‘The Truman Show’ - Show PDF

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Peter Weir’s ‘The Truman Show’ uses production techniques to demonstrate the power of the media in today’s society. The images created through these techniques convey idea and attitudes about the morality of some media practices. Peter Weir uses the angle of the camera in relation to the actors to create and develop this idea. In the opening scene the ‘characters’ introduce themselves. We see them looking straight into the camera and respond to questions. They are being asked to comment on the experience of working on the Truman Show. Where Truman is the only character not being interviewed. The juxtaposition of the characters relationship to the camera to that of Truman’s relationship serves to emphasize that he is oblivious to the situation and is in fact the only person who is unaware. This contrast provokes the audience to think about choice and manipulation and how much do we accept the “reality with which we are presented”. How often do we accept without question what and how the media presents to us? Throughout the Truman show it is full of product placement. For example when Meryl (Truman’s wife) is advertising the ‘Chef’s Pal’. “It’s a chef’s pal. It’s a dicer, grater, and peeler all in one. Never needs sharpening, dishwasher safe!” Meryl says this as if it were a commercial. Truman’s reaction is “Wow! That's amazing!” This shows us not only has the advertising infiltrated his life but also that he has accepted this. The effect of product placement is absurd, but it is only really a hyperbole of what we see on TV. Weir’s intention was to make the audience laugh at the bizarreness of this transparent advertising, and then to make them realize they are laughing at themselves. It does so by mirroring our media and how product placement can be seen in almost all the television shows that we watch today. It also shows us that we must develop our ability to distinguish genuine entertainment from advertising and to not allow advertising to penetrate our world. The True Talk scene with the dialogue “It’s the Truman Show” is used to create an image of Truman being manipulated. The repetition of the words “same old” in “same old ground” and “same old fears” emphasize the reference to people repeating the same actions over and over again as if they were in a fish bowl. This image is also central to the life of Truman whose social environment is literally on a loop. Everyday he begins with the cast “at first positions” this shows the extent to which his life is controlled and

manipulated by Christof. We, like Truman, are the victims of a controlling power, and in our case, this is the media. We accept what the media presents to us because it’s so life like and entertaining is the same way Truman accepts his constructed reality as true. “We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented,” says Christof, the dictatorial creator of the television series. Peter Weir uses costumes in relation to the actors to create and develop this idea. The inhabitants of Seahaven wear bright, cheerful clothes with a ‘cartoon’ quality and reminiscent of the 1950’s. These clothes are different to those we see worn by the inhabitants of the ‘real’ world. Peter Weir uses costume to distinguish between reality and illusion. The use of costume constantly reminds us that Seahaven is a contrived existence. I believe that Peter Weir deliberately used the difference in costume specifically to provoke the audience to question their own reality and what we accept as being real. Peter Weir uses visual and verbal techniques to ‘mirror our society’ and suggest the power of the media and informing us that we are the victims and the culprits of the movie. As the fake quality of Truman’s life is revealed to us we see a life that has been and still is manipulated by a media production team, we are ultimately faced to question what extent does the media affect our perception of the world....