The Truman Show is a 1998 movie starring Jim Carrey which tells the story of Truman Burbank, a man living on a small island who begins to discover that the things around him are not always what they seem. Little by little, Truman begins to notice cracks in the matrix, to ultimately discover that his life is the subject of a reality show created for the entertainment of global audiences. The island isn’t real, the people on the island – including his wife – are actors and everything revolves around him. The movie is a very popular production and is regarded by many people as a manifesto of the idea of breaking into reality. The film contains many similarities to two fundamental cinematic myths such as Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz and is filled with symbols.
The film is very impressive and thought-provoking, as it touches on subjects that are deeply embedded in us. For example, producer Christof’s line “We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented” is an extremely powerful thought that can alone spark conversations spanning over multiple hours.
Living in a conditioned world and escaping is hard and a pain-based experience. In the beginning of the film, a light falls from the fake sky. The light is called “Sirius (9 Canis Major)”, which references the brightest star in the night sky, which Homer calls in the Iliad an evil portent bringing heat and fevers to a suffering humanity. The falling of this studio light is the first in a series of ruptures, which ends with a rupture in the “sky”, through which Truman steps out into the real world. Breaking from his daily life is not easy, as each moment of truth is associated with a moment of pain – such as the moment when he meets his “father”. The end of the film is also a reflection of that, as it puts everything that we usually associate with positivity (calm waters, blue skies, light) behind Truman, leaving him to discover the real world through a dark rectangle. As a cinematic reference, the open door, which acts as a portal to Truth is similar to the monolith which represents knowledge in 2001: A Space Odyssey from 1968 (which was released exactly 30 years before The Truman Show).
Watching the film makes the viewer ponder on hard questions and topics. We can’t help but think of the extent to which we are governed by apparently-insignificant details, such as products or the media. Moreover, The Truman Show makes people realize that so much of life is actually brought upon by circumstances, which we can’t really control, but of whose backgrounds we are not aware of. The scene when Truman tries to break away only to find himself in a traffic jam is a great example of how, extremely often, small events seem to be extremely narrative to our lives. The problem that is also put forward by The Truman Show is that a good amount of times, the unknown may have multiple layers. For a good part of the movie, Truman – on his quest of becoming a true man, realizes that things are odd and that there is a part of his life that is mysterious (the elevator moment, for example), but his forced perception does not allow him to actually figure out what is going on. Furthermore, until the end, while he does begin to realize that people may be “acting”, he still can’t get to the idea that everyone is acting. The construction of the fakeness is also done in a subtle way, as his wife’s name is Meryl (as in Meryl Streep) and his friend’s name is Marlon (as in Marlon Brando).
And so, at the very end, he realizes that he can escape from the island only if he sees everything as unreal. The Truman Show works only if Truman believes in it.
This is one of the major takeaways of the film, which is also hard to grasp because we, like Truman, often don’t connect the dots – Truman was often given different types of clues about what is really going on, but, because of his conditioning, the truth did not click until things really started adding up. This definitely raises the question of how much we are programmed. How much in our daily lives is pre-determined or pre-established? Recalibrating one’s life is hard and involves a lot of suffering and pain.
The Truman Show is an extremely complex movie, which masterfully touches not only on social matters such as the Cold War paranoia of being bugged or watched, the advent of permanent surveillance and of reality shows, but also on really deep, metaphysical matters which deal with the way in which our universe is constructed. System upon system, control upon control, interest after interest.
The last part of the film is packed with religious symbolism. Truman uses a boat called Santa Maria to go towards the real world and manages to calm the waters through his attitude. He then steps out and symbolically walks on water. Afterwards, he goes up some steps. Interestingly enough, in the shot reaching the top, there are 14 steps visible – the Via Dolorosa, which marks Christ’s road to the cross features 14 stops. As he reaches the top (which looks similar to a hill), he spreads his arms, resembling a crucifixion and then steps out into the true world.
All in all, the film is a masterpiece full of powerful underlying ideas, which is why it is worth watching and re-watching, analyzing, discussing and breaking down.
Ultimately, The Truman Show is a powerful movie that shows what waking up looks like.