The Truman Show Research Paper

In the opening of this film we are introduced to our hero, Truman Burbank, a seemingly normal man living in the small peaceful town of Seahaven. Little does Truman know, his town is not only filled with kind people but also thousands of hidden cameras that film his every move each day. Although Truman does embark on the hero’s journey, his journey differs in some ways. While in college, Truman meets two women: Meryl, a temptress, and Lauren, a goddess. One evening on a beach, Lauren attempts to reveal the truth to Truman, Unfortunately, she is not successful and is forced to leave to show and discontinue her contact with him. One

The Truman Show is centred on a man-made island called SeaHaven where a man named Truman Burbank has been televised without his knowledge since birth. The show is a 24 hour live tv show where every aspect of Truman’s life is shown. As Truman grows older he begins to notice unsual events that leads him to believe that there is something incongruent with what people are telling him and what he experiences in his day to day life. As Truman begins to test the boundaries he realizes that the town seems to revolve around him and his desire to escape comes to an all time high. Eventually Truman begins on a journey to escape his virtual reality. Despite the boundaries that the director throws at him he eventually escapes and will try to find his way in the real world. This movie made me sympathize for Truman being that he has no privacy and is oblivious to his lack of freedom. This movie shows how it is possible to create an “ideal” community and how New Urbanism can be created and maintained.

Without Truman, the Truman show was nothing, so Christof manipulated him to keep him in Seahaven, he manipulated his fears, his love life, and his everyday encounters, just so that the show could continue to be successful and continue to produce millions of views and in turn millions of dollars. An example of when Truman was manipulated shown in the film was when we get shown a flashback of Truman's childhood, we are shown a young Truman standing up in a classroom, he is declaring his want to be an explorer, "like the great Magellan," the teacher, in reply, rolls down a map of the world and responds, "Oh, you're too late, there's really nothing left to explore." By doing this they were trying to quell Truman's dream to explore. Christof and the Network executives worked to stop Truman from ever wanting to leave Seahaven by manipulating the environment around him, in this case his school and teacher, to disregard and stop his want to leave and explore what is outside of the

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.

Everything in Seahaven was operated by machines and computers. These computers were basically controlled my Christof's orders. Early in his life, Truman was traumatized by his father's death at sea. He grew up thinking it was his fault. Because of Christof's planning of the death, Truman was always scared of water. The only way off of Seahaven was by boat, therefore Christof knew he would be able to keep Truman under his control. Christof also did a good job of increasing his audience numbers. When viewers saw the heart-felt moment of Truman reuniting with his father years later, the number of viewers increased. Christof made the scene stand out by changing camera angles and playing background music. In addition, since Truman wanted to make his way to Fiji, Christof strategically planned different events in order to slow Truman down so he wouldn't leave the island. An example of this is when Truman went to purchase a plane ticket, but the flights were all sold out for over a month. Also, when the bus he was going to ride broke down. This proves that Christof manipulated Truman for his own purpose. Christof controlled everything in Truman's life from the weather to who Truman was going to spend his life with. All these points prove how Truman was being used for Christof's benefit; to increase the show's ratings and to gain an income.

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

I believe that the Presidents decision was based dually on military necessity and on the Nation's reputation. Truman was not a dumb man; he was inexperienced and quickly expected to make important decisions based on very little information that he had been recently made aware of. I believe that his first thought was to just end the War. I do not think he felt the need

In the movie “The Truman Show” Truman Burbank is the main character where he has

Christof manipulates Truman’s life stripping him of his free will. This means that all of Truman’s life decisions were controlled by Christof and the other actors. An example of Truman’s life being controlled is after Meryl screams for help when Truman is being paranoid and Marlon comes in and takes him to a bridge where Christof is talking to Truman through Marlon, talking him out of thinking something is up with Seahaven. Another example is when Christof removes Truman’s

War always results in destruction, debt, and deaths these outcomes are unevitable. But Truman's choice helped minamize the amount of deaths which is probably the most important catagory. The civilians that died, with out a doubt didnt deserve to die and their deaths will always be remembered and honored. But, the

Burbank, Truman's last name, is a town in California. It takes 5 and a half hours from Indianapolis to get to Burbank California. This perfectly and flawlessly represents that life is fragile and should not be takin for granted. However, if it was more than 5 and a half hours it would not be cool and

This manipulation Truman by the media can also be viewed in his fear of water. The director and producers of the show created a fictitious event about losing his dad out a sea (Weir). This traumatized Truman, making him less likely to attempt to leave his island, one of the TV show’s main goals. The media used their domination to instill fear in Truman in order to contain him. Truman’s fear was not one in which he received independently, but one in which the media brainwashed him with.

The concept of reality TV was amplified with the film The Truman Show in 1998. On television, it is largely debated which show was the first “reality TV show” since some may class them anywhere from game shows to documentaries, such as “Survivor” or “COPS”. Reality TV centers around characters who engage in current day life and situations, often true situations which are unscripted and spontaneous, captivating audiences by putting them in the shoes of cast members to see if they judge situations like viewers would. Producers of such programming often pick cast members who can target specific audiences, such as athletes, working class citizens, or members of either gender who could relate to the average viewer. In The Truman Show, we see

Which everyone can relate from their youth or wishing their society was that social norm even if those times have changed and evolved into what we have today. While these values and ideology are scripted and staged around Truman to him it’s his norm as strange as some of the choreographing may be. However the viewers of the show while may not be able to relate to his norm they do idolize Truman; wishing they could be part of his norm in which Truman has been socialized too. Truman is shows how even once injected with paranoia how we as a society have to discover the truth at any cost. Even how the product placement was injected into the Truman’s life as corny as it was; it was a necessary evil for the show to produce capital allowing for the show to

The last scene is of Truman standing in front of the exit having a conversation with the director, before he decides to take his chances in the real world and leaves Seahaven. The Truman Show brings up many philosophical questions but the ones I want to focus on are free will versus determinism, different ideas on how we should view the world around us and the idea of God versus and evil deceiver. Some people believe that we have the power to make all of our decisions, others think that everything is