New Urbanism in The Truman Show

Paul Goldberger, an American architectural critic once quoted, “Urbanism works when it creates the journey as desirable as the destination.”

Utopia is said to be a place where a good society is created, where one can live a good life and where power is not abused. But throughout George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the reader learns that a utopian society is in fact impossible. The reader learns this when Old Major tells of a dream he has where everything is perfect and no humans are involved, however when the revolution occurs and the humans are chased off the farm, the pigs become in charge and start to manipulate their power and the other animals, proving that no matter how hard the animals try, they will never have the good life that they want. Furthermore, in Peter Weir’s the Truman Show, we see that your own utopia can not be shaped by another being, because although being in power, Christof makes everything as perfect as he can for Truman, Christof can never give Truman the good life he actually wants which then leaves Truman finding his life unsatisfactory. The good life is determined by freedom and to be able to go where you want and do what you want to do, thus proving that a utopian society can not actually be made because if everyone could do what they want, there’s no guarantee that people would do the right thing which is why we have people in power.

New Urbanism essentially promotes an inclusive community that is close in proximity, which the ccreator of the Truman Show creates. There is many positives that comes with New Urbanism most being that all aspects of the city would be in walking distance which results in reduced cars and mixed housing. New Urbanism brings on increased communication and interaction between individuals which is facilitated by a city centre. Mumford writes about how a city is “a theatre of social action” (CR page

Although not often enough, sometimes the Hollywood industry successfully produces a masterful work of film that persuades us to reflect upon our lives in the society. These introspective films shine a revealing spotlight on the outside forces such as the media, which seek to manipulate our lives. One such film is The Truman Show (1998), a satirical social science motion picture, brilliantly conceived by writer Andrew Niccol, directed by Peter Weir, and perfectly executed by Hollywood actor, Jim Carrey. The film, although highly cathartic serves a nobler purpose of edifying on some philosophical concepts such as truth, reality, and freedom. The themes and settings explored in The Truman Show are an effective precursor to highlight and explain some of the cultural practices that have pervaded the contemporary society. In an era of advanced technology, social media, and popular reality television shows, it is difficult to discern what is genuine and what is crafted for audience consumption. This paper seeks to explore the philosophical depths of this fascinating film and how its titular character challenges, and ultimately escapes the contrived world of absurdity and falsehood.

On May 3rd when I visited the site where the Norman Blumberg Housing Project once stood, the air was hauntingly peaceful. I had read about the notoriety of the site during my research, how over its existence it had become an area of concentrated poverty and crime, but on this day this urban setting was quiet and calm. On the two square city blocks where a complex of apartment buildings once ruled the landscape, only a single high-rise remained among the unchecked wild grass. However, even in the peacefulness of this day in Sharswood, the looming presence of the infamous Norman Blumberg Apartments could still be felt.

Utopia - A perfect world. Truman's world was an utopia. Everything, including the weather, was controlled in a huge Hollywood dome. Truman grew up having no idea he was being watched every hour of the day, and that every step he took was being viewed by millions all over the globe. As the show progressed, it became clear how much media influenced Truman's life, and also how Christof played a huge role in Truman's well-being.

The film, The Truman Show (1998) is about the man named Truman Burbank, a first child who is legally adopted legally by the broadcasting company and been unknowingly publicizing his entire life as an entertaining show to the whole world. Although he lives in the world where everything is manipulated, at least for him, he is just like a normal man with own family, friends, and job. The difference between others and Truman lies on the taboo that Truman has attained through the traumatic event of losing his own father. His taboo is that he is incapable of living the city, Seahaven as leaving the city signifies knowing the truth of his life. The film majorly depicts the moment when Truman realized skepticism around his entire life and departs the journey to find the truth and real identity

Peter Weir’s The Truman Show features the ideas of a utopia, commercialism and the power of media through various film techniques. Mise en scen is used by Weir to show the idea of a utopia. The cinematography is utilised by weir to demonstrate commercialism. Weir also uses editing to convey the power of the media.

Peter Weir as the director of Truman Shows reveals that with power and knowledge, the film depicts a casual acceptance of “reality”. For example, in the event that a personality is made by the media then as it is progress, the reality perspective is constrained to the world perspective of those confined where wealthy people is made to think that people, as well, is ought to have a same materialistic mind-set (in this way making those in control more wealthier). The observation is a direct force of power by the television show creators over Truman which is the only inmate in correlation to the experiment of the Panoptic machine which is a type of prison building designed by Jeremy Bentham in 1787 as stated by Storey (2016, 132). It is a similar act of practice to serve as an act of power

The Truman Show is a film which has been developed through a range of images. Peter Weir has creatively directed a film portraying the media and its impact on society. Within this film we see the effectiveness of techniques, which include camera angles, framing, shot types, camera movement, style of music, costuming and sequencing. By using a range of different techniques Weir is able to create emotive images and portray three different worlds to the audience.

'The Truman Show' is the story of a baby who is bought by a television

Throughout the world of suburbia, there seems to be a persistence of communities who attempt to create a perfect, enclosed world for the whole of the community to live in. By providing for everything that the inhabitants would ever want, suburbia is able to close itself off from those around it that it deems unworthy of belonging. While this exclusivity helps to foster the sense of community, it can also bring with it isolation from the outside, and also from within, and have disastrous results. Throughout the semester, there have been a number of works that have dealt the issue of isolation, but the greatest representation of a work whose physical qualities in its representation of suburbia help to

The media has become so powerful in today’s society that it has come to the point of controlling our daily lives. “We accept the reality of the world with which we’re represented. It’s as simple as that”. This was said by a character in the movie, The Truman Show that was released in 1998, distributed by Paramount Pictures, directed by Peter Weir, and includes stars such as Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Natasha McElhone and many more. There is a crucial need to criticize the media in order to explore the way something is presented and to be sure that we are thinking for ourselves because the media is not always accurate in its portrayal of facts.

In the movie called; The Truman Show the main character named Truman finally comes to terms that his reality has been created for the purpose of a TV show in which he unknowingly stars in. For Truman, this is a dystopia, because he lives under constant surveillance, and was led to believe that Sea Haven was an ideal,perfect place.However for someone like Christoff;the director it could be considered a Utopia.

In The Film “ The Truman Show “ Directed By Peter Wier, The Main Protagonist Truman Is A Character That Is Portrayed As A Determined Yet Stubborn Character, Living Inside Of A Fake Utopia Created By The Creator Of “ The Truman Show ” Christof. Throughout This Entire Scene, We As The Viewer Can See That The Director Peter Wier Utilises This Scene To Emphasise On How Truman Is Portrayed, As He Is A Character Filled With Determined And A Desire For Freedom. With The Use Of 6 Different Aspect, Such As The Use Of Dialogue, Symbolism, Prop, Gesture, Facial Expression And Camera Shots To Portray This Specific Theme. As We As Viewers Can See How Truman Really Is Struggling During This Entire Scene, Reinforcing Our Understand Of Truman’s Determination.