The Truman Show Beth Parry

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English Coursework- The Truman Show                                                               Beth Parry

‘The Truman Show’ is the story of a baby who is bought by a television company at birth. He becomes the star of the television programme, but he has no idea that his life is being filmed. All the people in his life, such as his wife, best friend, and colleagues are actors. There are no set scripts. There are three different worlds shown in the film: Truman’s world, the producer’s world, and the real world when we see the viewers watching the programme in the homes.

        The film starts when Truman is twenty-nine. We see him begin to become suspicious, by odd occurrences, such as a light falling from the sky, the way his friends and family advertise things, and people that accidentally get on the show and tell him things.

        Truman has always wanted to travel, but obviously he can’t because the set of ‘The Truman Show’ is only one town. He saw his father ‘die’ whilst they were sailing together, and the fictional director of ‘The Truman Show’ did this so Truman would be thalassophobic, and wouldn’t want to travel that way. Eventually he wants to get out of the town because of all these suspicions, and he gets delayed for ages trying to go by car. He plucks up the courage to go by boat and after sailing for a while he hits a backdrop with clouds painted on it. Christof’s voice is heard and he speaks to Truman, though he can’t be seen. He tries to persuade Truman to stay in the world he created for him, and tells him that he is the star of a television show. Truman finds a door, and after some conversing with Christof, he leaves.

        

The director’s intentions

Peter Weir was the director of the film, ‘The Truman Show’. I think that he was trying to show several things in this film. One of them is our modern tendency to voyeurism through television. With the introduction to ‘reality TV’ programmes such as Big Brother and Survivor, The Truman show gives us an idea of how these programmes can maybe affect people as they did Truman. Also, Peter Weir might have been showing us how far television companies will go in the not-so-distant future to increase audience share. It shows how important making money is in the modern world in the way that a person’s life is being exploited all for a television programme to be successful. Subtly, I think that he was showing us how people nowadays are controlled by the Government and in different institutions without really realising it, as Truman didn’t realise how much his life was controlled.

        The invasion of privacy could also be something Peter Weir tried to show us. There are so many CCTV cameras everywhere nowadays, it’s almost as if we can’t do much without being caught on camera. We don’t really notice or think about it though, except if we were planning a bank robbery, so it is almost as we don’t realise they’re there. The director could’ve been showing us that humans aren’t all that clever, and they can easily be controlled. I think Truman is seen as a very vulnerable character, almost like a child. The director could be making connections between adults and children; he could be trying to show the message that adults aren’t superior, because something else is. This now could be about religion. I think religion is represented symbolically in ‘The Truman Show.’ The fictional director, Christof, comes across as very God-like at the end of the film when he talks to Truman and his voice is a loud echo from the Heavens. Also, Christof’s name is very religious- ‘Of Christ’. In Truman’s false world he lives in, Christof is the creator. The Truman Show was compared a lot to the real world in the film, so it is almost saying that there is a god or creator in the real world, or that the perfect place needs someone of this description for it to remain perfect. That is now perhaps saying that if there is a god in the real world, they aren’t very good because in ‘The Truman Show’, the real world is made out to be bad and ruined-

“There’s no more truth out there than there is in the world I created for you- same lies, same deceit. In my world you have nothing to fear.”

This quote is something that Christof said to Truman when he was trying to persuade him to stay in his world. This backs up what I was saying about the real world being made out to be bad. Overall, I think that Peter Weir is trying to make Truman’s world represent our world. Even thought Truman’s world was made perfectly, it caused many problems, and this is what many people believe to be true about our world.

Christof’s Character

“I am the creator…of a television show that gives hope, joy and inspiration to millions.”

The above is an important quote from the film, said by Christof, when he speaks to Truman and tells him who he is. It is true that he is the creator of a television programme, but his choice of words are hyperbolic. The way he used the word “creator” and the way he paused before he said “…of a television show” suggests that he thinks he is the creator of more than just that. He is seen, in certain parts of the film as God-like, and I think he is supposed to represent God. His name is very religious, as I have mentioned already, and this adds to the importance of religion in ‘The Truman Show’.

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        Christof is the director of the programme, ‘The Truman Show’ in the film. He created Truman’s world and he is very proud of it. We can see this in the quote I included at the beginning of the character study, from when he says, “…gives hope, joy and inspiration to millions.” Also, hope, joy and inspiration is what religion can give, so this is another connection to religion and that he’s proud. It seems as though he can offer something as good as religion.

        We can tell that Christof is very passionate about ‘The Truman Show’, from the beginning of ...

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