How does the film The Truman Show(TM) tell the audience about the influence of the media?

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How does the film ‘The Truman Show’ tell the audience about the influence of the media?

‘The Truman Show’ is a film about a man that has been trapped in a fake world from birth; he has no idea that he is imprisoned in a huge dome. He is always being watched on TV by millions of people, ranging through all generations from young to old, with out knowing it. This film presents a very strong influence of the media. There is so much product placement in this film for example his wife is always buying the latest items e.g. the pumpkin peeler. This film shows how the media uses different techniques to influence and affect our decisions which a lot of the time they affect us subconsciously. ‘The Truman Show’ proves to us how easy it is to be influenced as we see how easily Truman is being influenced, but at the same time as we are watching Truman being influenced, we are being influenced to by the character Truman and what happens in the film.

Truman is the star of a nation wide TV show called ‘The Truman Show’ he is also the main character in the film also called ‘The Truman Show’. Truman starts off in the film as a very negative and fairly gullible person, he can also act quite suspicious at times although due to him being very gullible he will never follow through with his gut instinct because some one gives him a reason for why something has happened and he chooses to believe them and not find out for himself. An example of this is when a studio light falls from the sky he walks over to it and examines it but doesn’t know where it has come from. Then when he gets into his car and turns the radio on the radio states that there is a plane that has dropped a load of parts from it. Truman automatically assumes that is what he has found on the floor and believes it. He always believes what he is told because no one has ever lied to him before so therefore he has no reason to not believe him or her. This shows Truman gullible side. Truman was chosen to be the star in this show because when he was a tiny baby his mother did not want him so therefore the media adopted him for birth, this explains why Truman has never realise that he is trapped in a fake world/ TV show.

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The media influences Truman all the time by his wife, people around him and adverts he sees in the streets and newspapers. This also affects all the people watching this TV show as they think that if Truman has something then they should have it to. This is called product placement an example of when this happen is when he is talking to two men in the morning one day, they both edge forward towards him making his step backwards towards a billboard which has product on it this is so everyone watching it can see what it is. ...

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