Reality TV Media
When Reality TV Goes Too Far
The Truman Show is a reality show based on the life of Truman Burbank. Truman Burbank has had his life-watched everyday of his life since before he was born. However, Truman has no clue that he is being watched nor does he know that he is the star of his very own reality show. A production company owned by Christof controls Truman's whole world, much like a dictatorship with Christof having a God-like complex. “The Truman Show develops an omnipotent thesis of archetypes playing out their role despite materialist human efforts to construct artificial archetypes. The premise of this film is to send a message to active audiences that no matter how hard the powerful elite try to construct a reality for us, our souls will direct us to a path that is meant to be (Kashani).” No matter how hard Christof tries to make Truman happy by creating a perfect town Truman's inner desire to explore and escape cannot be contained. The Truman Show is a perfect example of how far reality TV can and will go for ratings. When should we as American's stop the intrusion into other people's life, when does reality television cross the line.
The Truman Show is a movie based on Truman Burbank. Truman is portrayed as a happy insurance salesman who lives in the town of Seahaven. Christof who is the creator of Seahaven and The Truman Show created a make believe town of Seahaven. He has created this make believe town because he believe this is the way the world should be. The Truman Show is nothing more then a big reality TV show. In the movie Christof states, “I have given Truman the chance to lead a normal life. The world, the place you live in, is the sick place. Seahaven is the way the world should be.” Christoff may be right in the thought that Seahaven is the way the world should be, but the real world is far from Seahaven. In the real world there is pain, anger, violence, love, kindness and the list goes on. Seahaven is a fake world in which everything is perfect and controlled. Christof shields Truman from the outside world, from the real news, from everything that the real world is made of. He does all this by making him fear the water. Seahaven is an island completely surrounded by water. With Truman fearing water it ensures that he will never leave Seahaven, thus the show will continue and the ratings will never end. With Truman escaping from Seahaven, Truman can grow as an individual, making his own decisions instead of having everything structured for him. However, we as Americans are so fascinated with someone else's life that we cannot stop watching, thus the creators and producers must do what ever it takes to keep us interested. According to Psychology Today, “Americans seem hooked on so-called reality television--programs in which ordinary people compete in weeks-long contests while being filmed 24 hours a day (Reiss and Wiltz 1).”
“Like Truman we, too, must strive to escape in order to find our true selves and to see what life is all about. Like Truman we have become immersed in a world of illusions (Ed Newman, The Truman Show).” As Newman stated, we as humans, strive everyday to find our selves. With Truman stuck in Seahaven, with everything being the same day in and day out, with Christof preventing Truman from leaving, and with Christof preventing Truman from finding his true love Sylvia (AKA Lauren), Christof is trapping Truman into a life that his soul cannot be stuck in. The question should be when does reality TV become to involve in our lives? The world watched every moment of Truman's life, unedited, uncensored, unscripted. The nation became too involved in Truman's personal life. The same personal life that Truman believes was private.
The media plays such a major role in our everyday lives. Many times we turn on the TV or radio to hear about some celebrity and the obscene thing they did that weekend. The Truman Show “shows us a character who challenges and ultimately escapes from a contrived world that is an invention of media. The message is: we will have to stand up to the manipulators of television and news if we want to protect ourselves from the absurdity and falsehood that now surrounds us at every turn.” (Sanes, The Meaning of the Truman Show). Truman Burbank's life is played out in front of the world to see. As Truman's life seems perfect to the outside world, things begin to happen that shatters that illusion. At one point in the movie a stage light falls from the sky and at another time the radio frequency is interrupted with the crew keeping track of Truman's whereabouts. These events trigger Truman's inner self to explore. Even when Truman tries to escape to the outside world, Christof the producer plays God with Truman's feelings. Psychology Today states, “The message of reality television is that ordinary people can become so important that millions will watch them. And the secret thrill of many of those viewers is the thought that perhaps next time, the new celebrities might be them (Reiss and Wiltz, 2).” It seems like producers, directors, and other film company personnel will go to all extremes to keep you watching. In The Truman Show they go as far as inserting advertisements into the daily show. During the interview that the media had with Christof he even stated that every single item you see on The Truman Show is for sale. “The public can truly be said to adore Truman. And they keep him prisoner of an illusion so they can enjoy adoring him (Sanes, The Truman Show: The Story).”
Another major media intrusion was when Christof promised the world the first on television conception. Here you have Truman Burbank who believes that his private life is between him and his wife. However, the world is watching for the moment that Truman and his wife Meryl get pregnant. According to Scott Henderson of the Industrial Designers Society of America, “Reality is the new fiction. Reality has actually become our escape from reality! (Henderson, IDSA).” Truman's life is our escape from our own life. America would rather meddle and image being someone else instead of facing our own problems. We would rather steal someone's greatest most private moment from them just to have that moment of happiness within ourselves. This is another example of intrusion was when the production company planned to have an on air conception of a child. This not only should be a private moment but also a chosen moment. Truman is pretty much pushed into the idea
Reality television is an unscripted program in which anything can happen without any structure or scripts. The Truman show has no scripts, involves a real character who is not acting, and is a show in which anything can happen within reason. According to Ken Sanes website, “With some 5000 cameras placed around the city, Truman's life is followed 24 hours a day, seven days a week -- a nonstop telethon of reality programming for a public hungry for pathos and vicarious emotion. All of humanity watches as he goes through the stages of life and finds himself in realistic situations that are actually scripted and improvised, to give the show some of the dramatic density that separates entertainment from mundane life. (Sanes, The Truman Show: The Story).” As American's we are draw to the television, we are also draw to other people's problems, issues, happiness and sadness. The Truman show takes reality television way to far. The production company crosses the line of personal space, personal comfort, and personal decisions. This production company does not allow Truman's life to be private in the least; instead they broadcast 24/7 unedited. They do not allow for personal comfort, instead everything is controlled. The shows he watches, the places he goes, the food he eats is all controlled. Even the decision to have a child is up to the production company. We as American's must stop the media from the control in which they currently have.
Work Cited
Henderson, Scott. “Reality”: The New Fiction.” The industrial Designers Society of America. 2004. 25 Nov. 2007. <http://www.idsa.org/webmodules/articles/articlefiles/Henderson.pdf>
Kashani, Tony. “The Truman Show Cinema of Active Imagination.” The Jung Page. 15 July 2005. 19 Nov.2007. <http://www.cgjungpage.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=696&Itemid=40>
Newman, Ed. “The Truman Show.” Ed's Place. 19 Nov. 2007 <http://www.cpinternet.com/~ennyman/truman.html>
Sanes, Ken. “The Truman Show: The Story.” Transparency. 19 Nov. 2007. <http://www.transparencynow.com/trustory.htm>
Sanes, Ken. “The Meaning of the Truman Show.” Transparency. 19 Nov. 2007.
< http://www.transparencynow.com/trusig.htm>
Reiss Steve and Wiltz James. “Why America Loves Reality TV.” Psychology Today. Oct. 2001. Psychology Today. 19 Nov. 2007. < http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20010901-000029.html>
