How Does 'The Truman Show' Demonstrate The Influence of The Media?

1638 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How does the media influence people opitions and perceptions

How does the Truman show demonstrate the influence of the media?

There is a strong influence from the media which can and will change the way we live our lives forever. Peter Wier uses this same theory to show us how far the media will go to keep us watching. ‘The Truman Show’ was a film produced to show how this was done and to predict how the public will react and be motivated by what they see on the show.

The plot shows the character Truman Burbank on a twenty four seven reality television show, captured since birth. Truman does not know that he is living in an idealistic world which was created just for him, by the director Christof. Truman was an unwanted child who knew nothing of the world. He was exploited by the director of the television show who did not. The people who are surrounding Truman in his artificial life are not genuine, trustworthy citizens of the town Sea haven, but merely actors working. The actors were employed for the sole purpose of producing a television show.

Truman does not have any recollection of what real life or the outside world is. Truman family consists of cast members of the television production ‘Omnicom’ who are paid to act as ‘his family, friends and the citizens of Sea haven’. This leads on to the choices he is able to make.

The media pressurises the choices we make, using advertisements and persuasive techniques an example of this would be product placement which is used in the Truman Show just as other programmes. An example of product placement within the Truman Show is shown when two men force Truman on to a billboard advertising ‘Kaiser Chicken’ while talking of a business proposition. These advertisements are used to cause desire for the item.

Truman is deprived o...

... middle of paper ...

...he extent of putting a television in his bathroom in order to watch the Truman Show. This reflects us as an audience to be obsessed with the media, always wanting more and more.

Is this the reality we are seeing or will be seeing in the near future? Has the lead up to this degree of reality television begun? We are so addicted to the media and its spot light, even young children’s ambitions have been changed from things like being an athlete or an accountant to being ‘famous’ not for a particular cause but because in this day and age individuals are becoming famous for being on television. So Truman as he leaves ‘The Truman Show’ would be famous since he has been on the show from the time when he was conceived.

The film was set twenty years in to the future in the year 2018. The film was made in 1998. Do you think that this is the future that we consider?

Show More
Related

  • Truman Show Truth

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    The most important part of this is Lauren’s ‘father’ had said that they were moving to Fiji; so, Truman, throughout the film, wanted to go to Fiji to find them. The only thing keeping Truman from leaving the island of Seahaven was his ‘father’s’ dramatic death at sea. Ever since this traumatic experience, Truman had been deathly afraid of the water. However, after a while, his father had returned, taking away any fear he had of the open sea. This had allowed him to leave without any worry of death.

    Read More

  • Allegory and Truman Show

    780 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this first stage of cognition, the cave dweller is shackled and can only see shadows of figures on the wall in front of him. His reality is based on his imagination of these figures. “To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.” Similarly, Truman’s reality is based on this imaginary world where his parents, wife, and everyone else around him are hired actors. Early in the film Truman seems to be happy although he is already starting to imagine himself in Fiji which he points out is the furthest place from Seahaven.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Destiny In The Truman Show

    1153 Words  | 3 Pages

    As said in the movie, millions of people are viewing The Truman Show. There have been a few close calls to Truman finding out the true nature of his life through bystanders. One evening on the beach, Lauren, the love of his life tried to tell Truman that he was living in a fake world and that everyone he knew was lying to him. She was stopped and taken away too fast for Truman to completely understand what she was trying to tell him. Everyone knew but Truman, therefore making this an example of dramatic irony. The use of this metafictional element gives the audience of the show the power to change Truman’s destiny. All it takes is one person to break character or break onto the set to reveal to Truman the truth. Lauren felt that what Christof was doing to Truman was wrong and Truman had the right to know. This example shows us that one little decision to tell someone something they didn’t previously know, has the power to change someone’s life. Little did Truman know those words were what would someday change his destiny. To conclude, every single one of us has the power to change not only our life but the life of others with the decisions we

    Read More

  • The Truman Show vs. the Giver

    1576 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of the major differences between the film and the novel is the depiction of the delusional image of reality. However, it still manages to bring forth the dystopian image of both their Utopian societies. In The Truman Show, life is a real life play in an environment that provides comfortable lifestyle and happiness at the cost of reality. The producer of The Truman Show, Christof states, “We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented”. This message is the underlying theme in the story and as such, will foreshadow Truman’s acceptance of a delusional reality in the film. Meanwhile, in the film everyone except for Truman is acting and not living an authentic life. There is no sense of “real”; no real affinity, no secrecy, and no faith, all of which Truman is blindly unawar...

    Read More

  • Parallels Between The Truman Show and Plato's Allegory of the Cave

    865 Words  | 2 Pages

    The movie, 'The Truman Show' is about a reality television show that has been created to document the life of a man who, adopted at birth by a television network, is tricked into believing that his life, his reality, is normal and the environment that he lives is real. It is set in a town called Seahaven, which is essentially a simulation of the real world similar enough to the outside world that the viewing audience can relate to it. The town is a television studio inside an enormous dome in which the weather, the sun, the sky, and all the actions of the citizens are directed by a team of special effects people. The entire show is directed and produced by the creator of the show, Christof. Truman Burbank, the star of the show, is the only one who doesn't know that he lives in a giant studio and is surrounded by an illusion of reality. The entire world watches Truman's movements twenty four hours a day, seven days a week through the use of thousands of miniature hidden cameras.

    Read More

  • Postmodern Film

    2291 Words  | 5 Pages

    Kokonis, M. (2002). Postmodernism, Hyperreality and the Hegemony of Spectacle in New Hollywood: The Case of The Truman Show. Available: http://genesis.ee.auth.gr/dimakis/Gramma/7/02-kokonis.htm Last accessed 22nd Dec 2013.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Existentialism In The Truman Show

    749 Words  | 2 Pages

    Imagine what it would be like to live in a "Perfect" world. "The Truman Show" is a movie where Truman Burbank is born and raised in a television set. His family and friends are all actors. His life is all being controlled and directed by Christof. He is being recorded and watched by millions of people 24/7. This movie is also known to give examples of existentialism such as, existence precedes essence, Truman being given a purpose by Chirstof, , fear, Truman comes to the realization and goes mad, and freedom, when Truman makes his own decisions.

    Read More

  • The Truman Show Philosophy Essay

    787 Words  | 2 Pages

    Truman, the main character of “The Truman Show” exists on the set of a television show,

    Read More

  • An Analysis of the Media and Culture Issues of Society

    3042 Words  | 7 Pages

    Everyday we are exposed to millions of different visual messages, which tell us what to eat, what to wear, what to watch and what to listen. No matter how hard we try to avoid being influenced by these directives, we can only protect ourselves to a certain point. After that, no interpretive power can be helpful. Media then leads us to a path that ends up in the same department store with our neighbour, with whom we have probably never spoken to before. Ironically, we are holding the same pair of socks or CDs, and we might never want to recall the TV commercial that had opened the gates to this path.

    Read More

  • Welcome to the Modernist Truman Show

    676 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Truman Show, two worlds exist: the controlled society that exists in a giant bubble, and the unpredictable "outside world" that Truman only finds out about at the end of the film. Essentially, these two worlds of the film are respectively synonymous with 'real' society and the fro...

    Read More

  • The Truman Show Analysis

    1250 Words  | 3 Pages

    Truman displays great zeal for life like a lunatic, but he discovers that his life was not real. He then goes on, with the same, undying fanaticism to investigate the living hell that was once his happy life. In his methods, he embodies the Socratic virtues of courage and temperance as he lunges forth like a great tiger somewhere in Africa. He then finds wisdom by realizing the truth, and deciding to leave the comfortable fake-world for the uncertain real world. The cast lacks the courage and the wisdom to tell Truman the truth, the director has all three but in all the wrong ways, and the audience lacks the wisdom to know that by not watching the show they free Truman, lacks the temperance for indulging on the show every day, and lacks the courage to do something more productive with their lives in the time they spend watching the Truman Show. The audience chooses to live in that world over their own, and some grow enough obsession to delude themselves by favoring Truman’s world and living as if they are on the

    Read More

  • The Meaning of Freedom Depicted in the Movie, The Truman Show

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    Because Truman was being manipulated for most of his life, he had never experienced true freedom. For example, Christof could never allow him to leave the island of Seahaven because if he did he would discover the truth and ruin the TV show. The writers of the show tried to nip Truman’s enthusiasm for travel in the bud such as when he announced to the class that he wanted to be an explorer when he grew up. The teacher immediately told him that he was too late for everything had already been discovered. A few years later, something more drastic was called for and they decided to write Truman’s father out of The Truman Show in a boating a...

    Read More

  • Truman Show Mise En Scene Analysis

    1935 Words  | 4 Pages

    Thus, when he saw a light fall from the sky and he heard the director’s voice on the radio, Truman began to become suspicious. He remembered Lauren, an actress who had told him that it was just a TV show and so, he went to find her. He travelled across the sea, talked to Christof and then climbed a flight of stairs in the sky, escaping into the outside world. Unbeknownst to him, Truman Burbank's whole life has been the subject of a hugely popular 24-hour-per-day television show entitled “The Truman Show” (Propagandee, 2012).

    Read More

  • Criticism In The Truman Show By Peter Weir

    1656 Words  | 4 Pages

    On the surface, it appears that Peter Weir has simply based a film around a fascinating concept. Beneath the surface, however, The Truman Show provides an intriguing commentary on our modern society and sends a far deeper message to the audience. It forces one to question our obsession with fame, money, media and entertainment as well as control and what shapes the human identity.

    Read More

  • Television and Media Effect on the Public

    4844 Words  | 10 Pages

    Television is a vital source from which most Americans receive information. News and media delegates on television have abused theirs powers over society through the airing of appealing news shows that misinform the public. Through literary research and experimentation, it has been proven that people's perception of reality has been altered by the information they receive from such programs. Manipulation, misinterpretation, word arrangement, picture placement and timing are all factors and tricks that play a major role in the case. Research, experimentation, and actual media coverage has pinpointed actual methods used for deceptive advertising. Television influences society in many ways. People are easily swayed to accept a belief that they may not normally have unless expressed on television, since many people think that everything they hear on television is true. This, however, is not always the case. It has been observed that over the past twenty to thirty years, normal social behavior, even actual life roles of men and women and media, regulatory policies have all been altered (Browne 1998). Media has changed with time, along with quality and respectability. Many Americans receive and accept false information that is merely used as an attention grabber that better the show's ratings and popularity. Many magazines and Journal reviews have periodically discussed the "muckraking" that many tabloid shows rely on to draw in their viewers. This involves sensationalizing a story to make it more interesting, therefore increasing the interest of the audience. "Along the way, all sorts of scandalous substance and goofy tricks appear, but not much mystery in the logic," (Garnson 1997). People often know that these shows aim to deceive them, but still accept the information as truth. Many times, people have strong opinions on certain topics. Yet, when they are exposed to the other side of the argument, they may be likely to agree with the opposite view. As Leon Festinger said, "If I chose to do it (or say it), I must believe in it," (Myers 1997). This is an example of Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, which pertains to acting contrary to our beliefs. Television influences many people to change their original beliefs. It has the viewers think that the majority of other people hold the contrary idea. Once these views are presented, people have the option to hol...

    Read More

More about How Does 'The Truman Show' Demonstrate The Influence of The Media?

Open Document