instincts to question his environment. He tries to read the label that the stage light bears after picking it from the ground. The awakening call on society is to understand our environment and know that things are not necessarily in the dimension that we view them. The powerful media influence can equally manipulate our views, which tells us to think independently of ourselves. The concept of Christof is an idea that needs a good review of the role it portrays. The name seems swayed from the origin of Christ being all-powerful as Christof is to Truman. The actual representation is that he is on the wrong side of the media that we all do not admire. He gives the idea of manipulated truth where social media becomes all we have to find truths, but we cannot even tell the authenticity. Christof controls all about the Seahaven, a perfectly executed role that impacts the life of Truman. He holds on the position of a God-like complex that he talks to the sky to convince Truman not to leave. The contrast is Sylvia’s presentation of truth, cut from the show before revealing the Truth to Truman. Whenever he attempts to think of Sylvia, his actual world is always close to being proved; thus, he follows this truth by sailing to find her, which sets him free from the world of Christof.
Works Cited
Gold, Joel, and Ian Gold. “The “Truman Show” delusion: psychosis
Niccol, Andrew. The Truman Show. Newmarket Press, 1998.
Wise, J. Macgregor. “Mapping the culture of control: Seeing through The Truman Show.” Television & New Media 3.1 (2002): 29-47.
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