Fake People And A Fake Society In The Truman Show

In this world, every person’s reality represents their own perspective. There is a reality that is not influenced by personal feelings and opinions, and there is the “truth” that is made by human emotion and experience. Truth is often knowingly or unknowingly obscured by people who pursue results that are different from unpleasant reality. Life is always more than we know; we simply accept the world’s reality as it appears. The reality given to us is what we accept reality as. Truman doesn’t question his reality as artificial for much of the film. Many of us, too, accept the media structure of our own reality. We buy things to give meaning to our reality. We try to look like the narrow interpretation of the beauty that other people have fed us. Christof’s statement will be further proven by connecting this topic to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, real-life situations, and by looking at Truman’s life itself.

Christof’s words also relate to the concept of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave where prisoners are kept in an underground cave. The prisoners are restricted to only see the shadows of puppets on a wall. These prisoners are not aware that there is anything more to life than the shadows shown on the wall. In the same way, Truman does not know that there is more to his life than what he is presented. The concept further explains that even if the prisoners turned around and witnessed the fire, they would be disoriented and confused, they cannot bring themselves to question the reality the been in and they would prefer looking at the shadows. Relating this back to Truman, he had experienced similar situations which lead him to believe that there is something is different, such as his relationship with Sylvia his wife. Plato states in his concept how only some prisoners understand that what they see is shadows cast by puppets. These few brave individuals explore around to free themselves from the boundaries that lead them out of the cave. Similarly, Truman executes a bold decision to explore and question the world he is given. By investigating his reality given to him, Truman can escape and explore the “real world.”

In this world we can experience endless realities as a reality; our understanding of the world around us is interpreted. We just accept the world’s reality at its face value. The reality seen is what we accept reality. Truman doesn’t question his reality as artificial for most of the film. Truman took half of his life to realize that his whole life was lived for others to enjoy and take advantage, just because he took all he saw for personal value. He wasn’t questioning. He didn’t wonder about it. He did not bother to consider, perhaps, that there was another, more authentic reality around him. Many of us accept the media structure of our own reality. We buy things to give meaning to our reality. We try to look like the narrow interpretation of the beauty that other people have fed us. In virtually every aspect of our lives, the media plays a very substantial role. The different types of media are newspaper, magazine, radio, television and the Internet. It affects our lives significantly because the media has the ability to influence our thoughts and feelings. For example, the effect of media on peoples body image. The media opens the society up to many unreal standards of beauty that can create an unhealthy obsession with food, diet, and appearance. Media strongly influences our society. Media controls our thoughts and actions and is very influential. We look at advertisements to buy products. We also rely on the media to see our society and the rest of the world clearly. We react very emotionally to certain news. Media is so powerful, that even revolution can be created. We accept what we see and continue with our life. As humans, we comply with the rules before us and the way society works around us. We learn the region’s language; we learn to act under certain circumstances and we learn to eat. Everything is because we follow the rules before us, ‘we accept the reality we are given.’ In our lifetime we come across “fake” friends who are not that genuine at the heart. This can be further understood by connecting to the Truman Show. Marlon is shown as Truman’s best friend. Truman thinks he’s a genuine friend, especially when he opens the bridge to Truman. But he doesn’t realize that Marlon is fed by a microphone from Christof’s lines of thought, and none of the words he says come from his heart. This also reveals how Truman accepts the reality he is presented with. Just like Truman, we are influenced and we accept what we see and what we are given.

The quote from Christof ‘We accept the reality of the world we are presented with’ is proved in the Truman Show by Truman. He is surrounded in world with fake people and a fake society. It took Truman about thirty years for him to realize that his family and friends are not genuine. It takes him 30 years to realise that his friends and family aren’t genuine, but before that, he lives his life not knowing his real parents and friends are paid actors. During his first 30 years, Truman never questioned the reality of his world because he couldn’t compare it with a true lifestyle, as he never lived in one. He accepts the reality of the world he is introduced to.

The Truman Show encourages its viewers to ask themselves what they see as reality. Descartes says that we can’t be sure of anything, including what is assumed to be the reality we live in. Having the courage to question reality can happen if we let go of our low confidence and of what we accept reality as.

The opposition of this argument commonly states that we make our own life up and that we do not get influenced by others. Others also state that humans do not accept what they are given and always crave for more. In detail the opposition states that humans always want more than what they have, humans are very curious resulting in the technology and research we have to this day. Christof’s words do not only relate to Truman but relates to how our society works.