The Truman Show and Pleasantville Review
The Truman Show, a comedy/ drama was directed by Peter Weir (nominee
for Best Director in 1998, Academy Awards). The film was scripted by
Andrew M. Niccol, including last years "Gatttaca," a similarly themed
tale, Niccol delivers optimism and affection for the human condition.
Jim Carry plays the role of Truman Burbank who is a charming and
unwitting star, the world's most popular, 24 hour non-stop soap called
'The Truman Show'.
Pleasantville is a winsome and witty comedy/ drama starring Tobey
Maguire as 'David' and Reese Witherspoon as 'Jennifer'. This film is
the work of director Gary Ross, known for 'Big' and 'Dave' who both
won him Oscar Nominations.
Any film that has a concept of 'fly on the wall' is bound to get
streams of people flowing into the cinema; this is the concept that
was used during the Big Brother series which was a success; this is
also the same case with both the films, Pleasantville and The Truman
Show.
Both the films have a comedy based genre making it fun and enjoyable
and they both contain reality TV themes, being stars of TV shows in
quaint and not so quaint hometowns. The opening sequences of both
films are confusing and not much is actually revealed to the audience
and so they are left in uncertainty of what the storyline truly is.
The opening sequences are different. The Truman Show starts off with
short interviews of the cast and the creator of Truman's world,
Christof. Christof (Ed Harris) says that people are tired of 'phoney
emotions' and 'phoney actors', they need something real. Marlon (Noah
Emmerich) and Meryl (Laura Linney) describe the show and give their
own views about how everything is 'all true, all real, nothing here is
fake,……….., things are just merely controlled', and how close their
relationship is within the show and there is 'no difference between
private life and public life, my life is my life, my life is the
Truman Show'.
The TV screen within which you can see Truman gives you a perspective
There are stunning parallels between Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter" and the film The Truman Show in terms of character, action, and structure.
The Soloist (Foster, Krasnoff & Wright, 2008), is based on a true story of Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Jr. who develops psychosis and becomes homeless. In the film, Nathaniel is considered a cello genius who is discovered on the streets by Steve Lopez, a journalist from the Los Angeles Times. Steve was searching for a city story and he decided to write a newspaper article about Nathaniel. Nathaniel always had a passion for music. He was a child prodigy and attended Juilliard School of Music. However, he faced many complications at Juilliard, particularly hearing voices speaking to him. Unable to handle the voices, Nathaniel dropped out and ended up living on the streets of Los Angeles. Steve and Nathaniel develops an unexpected friendship, in which Steve tries to help Nathaniel to live a normal life; having a home, treat his mental disorder, and to fulfil his dream of being a cellist again.
The movie, The Outsiders, starts with the Curtis parents on their weekly, Saturday evening drive to the baking store to buy some ingredients for their boys’ favorite Sunday morning, breakfast treat: chocolate cake. The Curtis boys love their chocolate cake for Sunday breakfast not only because they love it, but also because they appreciate how hard their parents have to work to save the monies necessary for the morsels that put smiles on their faces!
The Allegory of the Cave has many parallels with The Truman Show. Initially, Truman is trapped in his own “cave”; a film set or fictional island known as Seahaven. Truman’s journey or ascension into the real world and into knowledge is similar to that of Plato’s cave dweller. In this paper, I will discuss these similarities along with the very intent of both of these works whose purpose is for us to question our own reality.
“I forgive you, Dad.” (Movie) On the movie screen the tearful Eddie, with his trembling voice, is wholeheartedly trying to reach out to his father inside the Diner in Heaven. It is the moment that Eddie’s sentimental reflection turns into an emotional eruption. At that moment Eddie’s tears almost wet my face. That is just one of stunning visual effects I felt while watching the film, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.” The film, directed by Lloyd Kramer, is based on the book with the same title, written by Mitch Albom. In terms of plot, general theme, and setting, they are all projected in similar ways both in the book and the movie, such as chronological order of the five people Eddie meets in Heaven, use of flashbacks, and Ruby Pier entertainment park as the central stage. By appearance, both in the book and the movie, Eddie and the five people are naturally the major focus. However, I believe that the relationship between Eddie and his father is specially fabricated by the director and the author with the intention of making the story more complex and captivating. On top of that, I find that Eddie’s father, portrayed as a controversial character throughout the book and all over the film, is really worth further reviewing and discussion. More specifically, I would like to analyze the similarities and differences vividly perceived between the novel and the movie in various ways of portraying the father.
The Outsiders, a timeless novel by S.E Hinton, is one that takes readers on a roller coaster of emotions. Hinton wrote the novel in her teen years and mainly targeted it toward young adult readers. However, the plot, the characters, and the action result in the novel being read and enjoyed by a universal audience. The story follows the lives of two rival gangs. The Greasers live on the East and poorer side of town; the Socs, short for Socials, live on the West and more affluent side of town. The story is narrated by the protagonist and Greaser, Ponyboy Curtis.
Paper Towns is about a boy named Quentin Jacobsen and his childhood friend Margo Roth Spiegelman. When they were kids, they spent a lot of time together, but as they grew up, they also grew apart. Then, one day, Margo shows up at Quentin’s window, asking him to help her. They then spend the night seeking revenge on Margo’s high school friends who she says have wronged her. The next day, Margo disappears, which isn’t uncommon for Margo. But this time, Quentin gets involved in the mystery until, eventually, he’s the only one still looking. Quentin believes Margo wants to be found and has left a trail of clues for him. After searching for a while, Quentin finds the clue that leads him to Agloe, New York, where Margo is. Quentin and his friends take a road trip there, to find out that Margo isn’t what Quentin expected at all.
Mise en scene is a French term, which refers to the visual and design elements of a film. Literally, it is what we actually see on the screen – locations, sets, background details, costumes, even the use of colour and lighting. Mise en scene is used to describe every scene, including framing, composition, costuming, setting, objects, lighting, sound and camera angles. Everything is done purposely and intentionally.
“Forman’s movie without Bromden’s perspective is empty and devoid.” (Shmoop Inc.). Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, has been adapted into a film version, directed by Milos Forman. It has won numerous Oscar awards including “Best Picture”, “Best Director”, and “Best Actors”. However, many readers of Kesey’s original novel agree that it did not capture the essence and intent of the story. After reading the novel and watching the movie, I also feel the movie version did not accurately renovate the original novel. With various important scenes missing, confusion about the main character, and an indistinct recreation of the plot, Forman did not precisely revive the authentic purpose into his film.
What are the issues of watching and voyeurism in film? The intention of this essay is to discuss both films (The Truman Show, 1998 and Rear Window, 1954) alongside established theoretical criticism (Laura Mulvey and Norman K. Denzin) in an attempt to demonstrate how the issues of watching and voyeurism, as seen in todays mainstream Hollywood cinema, both engages and entices the spectator and to look at how the definition of the voyeur has changed. Before entering into a discussion about voyeurism in Rear Window and The Truman Show, an understanding of what is meant by ‘the dynamics of voyeurism’ in film must be attempted. The dictionary definition of a voyeur is: (1) a person who gains sexual pleasure from watching others when they are naked or engage in sexual activity, and/or (2) a person who enjoys seeing pain or distress of others. Voyeurism is initially noted for the investigation of the woman, demystifying her mystery, however, I think this definition is a small interpretation of the word voyeur. So the intention of this essay is to explore further the meaning of voyeurism by looking at two films adjacent to, two critics with conflicting opinions of what voyeurism is represented by in film. But to understand what voyeurism means we need to look at the cinematic gaze and two types of looks; scopophilia and narcissism.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Hoang Tran English 3A - Mr. Nguyen Period 5 11/27/17 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, written by Ken Kesey, takes place within the 1960’s and centralizes its plot around the patients of the mental hospital. The asylum is governed with a matriarchy by Nurse Ratched. Nurse Ratched keeps her dominance within the ward through strict rules that keeps the patients in order. Her ways to keep her patient's intact may be a bit extreme
The Truman Show takes place on a massive, life-sized stage with Truman Burbank as the protagonist. It is a contrived world where all interactions take place effortlessly from the day he was born to his ultimate realization and escape. In his life, there was no true privacy. Every moment was recorded as a source of reality entertainment for the masses of the outside world, and if anyone from the outside or on the set were to intervene and try to disclose the actual reality of his situation, they were quickly suppressed and/or replaced. This, coupled with many other obstacles, made it very difficult for Truman to break the illusion. Despite the many failures, he eventually came to spot the inconsistences himself (with a little help), leading
Life is a very valuable asset, but when lived on someone else’s terms its nothing but a compromise. The seemingly perfect image of Utopia which combines happiness and honesty with purity, very often leads in forming a dystopian environment. The shrewd discrepancy of Utopia is presented in both the novel ‘The Giver’ by Lois Lowry and the film ‘The Truman Show’ directed by Peter Weir. Both stories depict a perfect community, perfect people, perfect life, perfect world, and a perfect lie. These perfect worlds may appear to shield its inhabitants from evil and on the other hand appear to give individuals no rights of their own. By comparing and contrasting the novel ‘The Giver’ and the film ‘The Truman Show’, it can be derived that both the main characters become anti-utopian to expose the seedy underbelly of their Utopian environment which constructs a delusional image of reality, seizes the pleasures in their lives and portrays a loss of freedom.
novel is a flashback of the events over a time period of four days. The
The movie A Beautiful Mind, directed by Ron Howard, tells the story of Nobel Prize winner, and mathematician, John Nash’s struggle with schizophrenia. The audience is taken through Nash’s life from the moment his hallucinations started to the moment they became out of control. He was forced to learn to live with his illness and learn to control it with the help of Alicia. Throughout the movie the audience learns Nash’s roommate Charles is just a hallucination, and then we learn that most of what the audience has seen from Nash’s perspective is just a hallucination. Nash had a way of working with numbers and he never let his disease get in the way of him doing math. Throughout the movie the audience is shown how impactful and inspirational John Nash was on many people even though he had a huge obstacle to overcome.