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Epistemological Journeys In The Truman Show

Decent Essays

In June 1998, a movie was released that challenged audiences around the world to re-examine the world around them. The brainchild of scriptwriter Andrew Niccol and director Peter Weir, The Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey, details the life and times of one Truman Burbank. Truman is the star of “The Truman Show,” the most popular reality TV show of all time. The town that he lives in is a set. His friends and family, actors. Everything that happens to him is scripted. Every single moment of his humdrum existence is broadcast live to the world. The twist? Truman has no idea that this is all happening. Truman believes that he is just another normal insurance broker living in a quaint little island town, working hard to make a living. Born and …show more content…

They challenge concepts that most people would assume as innate and intuitive, namely the validity of the empirical world that surrounds them. Descartes begins his Meditations of First Philosophy with his “deconstruction,” a process in which he uses ultimate skepticism to demolish all of his preconceived notions about reality hoping to then construct a new, unbiased epistemological system atop an underlying fundamental axiom. In his deconstruction, he realizes that “all [he] has … accepted [with] … the highest truth and certainty, [he] received from … the senses.” This worries Descartes, as realizes that he might be a “madman” whose mind tricks him into having vivid, but ultimately imaginary experiences. Descartes comes to the conclusion that “senses [are] mislead[ing],” and thus, he rejects that the world around him is inherently true. Truman arrives at a similar conclusion after undergoing his own “deconstruction.” Throughout Truman’s life, activists and fame-seekers alike had infiltrated Truman’s world and tried to notify him of the nature of his existence. Even though Truman was quickly escorted away from these outsiders and reassured that they were insane, Truman nevertheless began to develop a subconscious paranoia that something was wrong with his world. After a few particularly sloppy slip-ups from the showrunners, such as allowing Truman to get a glimpse of his “dead” father, or accidentally transmitting a backstage frequency over Truman’s radio, Truman starts to act on his paranoia. He begins to act like a madman, thinking that the “world somehow revolves around [him]” and that “everyone [around him] is in on it.” Just like Descartes, Truman realizes that the world around him cannot be trusted, and with no more preconceived notions about reality, Truman also begins to seek out the

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