Blog 11: Responding to a significant topic in "The Truman Show"

Truman struggles between what his society (and his "god," Cristoff) tells him to do and be, and what he feels he wants to do and who he wants to be.

Consider your own life (or the life of someone you know well): Have you ever disobeyed society’s rules because you were trying to follow your own instincts? What made you want to disobey the rules? What did you expect to gain from your disobedience? Did the consequences to your disobedience confirm that you made the right choice?

               

“The Truman Show”, directed by Peter Weir is a movie that shows us a life journey of the title character – Truman. Truman is 29 years old and his whole life (actually even before he was born) he has been the lead star of a reality show called “The Truman Show”.  However for the most part of the movie Truman is unaware that he is being watched 24/7 by people all over the world. The world he lives in – Seahaven, is the biggest movie set, seen even from outer space. Everything in Seahaven is controlled by the creator of the show – Cristoff. The crew of the show starts making mistakes such as: dropping a light (from what Truman considers the sky) almost hitting Truman, talking on a radio frequency that Truman listens to on his way to work (he can hear the crew comment on his each move), and letting his supposedly dead father on the set so that Truman can see him. Yet the biggest mistake they made was getting rid of his true love – Sylvia, who was just an extra on the show (Truman was not even suppose to notice her). They told Truman she left with her family to “Fiji”. Throughout the whole movie Truman tries to put Sylvia’s face together from scraps of paper torn out of magazines for women. After all of these mistakes Truman starts to notice that everything in Seahaven revolves around him, which makes him remember Sylvias words that everything is fake, nothing is real. He decides to leave Seahaven. Sadly Cristoff makes sure that that does not happen. He forms fake traffic, simulates a fire in the forest an even stages a nuclear meltdown, which makes Truman even more suspicious. One night he finally manages to run away through a tunnel. He fights his biggest fear –water – and sails into the sea. Cristoff develops a storm that nearly kills Truman. Truman sails to the end of the dome. He leaves through a door with an exit sign saying his famous phrase – “And in case I don’t see you good afternoon, good evening and good night”.  

Living all his life accordingly to the society and Cristoffs ways, Truman never got a chance to grow up.  After all growing up is not about getting older but about starting to think on our own, analyzing everything  we had learned so far to determine whether  it is really true to us.

Since I was little I remember the saying – “rules are made to be broken” which to me is absolutely true. If we didn’t break any rules, we would be stuck in Seahaven like Truman.

In Poland People my age pretty much have their future planned. They go to primary school, high school, college is a must and all this is done without any breaks it is a steady process. Than after they are fully educated they are expected to work. After I finished high school I came to the US for a little vacation and to most importantly renew my green card. I was expected back in Poland right before my college acceptance exams. Throughout my short stay I realized that I did want to go back, I did not see my future in Poland. Without telling my parents I went to a travel agency and changed my flight for a later one (about a month difference). That meant that I was definitely going to miss my exams. I was aware of what I was doing and even though I might not have been a hundred per cent sure of my decision I still stuck with it. Everything in the US was so different than back home. Everything seemed better. Now I can even say that back then I was amused with America (now I am used to it). When after that month I went back to my home country people started looking at me differently, it was like maybe they envied me that I got the chance to stay in NY. I stayed a week in Poland that was it.  Nevertheless I felt that I had more opportunities in NY school wise, work wise, socially – since people come to NY from all over the world. I have been here for seven years now and I can gladly say that I have made the right choice by listening to my gut. I talk to my friends from Poland every now and than and most of them actually also live abroad.  

Obeying our society’s rules stops us from thinking outside the box. Just like animals are hunters from nature, people are explorers. We seek new adventures all the time sometimes even without realizing it.