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Truman Show Equality

Good Essays

The Truman show is an American science fiction film produced in 1998, directed by Peter Weir, and starring Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, who is unknowingly starring in a produced by a man known as Christof, who is played by Ed Harris. The movie aims a satirical barb at the rapidly expanding influence of the media, and this is apparent through the relationship between Christof and Truman, and how the media, if unchecked, could remove the very notion of privacy, and render it a long forgotten moral value. Christof was in no way right to prevent Truman entering the real world, as it was wrong to deny Truman his freedom, it was selfish and morally unjust to put Truman’s own feelings, rights and happiness second to his show’s successfulness, and …show more content…

By trapping Truman in what is essentially a glorified artificial playground Christof strips him of this liberty. In fact, the theatrical nature of the place where Truman lives, ‘Sea haven Island,’ is highlighted during one of the show’s many panegyric transitions: “Coming to you now from Sea haven, enclosed in the largest studio ever constructed, and along with the Great Wall of China, one of only two man-made structures visible from space…” The narrator in this brief introduction, accentuates the non-natural environment which Truman is forced to reside in, by describing it as a ‘studio,’ and a ‘man made structure.’ This ersatz world is by no means real, and despite attempting to convey verisimilitude, it is a blatant intrusion on Truman’s most basic rights, and infringement on his liberties, and a wrongdoing committed by the producer, Christof, that clearly demonstrates that he had no right to prevent Truman from entering the real …show more content…

There are numerous examples of this throughout the film, however an explicit and rather symbolic one was nearing the end of the movie, when Truman had finally conquered his fears, and reached the ‘end of the world.’ It is at this point that Christof projects his voice to Truman from above the clouds, where the spiritual residence of a God, or indeed Gods are symbolized to be. This might well have been done to add to the sense of awe that Truman undoubtedly felt upon realizing that his world was not indeed the ‘real world’ but rather, an artificially created one, and one that had been designed by the man that was now talking to him, the man that even as he first directly speaks to Truman, takes the mantle and position of God. By doing so, Christof may have attempted to exert a subliminal form of influence over Truman, in order to better persuade him. His very first words to Truman, in response to Truman’s question about his identity, further reinforces this notion: “I am the creator – of a television show that gives hope and joy and inspiration to

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