Koory 1

Emma Koory
Mrs. Black
ENGL 2650
1/11/15
A Truman Analysis
I think that almost everyone can agree that The Truman Show is a somewhat unsettling
movie. Watching the movie with several other people confirmed this notion. Looking around the
room at some parts of the movie, I could see that most of the people had looks of mild repulsion
on their faces. Something about the movie triggered an uneasy feeling to occur in most people.
While watching the movie, one's own moral sense gets pushed front and center, and that moral
sense takes no time in sensing that something is amiss with the movie. The movie begs hard
hitting moral and ethical questions to be answered, including questions about the authenticity of
Truman's life, and if a show like The Truman Show could flourish in modern society.
The legitimacy of Truman's life is truly debatable. While Truman's life is authentic in the
sense that everything he does is unscripted, it is falsified at the same time because the situations
he is put in are fabricated. Whenever Truman makes a choice, he is forced to choose between two
fake situations. It is because of this that Truman's choices are fake. Every choice he makes is
false because he is never given all of his choices. He is never given the opportunity to choose to
escape. Truman is never informed that every single relationship and situation he is in is an act,
and because of this, he does not have the free will to leave Seahaven. His free will was taken
from him the moment he was put in front of a camera. Truman's free will is thrown out the
window, his freedom is stomped on, and his privacy is completely violated without so much as a

Koory 2
backward glance, at least by most people in the movie, and life without these things is not really
living at all.
There is something comforting about the idea of Seahaven. Seahaven is a perfect little
world without war, conflict, or disasters of any kind. Truman is protected inside this bubble of
safety, and he never hears about any of the bad things that happen in the real world. When
Truman discovers that his world is fake, and that he is being broadcasted for live entertainment,
he attempts to escape. As he is about to leave, the creator of the show Christof offers Truman the
opportunity to stay in his safe little world. Truman refuses, and this tells the viewers something
critical about human nature. Truman's refusal tells us that no matter how nice and comfy it is, a
human can never stay in a cage. Even if the cage is better than the outside world, human
curiosity often prevails over reason. If, however, Truman had chosen to stay in Seahaven, the
impact on the show would have been monumental. Truman could pretend that nothing happened,
but then his life would be completely fake, because even he would be acting. Life on "The
Truman Show" would never be the same. Without Truman, there is no show. The show can't exist
without Truman, so when Truman leaves, it only makes sense that the show would go off the air.
All of the people that work to support "The Truman Show" are shameful. They should
know that keeping a human essentially prisoner is wrong. Unless the involved parties had
severely tamped down their consciences, or been brainwashed into doing so, there is no reason
why they should think that keeping Truman in a glorified cell is justifiable. I think the main
person to blame for this is Christof, "The Creator." He was the person that revolutionized this
whole idea from the start and brainwashed people into thinking that it was okay. Watching the
movie, a lot of people felt creeped out by Christof, and justifiably so. The character is portrayed
as almost machine-like and totally out of touch with morality. A character like that is deeply

Koory 3
disturbing to most people, and almost gives off serial killer-like vibes. I definitely found Christof
the most unsettling and objectionable character in The Truman Show.
With morality and ethics being slowly pushed aside in the secular society in favor of
immediate gratification and shallow material possessions, a show like "The Truman Show" could
quite possibly come to fruition in the distant future. Because of the astronomical development of
technology over the last few decades, it would most likely be technically possible for a giant set
like the one in The Truman Show to be created in the present day. A society that can print human
organs can definitely build a huge, lifelike set. Although it could be technologically possible, I
believe that this has not come to fruition in reality as of yet because the public still has a good
enough sense of right and wrong to figure out that putting someone in a glorified cage and
broadcasting their life without their permission is wrong. Currently, there would be an enormous
cry of protest from the public if a show like this even came under deliberation, and it would
spark many debates about human rights. Specifically in America, a show like this would be
impossible because of the Constitution, which lays out the rights to freedom and privacy among
many others. However, with more and more of those so called rights being ignored by the
government to align with "the changing of the times," it is just a matter of time before rights
don't matter anymore. If our country ever becomes like that, it might not have as many qualms
about producing a show like "The Truman Show."
The Truman Show invites its audience to think deeply and ask the hard questions. It
introduces new questions about things such as human rights and the moral decline of modern
society. The character of Truman gives us insight into the most basic level of human nature, and
the entirety of the movie helps us to understand what being a human is all about.