The truman show essay

The Truman ShowThe Truman Show, a film starring Jim Carrey is about a man whose life had been a television reality since the day he was born.  The main theme of the story is how media can manipulate or control people.

As seen on the film, Truman’s entire life has been controlled by the media from his father’s “ death” to the even the weather as Truman tried to sail away (Carrey).  It can be inferred that all these “ effects” are meant to get Truman to elicit a desired response which would be something the audience is looking for such as laughter or sorrow.  The purpose here is to maintain a sense of realism despite controlling the “ environment.

”  To leave things to be too perfect might give away the artificial environment created by the studio.  The film shows that in Truman’s world, the media is trying to play God.  As a result, Truman realized his whole life is staged and this made him want to escape into the real world where he is in complete control of his life and not controlled by any artificial means. As far as the audience (us) is concerned, the effect is somewhat similar to what Truman is going through.  By viewing certain scenes, we are also responding to it in the way the media wants us to. If they want us to show sympathy, they will show poignant scenes which is very certain to make us cry.

To make us laugh, they will show funny ones and to horrify us, they will show scenes of graphic violence.  The bottom line is that the media can be used as a tool to generate a response and depending on what they show. The idea here is to get our attention and to a certain extent, make us ask for more and the media will do exactly that.  For in the media, their business is giving their audience what they want and whether it is controlled like the “ Truman Show” or not, like real-life news reports, they always deliver. Works CitedThe Truman Show. Dir.

Peter Weir. Perf. Jim Carrey. 1998.