Truman Show Essay

Although it is merely a modern film, the Truman Show does an incredible job of putting various philosophical themes into a more modern context. The movie takes place in a feigned island community called “Seahaven”. Throughout the entire film the philosophical concepts of reality and perception are paramount. In his book Meditations, legendary philosopher René Descartes yearns to discover what the foundation of reality are. In order to make this discovery, Descartes decided that he would need to dispose of all previously acquired knowledge. Descartes’ reasoning for doing so was the realization that throughout his life he had held many opinions which he now considered to be false, and because of this, the assumptions he had built on top of said

It is at this point that one can really begin to draw close parallels between Truman and Descartes. As things get stranger and stranger and Truman evens sees his ‘father’, who he knows died at sea years ago when during his childhood, Truman like Descartes, begins to doubt the authenticity of everything and everyone around him. At this point the film really pays homage to Descartes as it is clear that the only thing Truman really believes to be authentic is his own existence. In his work, Meditations, Descartes hypothesizes about an ‘evil demon’ which is responsible for all of the deception which Descartes experiences. In the case of the Truman Show, it can logically be concluded that the director of the show, Christof, is acting as this hypothetical evil demon. Christof is responsible for creating this false reality in which Truman is condemned to, Christof controls the weather, people involved in Truman’s life, daily occurrences in Truman’s life, and he successfully deceives Truman into genuinely believing that Seahaven is his reality for thirty years of Truman’s life. It is not until he is filled with enough doubt that he begins to question the authenticity of his reality, that Truman is able to finally uncover this astounding