The Truman Show Essay
Submitted as an assignment for PUP 200
Introduction: The movie that I will be analyzing will be The Truman Show (1998).
Main Ideas: The director is filming a man since birth who has a whole town and reality show dedicated to watching him without his awareness. He longs to travel out of Seahaven and be with another woman that isn’t his wife. All of the actors and extras do their best to keep Truman from wanting or trying to escape Seahaven. Truman eventually faces his fear of boats and water and runs into the side of the dome, confirming his suspicions. The director talks to him about what a great performance he has given for the world, but Truman decides to make his own path and step out into the real world.
Thesis statement: The Truman Show demonstrates a flawed attempt of a director to showcase real emotions of a man unknowingly filmed 24/7 in a locked location, not realizing the negative effect that would result.
Summary: The director details in an interview that in order to ensure that he did not get phony emotions from an actor of his own selection he designed a world in a dome to study one man, filmed from birth as a reality TV show. He also reveals that Truman is the first person legally adopted by a corporation, which brings up all sorts of legal questions. We learn that a tragic story plot was created to traumatize Truman into being afraid of water and thus never learning that he is in a locked world. Things go wrong on the set that Truman should notice- stuff falling from the sky, rain localized just over him, radio frequency errors etc.- but it doesn’t truly hit him until a police officer who he does not know acknowledges him by name casually. He wants to travel- Fiji and Chicago are top on the list- and leave Meryl for Sylvia, and everyone tries to discourage him from these endeavors. Though there is much scheming by the actors and director to keep Truman unaware of reality, Truman escapes and runs his boat into the edge of the dome, ultimately deciding to leave the dome after having a conversation with the director ( more or less his god). The point of view of this movie alternates from Truman living his life, to the view of the director, camera crew, and audiences around the world tuning in.
Critical analysis:
The Director’s goal Wanting to showcase real emotions from anyone isn’t a bad idea for a director to have. The methods that Christof takes to get his wish, however, were unethical and violating. Truman had no say over what was broadcast to the world and was never informed that he indeed was being filmed for the world’s entertainment. Legal measures should have been taken to stop the show from even going into effect.
Truman’s aspirations Through Truman’s life we see the concept of aging in place, as discussed by Dr. Jason Kelley (n.d.) in his faculty lecture. Most of the necessities he needs are located in a centralized city space that is easily accessible- a new urbanist aspiration. Arian Horbovetz (2020) defines urbanism in his article as “ seek[ing] to maximize the potential of every community, big and small.” Small businesses and local communities are able to thrive through that small town mentality. Per Dr. Kelley’s lecture, we also see the social aspect of a neighborhood in a new urbanist design as Truman’s home is built close to the street ( with the white picket fence) and to the other homes around him while also containing a front porch. Since he is located near others, he is able to speak to the other neighbors as he leaves for work daily. We also see a daily occurrence of him walking down the main city square and picking up a newspaper as he heads to work. In his article, Rene Ramos (2018) breaks down the benefits of a new urbanist neighborhood as contributing to more connection opportunities through local events, more physical activity being taken on by the average person, and more affordable housing for those in that space. Throughout the film though, we see that Truman is not satisfied with this lifestyle, and that he endeavors to leave Seahaven for dreams of places far away.
The actors’ & camera crews’ hypocrisy Time and time again, we see that the actors and camera crew continue to deceive Truman and not reveal what his life actually was. Especially heinous were the actions of his wife Meryl and best friend Marlon. Meryl was determined to sell the lie and even potentially have a child with Truman ( though the director mentioned that she would be leaving him in the near future) continuing to pass on this false legacy. Marlon would thwart any attempt that Truman had to know more when he was questioning and even used the return of Truman’s dad to try to take him off the scent. Only Sylvia was willing to even try to reveal the truth to him, but when given the perfect opportunity, she was not able to get it out in time before being snatched. All those behind the scenes continuing to make the show happen were complicit in the unlawful invasion of privacy.
Conclusion: Through a look at what a director set out to showcase, what the man filmed aspired for, and what the actors and camera crew lacked in awareness, The Truman Show shows how something that brings fascination and interest to many can be damaging to one.
References
Horbovetz, A. (2020, May 9). New Urbanism Is A Lifestyle, Not A Metric. The Urban Phoenix. https://theurbanphoenix.com/2020/05/09/new-urbanism-is-a-lifestyle-not-a-metric/
Kelley, J. (n.d.) The Truman Show Faculty Lecture [ Video Lecture]. Arizona State University. https://asu.instructure.com/courses/205693/pages/faculty-presentation-dr-jason-kelley-on-the-truman-show-1998?module_item_id=15043988
Ramos, R. (2018, April 13). Is Living in a New Urbanist Neighborhood the Answer to a Healthier Life? Medium. https://medium.com/the-healthy-city/is-living-in-a-new-urbanist-neighborhood-the-answer-to-a-healthier-life-194c89f1c23
