Directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol, the film tells of a man, Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey), and how he is completely unaware that his life is artificially constructed by a reality television show called 'The Truman Show,' a show that is broadcast 24 hours a day throughout the globe. Over the course of the film, Truman becomes suspicious of the constructed life he lives in and subsequently seeks the meaning and truth of his life.
The film is an intensely thematic film that brings about to the audience many questions about social realities. In essence, this film is a critique on the statement 'ignorance is bliss.' Does the seemingly perfect nature of the Seahaven, the world in which Truman lives in, justify Truman's ignorance of the real world and its unappealing realities? Does living in a utopia-like setting justify not knowing what the real world is capable of, for better or worse? It can be said that this film provides allusions to real world regimes, such as North Korea and the ignorance of its people of the actions of its government, as well as the nature of the rest of the world. But unlike North Korea, the creator of 'The Truman Show,' Christof, in actuality, does indeed create Seahaven as being the perfect world. Rather than fear and dictatorial methods, Christof makes use of the falsely constructed world and sophisticated illusory methods, such as subtle propaganda to induce a fear of water in Truman in order to not only physically imprison him in Seahaven, but psychologically as well. This is evident in Christof's interview statement that '[Truman] can leave at any time.' Yet Christof knows he won't. Thus, Truman is just as much trapped in his ignorance as much as he is trapped in the Seahaven TV setting. In addition, the poignant scene of where Truman's best friend Marlon, explains to an emotional Truman that he'll 'gladly step into traffic for [Truman],' is consequently undermined by the fact that Marlon's lines are uttered in his ear by Christof. This eerily depicts Christof's disturbing ability to comprehend and pick out Truman's psyche, which is on par with that of a best friend and clearly illustrates the psychological power that Christof has over Truman.
The film also gives a critique on societies obsession towards celebrity culture. The scenes of the viewers of 'The Truman Show' and their obsession with the show is comparable to our obsession with celebrities and their lives. The pictures and badges seen in the homes of those viewers, in addition how each scene of the viewers seemingly depicts them as if they have been intensely watching the show non-stop over the course of the film, exemplifies our constant exposure to to the lives of celebrities and our liking for it. The fact that Charlie Sheen garnered 1 million followers on his Twitter account in a day, illustrates our petty desire to know the very intricacies of the lives of our celebrities. The ability for 'The Truman Show' to grasp the attention of the whole world alludes to the power of the media and its status in society. The government can make laws and rules to instigate societal control, but it is the media that can influence the very minds and hearts of the people. Maybe the film is also contending that apart from Truman, our lives are also controlled by the media.
In the first scene, Truman looks into the mirror (and directly to the audience) where he is pretending to be a mountain climber and says 'if I'm not going to make it, you going to have to go on without me.' Maybe he is saying to the audience without knowing, that if he doesn't free himself from his TV world, maybe we, the audience, can instead.
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