The Truman Show
a post by Melissa
I'd seen this movie before but when I saw it was on T.V. this weekend I decided to make it a research project and reflect on it for this class...Who am I kidding?...I was procrastinating and now feel guilty enough to put the wasted time to good use!
Actually if you have ever seen this Jim Carry flick you'll know that it is a great movie to talk about when studying pop culture, especially given the recent and continuing craze over reality T.V. This movie takes the idea of reality T.V. to the extreme. Based on a man (Truman) who has literally grown up on television the movie is about how he eventually finds out that his whole life and all he's ever known was really a hoax and the setting of a 24hour a day reality T.V. show. Countless millions have watched him his whole life, and have a vested interested in everything Truman even including his sleep patterns. When Truman beings to realize that there is something suspicious in his world and longs to know more of life outside his small town a debate picks up among those in the real world (well, 2 people at least) as to whether or not he should be able to leave the 'show' and if in fact life in the 'real world' would be better than what has been created for him. An interesting question! Once Truman discovers the truth and leaves the created world, all the people who have been watching him for so long clap with approval. I wonder why then they were so eager to abandon their 'real life' to devote so much of their time watching someone else live theirs?...I suppose I could ask the same question of myself...
I'll admit that after watching this show I did wonder what it'd be like to find out that your whole life had been scripted and everybody was watching you, and may have had to ask my parents if they really were my parents...
In consideration of the vast number of reality T.V. shows out there today, I realize that they do not contain the same ethical dilemma in that the people on the shows know they are being filmed and watched. However, the question still stands..."why do so many people want to watch other people live life (sometimes in the mundane or tedious everyday way, and sometimes in an extreme and actually unrealistic way) instead of engaging in their own worlds?" Then, what about those who are so wrapped up in the private details of a celebrities life?
I know people don't spend their whole day watching T.V. but some are close, and even if only for an hour many enjoy the escape it offers. Why do you think that it? And do you think it is a problem?
I'd seen this movie before but when I saw it was on T.V. this weekend I decided to make it a research project and reflect on it for this class...Who am I kidding?...I was procrastinating and now feel guilty enough to put the wasted time to good use!
Actually if you have ever seen this Jim Carry flick you'll know that it is a great movie to talk about when studying pop culture, especially given the recent and continuing craze over reality T.V. This movie takes the idea of reality T.V. to the extreme. Based on a man (Truman) who has literally grown up on television the movie is about how he eventually finds out that his whole life and all he's ever known was really a hoax and the setting of a 24hour a day reality T.V. show. Countless millions have watched him his whole life, and have a vested interested in everything Truman even including his sleep patterns. When Truman beings to realize that there is something suspicious in his world and longs to know more of life outside his small town a debate picks up among those in the real world (well, 2 people at least) as to whether or not he should be able to leave the 'show' and if in fact life in the 'real world' would be better than what has been created for him. An interesting question! Once Truman discovers the truth and leaves the created world, all the people who have been watching him for so long clap with approval. I wonder why then they were so eager to abandon their 'real life' to devote so much of their time watching someone else live theirs?...I suppose I could ask the same question of myself...
I'll admit that after watching this show I did wonder what it'd be like to find out that your whole life had been scripted and everybody was watching you, and may have had to ask my parents if they really were my parents...
In consideration of the vast number of reality T.V. shows out there today, I realize that they do not contain the same ethical dilemma in that the people on the shows know they are being filmed and watched. However, the question still stands..."why do so many people want to watch other people live life (sometimes in the mundane or tedious everyday way, and sometimes in an extreme and actually unrealistic way) instead of engaging in their own worlds?" Then, what about those who are so wrapped up in the private details of a celebrities life?
I know people don't spend their whole day watching T.V. but some are close, and even if only for an hour many enjoy the escape it offers. Why do you think that it? And do you think it is a problem?
posted by blair at 2/05/2006 10:08:00 p.m.
1 Comments:
Some look at this movie as a question of the sovreignty of God and predestination as predeterminism. Any thoughts?
Post a Comment
<< Home