The Truman Show

Running time: 103 minutes

Released: 1998

Re-watchability: 8/10

As a movie with an atypical storyline, The Truman Show (directed by Peter Weir) is not only entertaining but also extremely revealing of the function of media in society today. Truman is a typical man that has been adopted by a television network and unknowingly has his entire life broadcast on TV. He lives in a bubble (city of Seahaven) where he is completely unaware that his life is anything aside from reality.

The movie criticizes the media and consumerism in our culture by using consumerism itself, which is also known as antidote advertising. Media has obviously played a huge role in the lives that we live today, possibly manipulating everything we hold to be true. We tend to overlook the control that it has in our lives through our passiveness. The movie itself even has a quote that says, “nothing is fake… it is merely controlled.”

Some would consider this movie to be bizarre and out there, but the message the movie is conveying is that the movie is not bizarre, WE ARE. We constantly allow the manipulation and control of the media. Even when Truman has an idea or starting point of figuring out that he and his world are being controlled, the network does not even worry too much because they believe he will just go back to his normal life within a day, accepting the reality they gave him. When Truman’s dad interferes with the show, the actors forcefully pull him away. When we see or believe something we are not supposed to, the media can manipulatively pull us in a different direction. The media intrudes on our individualism by creating us how they see us to be fit by consumerism and conformity.

“We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented.”

The above quote from the movie caught my attention for various reasons. Our society is always in the now. We tend to avoid questioning how our world functions because it is our reality. It is so unreasonable to assume that this is not what reality really is. We thrive on the media because it is a fake world that is created for us to escape when we cannot take the real world anymore. The real world is unwanted because reality is dirty.  Media is a space between subject and reality since reality is transmitted through media and received by the public in a different way. Like Truman, we must eventually arc to realize that is not how life is supposed to be. In order to develop ourselves as individuals and as a society, we must question our “reality.” Additionally, once something is not occurring anymore, we move into whatever is happening next. The movie ends with the cops trying to find something else that is on. They don’t even stop to think about what has just happened, they only want to be in the now.

There are multiple cinematographic elements that emphasize that Truman is being recorded and broadcast. An opening shot of the movie seems as though Truman is talking to the audience, but he is really talking to himself and to other cast members. The face-on shot gives the audience a little time to realize that Truman is not acting or speaking to the audience but merely is being manipulated for broadcast. The odd angles and shots represent hidden cameras all across the city of Seahaven representing the media watching, analyzing and basically controlling our society in all aspects of day-to-day life.

The consistently re-occurring birds eye view also reminds the citizens of the world that Truman is being filmed. It keeps the true audience (us) focused on what is actually happening rather than getting sucked into the fake story that was created that, quite frankly, does not really matter compared to the bigger picture that Peter Weir is attempting to convey. What matters is that WE are being manipulated and watched just as Truman is.

There are continuously advertisements that occur when the camera does a close-up on the character that is promoting a product. During that moment, the focus is only on that product. It resonates with the fact that we are walking advertisements as consumers because media and marketing dominate our lives.

The ocean represents the unknown as it is presented as a thread in the storyline. It initially causes the fear that Truman has throughout the film. Eventually, the ocean leads to the way that Truman finds his way out of Seahaven by conquering his fear. Truman had no clue what was out there because he was afraid, but once he subjugated his fear, he figures out that he is free. Truman lived in the fantasy for so long, we rejoice when he finally makes it back to reality.

The Truman Show is clearly The Journey archetype as Truman is a hero that is forced to discover the hard truth. When he accepts what has happened to him, he goes to the real world to experience it in a way he never had the opportunity to. Towards the end of the movie, the creator of the show even says that one of the shots is a “hero shot” when Truman is on the boat close to discovering the real world.

The antagonist in the movie is the creator of the show (who represents media) and the protagonist/hero is clearly Truman (who represents society as a whole). The creator was referred to as “Big guy,” as if he is in control of everything like God.

The whole idea of this movie is that the media has manipulated us since birth, like Truman. We are basically owned by it, and since this movie has come out, sixteen years later, things have not gotten any better. In fact, with the popularity of the smartphones and social media in our daily lives, we have far from escaped the constraint of the media. The movie had no significant effect on opening society’s eyes to no longer allowing this manipulation, however, the stance the movie took was nevertheless bold, entertaining, and mind-captivating.