The Truman Show: Film Commentary

855 Words2 Pages

America saw him when he was born. Everyone in the world tuned in for his first step. For thirty

years, Truman Burbank was unknowingly the subject of a reality television show. When he was born,

Truman was adopted by the network. His entire life is displayed to millions of people through a series

of hidden cameras. His life is nothing more than a source of entertainment for the viewers and a source

of profit for the producers.The omnipotent director, Christof, creates an artificial world, Seahaven, that

revolves around Truman. Throughout the movie, some truths as well as fallacies are exposed about

modern life.

The Truman Show aired twenty-four hours a day every day, and millions of people all around

the world watched it. Those who tuned in never seemed to tune out. Some of the viewers of the show

had probably been watching Truman since he was just a baby. One truth that is revealed through The

Truman Show is that television has become a large part of everyone's everyday life. The people at the

bar never leave. The man in the bath tub tunes in as he is taking a bath. The two elderly women never

leave the couch. The two security guards are busy watching The Truman Show while on patrol. In

modern times, people seem to plan their lives around the shows that they watch. Sometimes, people are

even incapable of completing everyday tasks due to television. There is something allegorical about the

fact that the show is constantly airing as well. It shows that humans have been taken over by the media.

People seem to watch reality television shows because they believe that their own lives are so mundane

that they become invested in someone else's life. The irony, though, is that Truman lives one of the

m...

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...e is. He did not accept his

teacher telling him that the entire world had already been discovered, and he instead fostered his own

ideas about someday leaving the “island”. Thus, despite someone being able to control another person,

the controller is never truly omnipotent.

Regardless of the support that the media gets from some people, audiences who watch this

movie will probably find that a bit of Truman Burbank lives inside of them. They may see just how

much of a grasp that the media has on modern life. While The Truman Show is a work of fiction, the

movie still effectively demonstrates the way that the world works today. The movie demonstrates to

consumers that they should be weary about what is being presented to them. Most importantly, people

should construct their own realities and beliefs rather than the world that they see on television.

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