“We accept the reality with which we are presented.” Christof creator of ‘The Truman Show’...

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“We accept the reality with which we are presented.”Christof creator of ‘The Truman Show’ played by Ed Harris

The Truman Show (1998) • Narrative - The world of The Truman Show (1998)

• When we are watching a film we, as a sophisticated cinema-going audience, know we are watching a constructed sequence of events. We are aware that the filmmaker will have chosen certain images to show us and that these images will have been edited together in a specific way to present a certain image.

• In this way the filmmaker is presenting us with what he/she wants us to see - their representations of the world within the film. In fictional film and television this is of little consequence because the people, places and events all exist only in the imagination of the filmmaker.

• However, when we are watching a film or television show about the lives of real people we have to be aware how the constructive devices have been used to present a certain image and whether this image might influence us in any way.

The Truman Show (1998) • The world of The Truman Show (1998)

• The world of ‘The Truman Show’ is an extremely complex one. There are many different layers, each representing a world contained within a world, centred on Truman Burbank himself.

• The beginning of the film is especially confusing for us as the audience because we are confronted with people from all of these constructed worlds but we don’t know who belongs to which.

• The film’s narrative is interesting, depicting the story of the television series within the film.

• Working with a partner, in your jotter and in two columns draw a map of events within the television series and the film to see where they overlap.

The Truman Show (1998) • The world of The Truman Show (1998)

• Look at the diagram you have been given that represents the world of The Truman Show (1998).

• Working with a partner, try to place the people, objects and events that follow in whichever circle you think they belong.

• Upon completion answer the following questions:

• Which of these gave you the most problems to place? Why do you think this is? How did you resolve the issue?

• Can you think of another diagram which might better display the world of The Truman Show (1998)

The Truman Show (1998) Narrative - The world of The Truman Show (1998)

• It is not easy to summarise the details of the film’s narrative or story. Truman’s life story is not told to the view in a straightforward or linear way, as the narrative flow is constantly interrupted. Consider the extraordinary construction of the film - like a Russian doll, one element is embedded within another

• The film makers take us back and forth through three different worlds:

• The world of Truman Burbank and his life in Seahaven

• The world of Christof the director and his associates of the ‘film’ within a film

• The world of the audience who watch Christof’s serial of Truman’s life

The Truman Show (1998) - Discuss

• Narrative – Truman’s World

• Truman Burbank lives in an artificially created world. The community of Seahaven exists only in the imagination of filmmakers like Christof who have created it for their viewers.

• In what ways do the images we get of Seahaven suggest that life in it may be ‘too good to be true’?

• How does Truman’s life change during the course of the film?

• What does the scene at the ferry terminal imply about Truman’s personality? How is this conveyed visually to the audience?

• How is the idea ‘there is no place like home’ conveyed in the film and which character is this idea important to?

• Why would Truman be dissatisfied with his best friend and his wife?

• At what moment in the film is it visually conveyed to the audience that Truman’s world is not a real one?


• Narrative – Christof’s World

• Christof is a filmmaker, a director who controls Truman’s life and the world of Seahaven. Observe that he is surrounded by a number of associates, just as television directors are in the real world.

• Christof is introduced to us very early in the film but his identity is not made clear. When does this occur and what is Peter Weir suggesting about him by using him in this way?

• What are some of the duties of Christof’s associates?

• List the mistakes that are made during the making of Christof’s television serial. How does Christof attempt to explain them to his imaginary audience? Are his explanations convincing to us, the audience in the real world?

• In what way is Christof shown to be manipulative? Does he show any sympathy for Truman at any point?

• In what way is Christof a God-like figure?


• Narrative – The World of Truman’s Viewers

• The viewers for Truman’s daily adventures, who watch these on television, are shown to us as ordinary people watching the serial in public places like bars or in their own homes. They are often glimpsed only briefly and often break into the narrative to comment on what they have seen on the screen. They are often shown watching in pairs or groups

• What are some of the comments made by viewers about what they see on the screen? Are they critical or do they approve of what happens to Truman?

• What comments are made by one of them at the very end of the film? What is the purpose of this comment?

• As an in the real world do we react to Truman’s adventures in the same way?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkZM2oWcleM&feature=related

The Truman Show (1998)

• For the best part of history, the creators of popular fiction have been recounting stories about characters who are trapped in false paradises and environments of illusion.

• These characters usually revolve around the same plot sequence as they fight to free themselves from prisons disguised as ideal places

• The resolution is often that these characters usually escape to the outside world or regain the correct perception of reality, so they will have a chance to live an authentic life.

The Truman Show (1998)• Plot v Story - PLOT

• The Truman Show (1998) is the latest of these works of fiction depicting environments that are themselves forms of fiction and yet it is unlike any other film.

• Truman is presented to the audience as a man who is caught inside a controlled environment that conceals its true nature

• The twist in the tale of this presentation is unique in that, unbeknownst to Truman, he is living inside a 24 hour-a-day comedy-melodrama reality television show of which he is the star.

The Truman Show (1998)• Plot v Story

• The idyllic island town where Truman grew up and lives is an immense stage set enclosed in a giant dome with a ceiling that creates the illusion of the sky.

• Wind, rain, night, the moon, the stars, even the sun is a high-tech special effect – the ultimate in planetarium entertainment masquerading as the outside world


• Truman’s wife, his mother and father, his best friend, the people walking down the street – they are all actors designed to make his world seem real

• With some 5000 cameras placed around the city, Truman’s life is followed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – a nonstop telethon of reality programming for a public hungry for bleakness and imagined emotion

• All humanity watches as he goes through the stages of life and finds himself in realistic situations that are actually scripted and improvised to give the show some of the dramatic density that separates entertainment from mundane life


• Truman is adored by the outside world and they keep him prisoner so that they can continue to enjoy adoring him.

• Truman is kept from wandering beyond the outside town-walls he knows as home by a clever bit of psychological programming

• As a child, he lost what he believed was his father, in a storm on a boating trip near the island

• In reality, of course, the storm was generated by technology and the “father” was an actor pretending to die because he had been written out of the script

• The incident implemented in Truman a fear of going on or over the water, which is the way he is kept from leaving the island by boat or bridge, and discovering the truth – the walls of the dome


• As in all types of fiction that predate The Truman Show (1998), there is a snake in the ersatz paradise

• The cast and crew of the show make mistakes that cause the illusion to breakdown.

• One such significant mistake is as Truman drives to work his car radio picks up the crew transmission which communicates to the extras his route so they will be ready to play their roles when he gets to his destination. This tips Truman off that his surroundings are staged and induces a state of paranoia that has him doubting everything he sees


• Truman panics and worries that he is being watched and tries to verify that his fears are well-founded. When he walks into a building not on his normal route, in an effort to see what is inside, he spies a backstage area for the actors beyond what is supposed to be an elevator doors.

• Distraught and angry and recognising that his world is a fraud (even though he doesn’t understand the true nature of the fruad), Truman now makes a number of unsuccessful efforts to escape.

• With his saccharin-sweet actor wife locked in the car, he forces her to steer and, with his eyes closed because of his fear of going over the water, and his foot on the gas pedal, he drives over the bridge only to meet a sign that warns him of the danger or forest fires


• Truman drives on through a wall of artificially created fire as he recognises this as simply an attempt to get him to turn back

• After encountering a fabricated radiation leak he is finally caught on foot and returned to the stage set of his home.

• Now it is time for Truman to con the con artists and creates an illusion to escape the illusionary world


• Truman pretends to adjust back into his life, then uses the old “dummy covered by a blanket with the snoring tape recorder” trick to steal out in the middle of the night

• Free at last, sets sail on the water that once terrified him for what he thinks is the horizon of freedom

• But Christof, the producer of The Truman Show, who has playing God with Truman’s life is not about to let his billion-dollar investment exit the stage


• Christof creates another storm and, safe in his control room, he is prepared to let Truman die

• But Truman persists, making his way to the final, world shattering, experience at the open resolution of the movie

• As he travels toward the illusion of open space and sky, his boat suddenly hits the inside wall of the dome

• He walks along a ledge at the edge of the wall and up some stairs, to a door


• Christof then speaks to Truman as voice from above and reveals the truth, while trying to draw him into another life – his life is a television programme and he is the star

• His message is simple - life is better inside because it is safe

• Truman does not accept this and he walks through a door to the outside and the chance at an authentic life

The Truman Show (1998)

• Plot v Story - STORY

• An insurance salesman/adjuster discovers his entire life is actually a television show.

“We accept the reality with which we are presented.” Christof creator of ‘The Truman Show’...

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