The Truman Show Research Paper

Reality was first questioned when Thales claimed everything was made from water

(Solomon, Higgins and Martin 44). Since then, philosophers continue to attempt to answer the metaphysical question “What is reality?” Is reality what you see or is it something more. Plato’s

Republic tells about three men who were imprisoned deep within a cave for their whole lives.

They have seen nothing of the world outside the cave, only the shadows that pass along the wall.

One day, one of the three prisoners escaped and saw the world, outside of the cave, and came to realize he had been wrong about reality his whole life. This story is reminiscent of the movie The

Truman Show. In this movie the main character, Truman Burbank, is living in a fabricated town

From the first time I saw The Truman Show I was left with a feeling of being watched. That feeling implanted in the back of my head and has shaped many of my decisions. Truman was happy until the seed of doubt was planted and he began to question his reality. Personally, I too was self-involved, like Truman and the men in Aristotle’s cave, until one day I saw things differently. My reality did not “match up” and I began to question my beliefs. I can see how this movie can be eye opening for those who never question what they are told or what they see.

I feel that my understanding and analysis of this assignment is personally biased by my own, relatively recent, change in the perception if my reality. I personally relate to Truman and his need to escape from the world that he lived in, feeling that it was fake. I think this exercise has helped me better understand the concept of truth and reality. Many of us only know truth to be what we learned through our experiences and what we have been told by those we respect. I learned through this exercise that to truly know reality one must seek it out. Truman had to

When Christof, the producer, says “Truman, there’s no more truth out there than in the world I created for you - - the same lies and deceit. But in my world you have nothing to fear” (The Truman Show). This, to me, is the classic internal dialog when one is ready to search out new truths. It is easy to stay where we are safe and secure instead of stepping out and discovering the world outside the one that is created for us.

If there were an alternate ending to The Truman Show it would be one where Truman decides to close the door that leads out of the Seahaven dome and accept Christof’s proposal to stay safe within the world that was created for him. This would be the ultimate denial of reason.

Truman would be choosing to stay chained in Aristotle’s cave instead of escaping to explore the world behind him. This would be the ultimate denial of truth and reality. I feel like this would be the best alternate ending since Truman’s nature, from childhood, was to explore and push his boundaries. Having him decide to be complacent would change his nature and would result in continuation of the show for the viewers.

This exercise was quite difficult for me. I am not the best at transcribing thoughts