Peter Weir's movie, The Truman Show, details the life of Truman Burbank. Truman was raised from infancy to adulthood by a corporation in an improbably ideal, utopian community known as Seahaven. As Truman grew up in this simulated community, his life was filmed for a television show aptly named “The Truman Show”. When Truman finally discovered the truth about his existence, he decided to escape. The movie concludes with Truman escaping Seahaven, leaving one reality for another. In his escape from Seahaven, Truman is depicted walking on water and climbing the "stairway to heaven". Truman represents a character with tremendous agency. The movie opens with Truman questioning his very existence. The movie closes, however, with Truman determining his existence. He makes a transition from being powerless to being all-powerful - a god. Thus, The Truman Show may be considered a dramatic comedy in the Aristotelian sense as it depicts a significant rise in the fortune of a sympathetic central character.
The Truman Show conveys several critical messages, albeit usually in a satirical way. Especially in light of the inauguration of Donald Trump and the "alternative facts" phenomenon, public debate over the way the media manipulates public opinion, embellishes stories, and deliberately creates fictions that masquerade as facts is widespread. The Truman Show encourages individuals to accept information as being true only after it has been closely examined - in other words, to be skeptical. The Truman Show also conveys the idea that - just as Seahaven was unreal - commercialization and the "American Dream" are false and hollow concepts. In today's world, corporations prescribe guidelines for how individuals should think and act in order to push product. The Truman Show’s message serves as a call to action. Individuals should actively resist the prescribed “realities” forced upon us. Thus, although The Truman Show depicts a world that is unreal and contrived, its messages, nevertheless, remain universally relevant.
Very Good example of a comedy. Personally some of my favorite scenes that exhibits a modern comedy is the irony of the bus driver as he does not know how to drive the bus even though he is the bus driver that Truman thinks he is, as well as the fake surgeons who had no idea how to perform the procedure. Another scene includes hyperbolic attitudes some of the characters displays, like the marketing of certain product that seems completely irrelevant to Truman.
ReplyDelete