12. The Truman Show & Philosophy

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     The movie The Truman Show tells the story of a real man in a completely made up world. Truman is real, but everything he sees is what Christof wants him to see. I think that even the subtle details of the movie have deeper meanings, and overall the movie really makes you think. We have Truman - "True Man" - Truman's name is an allusion to the fact that the only thing that is real about The Truman Show is Truman himself. Then we have Christof - "Christ of" - Christof's name describes exactly what he is. For Truman, Christof is God. Christof controls every facet of Trumans entire life. He is the creator of Truman's world, and he controls everything that happens to Truman. He has the power of a God over Truman. The part in the end of the movie, when Truman is about to leave and suddenly Christof's voice comes through the sky - that was a symbol of Christof's power as the God of Truman's life. Though I think early on, Christof must have realized that human nature would eventually lead Truman to seek the truth, and Christof could not really control that. So he manipulated Truman's life to give him this fear of water. Truman lived on an "island" - literally surrounded by water. When Christof forced into Truman a fear of water, he was ensuring that Truman would not attempt to leave the life that he had created for him. So Christof was playing God, and Truman was just living the life that Christof made for him.
     But besides random philosophical symbols within the movie, I think there is one overarching theme in the movie. I think The Truman Show is a modern way of explain Plato's Allegory of the Cave.
     Now, the Allegory of the Cave is one of my favorite themes that we've gone over this year, and I feel that of all the themes we have studied, I know this one very well. So let's start with the cave. Within the cave, there are supposed to be people holding objects before a fire. There is a group of chained up prisoners facing a wall, who cannot see the people holding the objects. All that they see are the shadows of the objects - they only see what the people want them to see. Relating this to the movie, we have Christof as the man holding up the object, and Truman as the chained up prisoner. As in the Allegory of the cave, this is the only life Truman has ever known. Christof has manipulated Truman his entire life, and only shown Truman what he wants him to see.
     In the allegory of the cave, one of the prisoners escapes to the outside world. Obviously, in the movie, Truman is the escapee. But long before that happens, there is a "light" that Truman sees that makes him begin to seek enlightenment. His first glimpse at this light is of course when the light falls down from the ceiling - no pun intended. But it all begins to come into focus as he sees his "father" and begins to notice how strange his life really is. He is beginning to suspect that someone is holding everything he has known before the fire, and now he wants to know what is behind the fire that Christof is using to manipulate him. So Truman does as the prisoner in the Allegory of the Cave does - he puts on a brave face, overcomes the storm (which seems to be the last object Christof has held in front of the fire), and makes it to the edge of his "cave." In the end, Truman finally escapes the cave he has known his whole life, in order to enlighten himself to the real world.
     So let's recap - Truman is the prisoner, Christof holds the objects in front of the fire, and Seahaven is the cave. For all of Trumans life, Christof has only shown him the shadows he wants him to see. At first, Truman is afraid to leave Seahaven (the cave) because it is everything he has ever known. But eventually, he leaves the "cave" to enlighten himself and live the life he wants to live.