The Truman Breakdown

These days, the lives of people are not as private as they used to be. People write blogs and video logs about their lives that they can, and often will, post online. I find it amazing how much we can learn about someone we've never met through their blogs or whatever kind of content that person creates. With that said, the boundary in which one can take privacy too far has been blurred, but what happens when someone goes over the boundary? The Truman Show, a film from 1998 starring comedian Jim Carrey, asks that very question. For those who have never seen it, the film is essentially about a man who's live is broadcasted live as a reality TV show, complete with actors filling in the roles of Truman's neighbors and random product placement.  The Truman Show, in some ways, acts as a thesis statement towards how public people make their lives on the internet. In this entry, I'd like to breakdown what I personally think that thesis would be.

In case I don't see you: good afternoon, good evening, and good night!

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One of the biggest points that the film tries to express is that we care too way too much about the people we see on television. The entire premise of the film is based around the fact that Truman unknowingly starts in a reality show that millions of people watch across America. These millions of people sit in front of their T. V.  and watch the latest episode of Truman's show, regardless of what he's doing. Today, people all over the states watch reality shows about various people that probably don't have any meaning in their viewer's lives. As I stated before, it's amazing to me how so many people basically watch the lives of people they don't even know, both on the internet and on television. A classic example is the show Keeping up with the Kardashians. Most, if not all, of the Kardashians' fans do not know them personally, yet they know so much about their lives and what they do with themselves on a day to day basis. While The Truman Show is a more extreme case, Keeping up with the Kardashians is a similar premise. Even if we don't see every waking moment of the Kardashians, not only do we see a heck of a lot of their daily lives, but the focus is on an entire family instead of one person. The Truman Show represents our strange interest in the lives of strangers.

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Another point I'd like to bring up is the character Christof, played by Ed Harris. Christof is the director of the reality show in the film. From a general viewing perspective, you might say that Christof is the antagonist. In my opinion, Christof represents not only creative passion but also creative cruelty. Christof is clearly very passionate about this project. The project itself is quite ambitious as well. One would need a lot of time and money in order to create a reality show from one man's life from the very beginning of his life. However, such a project also requires closing off that one person from the outside world. If a person were to start a project like this, that person would have to make the moral decision to essentially control someone's life. In this sense, Christoff is showing his passion and how he is willing to step on the necessary people to achieve his goals.

In my opinion, the focus in The Truman Show is more on the people watching Truman rather than Truman himself. The film represents our interest in the media we take in. For some of us, it is a cartoon or sports. For others, it is cooking shows or home improvement programming. For an entire nation, it was The Truman Show.

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