The Truman Show: Accepting Reality

The summer of 1998 saw the release of ‘The Truman Show’, arguably, one of the greatest pieces of art the world has ever seen. Or as I like to call it, ‘The Jim Carrey movie that made me cry’. The various themes in this movie would give any reviewer a field day, as the creators Peter Weir and Andrew Niccol bring up extremely relevant questions in a seemingly absurd premise. Which provides for a timeless masterpiece.

The Truman show follows the story of Truman Burbank, a thirty-year old man whose life has been put up for display on a show that runs 24 hours a day broadcasting the entirety of his life to voyeurs around the world. Truman himself is unaware of the fact. To him Meryl is his wife, Marlon is his best friend and he himself is a simple insurance salesman living in a small island town called ‘Seahaven’ . When in fact, Meryl, Marlon, his mother, as well as all the inhabitants of ‘Seahaven’ are paid actors living in a controlled utopia. The show is the conception of a man who is named ‘Christof’. This man overlooks the cameras (which there are 5,000 of) as well as directly feeds the lines to the important cast members at crucial moments.

Upon my first viewing of the film, I immediately felt it connect with some deep part of me and evoked emotions I could not explain. I knew that there was a deeper meaning within this elaborate mess which I could not seem to unravel. It is only after watching it a couple times that the vision of the director, Peter Weir has become clear to me.

There are many ways of understanding the subtext of this film. All of these ideas are worth exploring but one that is particularly interesting is how this film explores ‘The Dilemma of Freewill’.

Instances such as the beginning of the film when we see a reel of the cast speaking to the audience and the actor that plays Marlon says, “Nothing here is fake, it’s all real. It’s merely controlled.” Or when the creator says, “The world that you live in, that is the sick place. Seahaven is the way the world should be”, beg the question of why Truman would ever want to leave. He has everything a man could need. Yet, in his stable or bored condition he longs for disruption. As the world around him begins to rupture bit by bit, he spirals into insanity, eventually ending at the doorstep to liberation. A fire exit situated at the edge of the dome which forms the boundaries of Truman’s world.

The boat that Truman sails on to reach the door across the sea that surrounds Seahaven is named ‘Santa Maria,’ which also happens to be the name of the largest boat that Christopher Columbus sailed on as he ventured into the ‘New World’ . Thus, representing Truman’s transition into the world of possibilities.

Behind Truman lies an open sea and a bright shining sun. These are symbols most often associated with joy and hope. Now in front of him the door to ‘liberation’ is simply a dark rectangle which evokes an eerie feeling unlike what you would expect from the idea of liberty.

When Truman is at the door Christof speaks to him. He says, “There is no more truth out there than there is in the world I’ve created for you. The same lies, the same deceit. At least in my world you live without fear.” Yet, Truman chooses to walk into unpredictability leaving his picture perfect life behind.

This brings us onto the theme ‘A creator’s connection with their creation’. The dilemma of freewill connects with benevolence here. Comparing Christof (possible variation of Christ) with the monotheistic god, Christof is almost omnipotent in what he can or cannot do to Truman (possible variation of True-Man). He has created a perfect life for Truman, but by doing so has robbed him of his freewill. He has not provided him a guide for action and then let him run wild with it. Instead, he meticulously plans his relationships, his career, and even his day-to-day tasks like the brand of hot chocolate he will drink. Now, God has given man the option to deny him. He has created an essentially good place but let evil run free and provided man with the choice of freewill at the expense of benevolence. Hereby, this film asks the question, Which is more important? Mercy or free will?

Many view The Truman Show as an elaborate depiction of Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’. Put simply, this thought experiment proposes the idea of three prisoners confined in a dark cave for the entirety of their life, where all they see are shadows of the real world on a wall lit by a fire. One day one of these prisoners is allowed to step into reality and see that the shadows he was seeing are not all that reality has to offer. Upon this realisation, he returns to the cave to inform the other prisoners of the world that awaits them. To the bewilderment of the liberated prisoner, the other prisoners mock him for his foolishness rather than rejoice at the possibility of a better world. The prisoner then himself wonders, what really is reality? The shadows or light? What should he accept, truth or habit?

Truman’s case is similar to this. In the second act, Christof explains why Truman has never left in a simple line, “We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented” by doing this the film is asking us to ponder. To reach our hands out into the light. To escape the entrapment of habit in search for truth.

This brings us onto our last theme, the political environment within which we live. Throughout the Truman Show some ideas are constantly reinforced, that benefit the objective of the show, which is mainly, to keep Truman within the confinements of Seahaven.

The creators even go as far as having an episode where the father tragically drowns on a sailing trip with Truman which enforces aquaphobia in Truman, making him forever afraid of venturing out across the sea. The gates of Seahaven read, “Unus Pro Omnibus Omnes Pro Uno” - a Latin phrase which translates to ‘All for one and one for all.” This further enforces the idea that Seahaven is self-sustainable, it is perfect.

Another aspect which is very relevant are the rampant product placements throughout the show, which very much reflect how much of our choices today are determined by the media and the products that it constantly shoves down our throats.

This film, by using this medium, displays the utter ridiculousness of Truman’s world - a trait we are able to identify by looking at from a third person perspective. However, it is only after a bit of self-reflection that we are able to see that the same absurdity exists in our lives too. The common man purchases the products that he sees celebrities use, he believes the lies that his leaders feed to him, he gets absorbed into a system that robs him off his creativity and shoves him into mediocrity. He, much like Truman, is simply incredulous to it. He too has accepted reality as it was presented to him.

Oh and in case I don’t see you, Good Afternoon, Good Evening and Good Night.

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