Truman Show

Images are pervading forces that sculpt our attitudes and beliefs about our world, our community & ourselves through media production. Through my study of Peter Weir’s The Truman Show, Turkan’s article “An insider reveals the truth about Big brother” published in the Daily Telegraph & Pink Floyd’s song “Wish you were here”, I have learnt the powerful message of how the media can manipulate audience’s responses. Weir has successfully used film techniques along with powerful symbols, lighting & dialogue to convey the extent of the media manipulation so that in turn, the audiences do not gullibly “accept the reality of the world with which we are presented.”

The opening scene of the “Tru Talk” shows the artificiality of the Truman’s world. This long shot of sun rising over Seahaven shows the constructed nature of the environment. The paranoiac shot of the building of studio creates a sense of sameness. The dialogue “It’s the Truman Show” is used to create an image of Truman being manipulated. Christof’s dialogue “5000 cameras” highlight the artificiality. Another important image to show the fakeness of Truman’s world is the fact that Sylvia & Christof are both shown (at the end of the scene) to touch Truman through the TV screen.

A montage of Truman’s life, coupled by the voice over of Mike Michaelson. “The world stood still for that stolen Kiss” With additional synchronised music serves to highlight the insidious nature of the media. The personification of the world standing still epitomises how the media has been successful in manipulating its audience. The fast paced urgent music, similar to that of a news report, also portrays the importance of “ The Truman Show”.

Another important feature is the power of Christof over Truman. The closed frame of Truman being minuscule

on the top right hand corner of the TV juxtaposed against Christof on the entire screen presents the imbalance. This is also reflected from the body language & tone which is shown through a mid shot. Christof’s God like image highlights the power of the media. Christof’s god like image highlights the power of media. The camera pans across Seahaven’s waters and zooms towards the lunar room where Christof is standing. This further shows his power and reflects his god like image. Christof is a metaphorical being for media’s persuasiveness. In this scene, he is shown as the creator, conceiver and the architect of the Truman’s world. The image of the hand symbolizes this. The soft, blue light is used to emphasise his dark, cold and evil ways. The interview is abruptly interrupted by several cut-aways of the internal audiences that are hypnotized by the show. One shot is of an absurd man in his bath watching the show. Weir exaggerates how the media can infatuate audiences and his images convey this ridicule.

The final scene in the “The Truman Show” represents the fine line (wall) between reality and illusion. The long shot of Truman from the back, banging his fists against the ‘sky’ as he realises how trapped he really is, enables the viewers to see his actions. His triumph is conveyed by the ability to overcome his metaphorical fear of the waters.

Christof’s god like image is also shown in this scene. At the beginning of this seen, he is seen as directing the shots. He calls for the shots to be “cabin cam”, and when this happens he says, “that’s our hero shot”. Again placing Christof in the omnican ecosphere and directing where the storm should hit makes him seem like god. Another event symbolizing his god like image is when he speaks through the clouds. There is a low angle shot of the sky, with light beams shining through and Christof announces in a booming voice, “I am the creator