The Truman Show - What it all Meant

0:00 oh and in case I don't see you good afternoon good evening and good night The Truman Show is an interesting case for stories that work best in certain mediums one could argue that it would work even better as a proper series especially with the conceit of the in universe show being uninterrupted by commercials but as it stands being a live-action film suits it perfectly the camerawork gives a sense of the true voyeurism the plot builds itself on not much exposition is needed to understand certain actions taken by the inhabitants or rather employees of the dome it also provides a natural eerie feel I stopped it feel as the recording process is not outright dangerous as we come to find out I've always found this absence of hostility fascinating let's dig a little

0:45 deeper to see why The Truman Show was written in such a way and how it lends itself to some bigger ideas at play this is what it all meant the in universe Truman Show is built around the setting of a fictional utopian Island acknowledged by the show runners and viewers as essentially a feel-good fantasy complete with kind neighbors co-workers family friends a host of nearby conveniences but not in super store fashion mild climate weather conditions well as long as you're not dwelling on leaving on a beach somewhere a perfect society all around though much like an old television series with a perfect nuclear family The Truman Show is built on a longing for a version of comfort an ideal life being reality at

1:32 least for one person the film even starts with discussing this hook for broadcast nothing here is fake nothing you see on the show is merely controlled the charm lies in a better life and the happiness that surrounds that with this set up comes our first major idea content is not sustainable as much as Truman's life is objectively good he still longs for disruption whether from a girl he happened to glance at in school one day or pining after a location that's as far as he could reasonably get from his current position the pure unknown has an appeal in his clearly bored State best represented by the pitch-black rectangle that later symbolizes just that the Creator builds this setup as perfection that we as the audience and hopefully

2:19 the in universe audience outside of Christoph can see that keeping someone bound to any lifestyle isn't as healthy as it seems it only took a small missed up to cause Truman to spiral after all Truman's paranoia in the latter parts of the movie are tamed to say the least as a high level of ignorance paid to his falsified world as he doesn't even bat an eye - obviously tailor-made broadcasts or headlines then again that's been his whole life Pleasant interactions product placement and the sort have molded his sensibilities as with any thinking person I have to believe that going out into the regular world will cause more than a few

3:04 breakdowns or trust issues but I digress as remember why would Truman ever want to leave the film and in universe program during its pre disruption phase doesn't really give much reason to as remember controlled utopia much like say any major real world issue that doesn't show immediate signs of catastrophe Truman accepts his world as factual even when there are clear signs to the contrary the film diverts from this pure state to have a proper story but the first act in and of itself is extremely interesting even before the seemingly heavy leaning towards the discussion of creator vs. captor is Kristoff a creator

3:50 or captain its Truman essentially a zoo animal being paraded around in questionable fashion with a fee attached to it this viewing I think the end of the film leaves these questions for us but before we head there one of my favorite scenes is the televised interview I'm a sucker for any morality argument but especially when there isn't a clear siding either party says is wholly wrong there are errors dependent on your view but neither side walks away fully victorious the questions then linger or shape our view of previous

4:37 information like with the mother pushing for grandchildren this is a pretty normal request from aging family members but in retrospect to the argument and the talk of the spin-off series it's hard not to then question how the spin-off would work is it okay to shape that child's life like Truman's was and is was it okay in the first place just because Truman's mother did not want him should a corporation owned intellectual rights to a person without any consent but wouldn't it be okay since the corporation was acting as a legal guardian I believe people should always have these thoughts when viewing a story but seems like the phone call go a long way and starting the thoughts or keeping people on track when they say don't pick up on the creator of the show being a stand-in for a creator the film portrays

5:25 Christoph is near omniscient just short in his logic and discerning less so but envision definitely but is he benevolent going back to what I previously talked about is detaining someone in near perfection good the god of Christianity is said to have created something good but allowed the beast and the Leviathan to roam in other words the world isn't kept perfect and people were given free will that's timeless discussion in itself but just for the sake of argument if free will is the allowance of even greater than the set standard if you play your cards right with a bit of luck isn't the absence of free will then playing a standard game with no stakes essentially making the whole endeavor pointless Christoph more

6:11 than likely spelled like so for reasoned wants people to believe and maybe even has himself believing that Truman has free will to leave at least but where's his equivalent to the tree of knowledge of good and evil or better yet where's his Bible in a sense the god of Christianity gives you a written account of every way in which you can deny him where's Truman's list where is his information on what's happening to him statements are made of possible escape and yet when the opportunity arises Truman is nearly killed for it with a final plea and a call to mercy the creator changes tact in an effort to keep his creation going at the behest of his most prized creation you can speak

7:00 this is why I love The Truman Show for me it creates a dialogue about benevolence Truman is a charming everyman being controlled by someone who by all accounts believes he is doing good but being stuck in his own shadow has warped the meaning of the word or Truman may be a petulant child that can't see what's truly good for him including the shroud of ignorance beyond that it connects to us in the same way it connects to the in universe audience oh and it's attention to paranoia and the leading to a name disorder in real life is fascinating and you can't forget the look at enabling actors and the wide audience there's just so much hey thanks for watching the truman show

7:47 is great if there's anything that you think I didn't cover well enough or any additional information anything that I just gloss over just let me know put it in the comments so that they can be like a little bit of discussion around the video and everything so also I haven't posted in a long time so obviously if there's any big changes anything you didn't like anything you did like just let me know so I can fix or incorporate or mesh or whatever anyway I just I really appreciate the support thanks for sticking with me even though it's been so long and yeah I just really appreciate it