The Truman Show

The film presents to us that the media can be very controlling and influence our lives. For example, Truman’s life is perfect and lives a happy life. His way of life is supposed to be the 2american Dream” and the media is advertising this perfect life to the public. The media influences our lives in many ways such as reality shows, newspapers, T.V. and radio. The media wants us to live our life in a certain way. We are also monitored by CCTV everyday and minute of our lives. The media sets many expectations such as size 0 models being promoted which increases the amount of people desiring to become anorexic. Truman shows this because his life is manipulated by the media through a universe of illusions pulled over his face where nothing is real but he believes it is.

Truman is a happy person who lives the life of a well-off American. He has been chosen as the star of a media show because he was up against 4 other unborn babies that weren’t wanted by their parents and he was born first. He doesn’t know about it because everything in his life is controlled within the world’s biggest media studio ever. He is influenced by the media by emotional manipulation and his actions are controlled. An example of this is when Truman wants to book a flight to go to Fiji. Within the travel office he goes to there are posters and advertisements to demoralise him about going abroad telling tales of terrorism and unlikely dangers. The advisor manipulates him when she tells him there are no flights to Fiji for at least a month. Another scene where Truman is influenced by the media is when he goes to by a newspaper and the front page says how Seahaven, his home, is the safest and the best location in the world.

This reflects how the media influence us because if the government wanted to crack down on crime or exploit a celebrities fault, they would use the media through newspapers and the news to sway the public’s opinion on certain aspects of life and people.

Seahaven is a very happy place. Everything is perfect and nothing ever goes wrong. The concept of “perfect” Seahaven fits in with the “American Dream” because the media presents to people all over the world that if you go to American you will lead a pleasant, effortless life with no burdens to worry about. As the Truman show is a T.V. show, this presents to all of those watching that if they go to America life is exactly the way it is made out to be in Truman’s fake world – Seahaven.

An excellent scene which portrays this statement is where Truman is depressed and sitting on a hill with his so-called best friend Marlon. The media wants to manipulate Truman’s emotions to persuade him to forget about leaving Seahaven. Marlon says, “Look at that sunset Truman, its perfect.” He then went on to say how there’s nowhere else better to be in the world than Seahaven and how it’s insane to leave. This again gives us the effect of promoting the American Dream. I think that the creators of the reality show are trying to communicate the message of promoting the life in which Truman leads. They are sending a message out to the world that everyone should live in the same manner as Truman. The creators, being part of the media, are setting a standard living. The expectations