In today’s day and age, we live in two different worlds at the same time – one is real and other is virtual. All of us present a conscious side of ourselves to the public or on social media. But what if, without your awareness the lines between real and reel world disappear completely. How would you react? I know that privacy is a myth courtesy of BigTech. But the Hollywood film ‘The Truman Show’ paints a grim picture of what a horrific situation it could be, if our lives become a source of pleasure for others.
Perceived reality
In 1998, Hollywood actor Jim Carrey appeared in the film ‘The Truman Show’. It was an American psychological and satirical comedy-drama film. It was directed by Peter Weir with Niccol as its writer.
Initially, it was thought to be a science-fiction thriller but American film producer Scott Rudin had other plans. He bought the film’s script and made many changes. Later, he decided to have the production set at Paramount Pictures. The major portion of the film was shot in a master-planned community located at Seaside, Florida. It had a large set that was populated by actors for a reality show based on the film of Truman Burbank played by Jim Carrey.
The Truman Show film was a financial success. It gained praise from critics as well and received several award nominations.
In the The Truman Show film, Truman lives an ordinary life without knowing the fact that apart from him all other persons are pretentious and unreal. Barring Truman, everything is being controlled by the show’s creator Christof.
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Christof’s fiction imposed as reality on Truman
The creator Christof has attempted a social experiment for which he adopted a baby born out of an unwanted pregnancy. He claims that Truman was not just adopted by the show but also by the world. The production team telecasts Truman’s every moment and makes him the subject of a reality television program. To serve every minute detail to the global audiences, the set incorporates around 5000 hidden cameras that The Truman Show film24 by 7 activities of Truman Burbank.
Further, Christof has attempted to capture Truman’s authentic emotions. For that, he completely manipulates Truman’s surroundings. For example, through the elaborate production set, Christof dictates every aspect of Truman’s life, even changing the weather as he desires.
Additionally, Christof does everything possible in his control to completely isolate Truman from the outside ‘real’ world. In this way, he also tries to protect the facade of distorted reality that he has created. Evidently, Christof narrates situations that prevent Truman from aspiring to explore the outside world. These manipulations include the planted story of the death of his father in a sea storm. Thus, he ingrained aquaphobia in Truman. But as they say, life is full of variables and is too magnanimous to be controlled by ordinary beings.
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The great revelation
Even after cultivating Truman in his world, Christof couldn’t dictate Truman’s actions as per his likings. Apparently, the creator wanted Truman to fall in love and marry Meryl. Contrary to the plan, Truman falls for Sylvia, an extra on the set. The production team quickly removes her before she could lay bare the true nature of this pretentious world to Truman. But she had planted the seed of doubt in Truman’s mind.
Later, events like the accidental entry of his supposedly dead father on the set or the accidental falling of the spotlight forced Truman to keep pondering on Slyvia’s descriptions. All these things add to Truman’s scepticism after which he starts questioning his life and comes to a realisation that he is the centre point of the city. He finds out that his truth is scarier and stranger than fiction. Rather, it is a staged reality show which we are rampantly forced to witness these days.
Just like modern reality shows, The Truman Show film has made Truman’s life a spectacle for others to enjoy and amuse themselves. Seeking amusement from others’ mundane activities highlight serious issues with a large section of the society. It also hits out at the reprehensible trait of peeking at others’ lives.
The American movie powerfully analyses serious issues like existentialism, surveillance, privacy, dystopian fiction, and reality television. With this, the movie makes a scathing attack on the craving of modern celebrities that have blurred the lines of reality and reel just for the sake of popularity.
The main takeaway for me from the movie was that, if there is no evil, there will be no meaning to goodness either. It is the crust and troughs in life that gives meaning to it. Do share your thoughts about the movie and what you gain out of it.
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