Do blog entry 14: Write 2 paragraphs towards paper 3 (The Truman Show)

Knowledge is an immensely powerful tool in society and plays a huge role in keeping the world around us running smoothly. People live their lives based on knowledge that they believe is the truth and any disturbance in this notion causes people to question their knowledge. A perfect example of this is The Truman Show. Truman Burbank, the star of The Truman Show, lives a seemingly "normal" but discontented life. After experiencing a few "unnatural" events he begins to question everything and everyone in his day to day life. Truman highlights the aspects of a search for truth and knowledge. He is not satisfied with the knowledge that he already has and wants to find out the truth about his life. Through his desire to find out the truth about his life, his observations of the world around him, and his determination to find his true love, Truman is able to find out the truth about his existence.

Like others who are on a search for truth, Truman begins to question his prior knowledge of life because he experiences a series of unnatural events. Events such as a light fixture falling from the sky, seeing a homeless man that looks striking similar to his "deceased father", and noticing that the people around him live on a repetitious cycle lead Truman to question the knowledge that he has. Up until this point in his life, Truman, like most of society, has relied on others for the knowledge that he already has. Gaining knowledge this way in the real world can be questionable to a certain degree but for Truman's sake everything can and should be questioned. Truman believes that he knows his surroundings. He knows that Meryl is his wife and Marlon is his bestfriend. He knows that his father was killed in a boating accident and that he is terrified of crossing water. "The hing is, he doesn't know any of these things. He can't know them because they aren't true" (Reader 163). Truman's "knowledge" consists of what Christof wants him to know. In reality Truman knows next to nothing and thanks to the series of unnatural events he becomes aware that there is more to know that just what meets the eye. Truman's search for the truth can be related to any search for a knowledge of the truth. Just as in real life, Truman's journey to find the truth ends with a painful realization but it also frees him as a person from the constraints a a false world.

The concept of reality is one that has baffled the great minds throughout history. Today, we still don't quite know what is or isn't reality. We accept our experiences as reality. What we know is essentially what we've been told by others. We believe these things, facts, to be true, but we can't really know. Truman Burbank, of The Truman Show is similarly conflicted. He lives in world that he knows as the only reality, that is in fact, not reality. The Truman Show follows this false reality in the search for a new reality.As Truman learns the absolute truth about his situation and his false life, reality becomes known.The Truman Show is about accepting and rejecting ideas of truth to find the true reality.

The Truman Show is the ultimate reality TV show. Every waking(and sleeping!) moment of Truman's life is broadcast to a global audience. Truman is seen as utterly pure and not fake; in fact he is described as the only real thing on the show. However, the fact that the show is designed around his life is exactly what makes him fake. Truman is not a "true man" because he does not live in the true world. The Truman Show is seen as reality television because Truman is painfully "real". But because Truman lives in a designed, pre-destined reality, it is in fact not reality television. Every aspect of Truman's life is monitored, manipulated, created, destroyed, and designed around him, but not for him. His relationships and possessions are not real. His very hometown does not exist, he is not married to his wife, nor has his father actually died.(Not to mention that the person Truman knew to be his father wasn't his father either) Truman's entire life is fake. His world is a television set, a stage, where everyone and everything is not true or real, unbeknownst to him. As the story goes on, Truman discovers this false reality he's come to know as his entire life.

Many people tend to believe what they’re told and especially what society deems acceptable. As a natural instinct, we readily believe what we are told by others. It seems to be that we continue to live in a world controlled by the media, but the struggle remains to find out the truth. In the film, “The Truman Show”, Truman Burbank, a seemingly normal 30-year old man who stars in his own extreme reality T.V. show clearly illustrates the challenges associated with discovering the inner truth. Although he seems to be living a typical yet somewhat dissatisfied life, Truman is completely unaware that he lives in a false reality and his whole life has been manipulated for the purpose of reality television. After numerous strange occurrences, Truman attempts to gain knowledge about the world around him in search for some answers. His suspicions lead him to carefully observe his surroundings and question several aspects of his life. Through his determination to seek knowledge about his bizarre life, Truman is finally able to reveal the truth about his false reality.
Similar to many who long for the sincere truth, Truman searches for the truth about his unnatural life. He seems to be just a normal man living a fairly typical life, but when eccentric events continue to occur, this raises suspicions and furthers his desire to seek knowledge about his surroundings. Incidents such as the one when Truman sees a homeless man in the street that closely resembles his father or the mysterious light structure that aimlessly falls from the sky lead him to question all the things he thought he knew in life. Truman begins to realize a pattern that is occurring everyday and it makes him anxious. This signifies Truman’s suspicions because this is when he truly senses something wrong. Then when he takes off on an angry rage to get out of the town illustrates a breaking point for Truman. It shows that Truman is at the end of his rope in the search for the truth. Although it may seem that he is becoming crazy and he probably believes that himself, the reality is he's just become desperate to find out what is happening to his life. It demonstrates how he has entered a state of frenzy in attempt to find the truth. Truman’s journey to reveal the truth allows him to uncover the manipulation he was controlled by his entire life and escape the fictitious island that he called home for the last 30 years.

Many people tend to believe what they’re told and especially what society deems acceptable. As a natural instinct, we readily believe what we are told by others. It seems to be that we continue to live in a world controlled by the media, but the struggle remains to find out the truth. In the film, “The Truman Show”, Truman Burbank, a seemingly normal 30-year old man who stars in his own extreme reality T.V. show clearly illustrates the challenges associated with discovering the inner truth. Although he seems to be living a typical yet somewhat dissatisfied life, Truman is completely unaware that he lives in a false reality and his whole life has been manipulated for the purpose of reality television. After numerous strange occurrences, Truman attempts to gain knowledge about the world around him in search for some answers. His suspicions lead him to carefully observe his surroundings and question several aspects of his life. Through his determination to seek knowledge about his bizarre life, Truman is finally able to reveal the truth about his false reality.

Similar to many who long for the sincere truth, Truman searches for the truth about his unnatural life. He seems to be just a normal man living a fairly typical life, but when eccentric events continue to occur, this raises suspicions and furthers his desire to seek knowledge about his surroundings. Incidents such as the one when Truman sees a homeless man in the street that closely resembles his father or the mysterious light structure that aimlessly falls from the sky lead him to question all the things he thought he knew in life. Truman begins to realize a pattern that is occurring everyday and it makes him anxious. This signifies Truman’s suspicions because this is when he truly senses something wrong. Then when he takes off on an angry rage to get out of the town illustrates a breaking point for Truman. It shows that Truman is at the end of his rope in the search for the truth. Although it may seem that he is becoming crazy and he probably believes that himself, the reality is he's just become desperate to find out what is happening to his life. It demonstrates how he has entered a state of frenzy in attempt to find the truth. Truman’s journey to reveal the truth allows him to uncover the manipulation he was controlled by his entire life and escape the fictitious island that he called home for the last 30 years.

There is a common saying that "ignorance is bliss". Essentially not knowing the truth leads to true happiness. Some people prefer to believe this because they understand that the truth hurts. The truth, is something that some people search for and some avoid. People tend to fear change, they do not want to accept a reality that could possibly cause their whole word to come crashing down. Some women prefer to ignore the fact that their husbands cheat on them, some men fool themselves into believing that size does not matter, and some fear the truth because they are not prepared to face it. Truman Burbank, the main character of the Truman show represents people all around the world who begin to question the reality they currently live in. Truman represents a man on the quest for truth, someone who is willing to go against the saying that "ignorance is bliss" and seek the truth no matter how hard it will be to face. He is a model for many around the world who believe they are living in a false reality. The Truman Show is about a man tired of living in a false reality who begins to seek the truth; in doing so, he promotes the idea that an artificial life filled with happiness is not the better than reality, a life filled with truth.

The beginning of the Truman show begins with scenes of Truman living a normal life, with a pretty wife, a picket fence, and a routine job. Truman seems happy to be living this type of life; however, this is the first example of where Truman is shown to accept his false reality. He puts up a front, smiling everywhere he goes, pretending to love his wife when he truly loves a girl named Sylvia, and he pretends to enjoy living there in Seahaven when he really wants to go to Fiji. This example shows what limits the seeking of truth; which is being complacent to live in a life you do not like. Because Truman puts up a front everyday by not showing how he truly feels, he begins to lose what real feelings are. Pretending things are fine eventually leads things to become worse. This first scene of the Truman show is very surreal as it represents many people today who are pretending to be happy with their mundane lives.

A constant issue many people face is the battle between realizing and appreciating what is real versus what is fake. Each day, we leave our homes playing a role. For different situations, we take on different masks and identities. When we’re at school, we switch between the role as the diligent student or as the sociable and outgoing friend. At home we shed our masks to somewhat mirror our raw and authentic selves, but soon enough we go back to beginning the same routine of… once again. In the movie, “The Truman Show”, Truman Burbank lives in a reality that is completely false. Against his knowledge, he has been part of a reality show focused on his life, and practically everyone in the world is in on it but him. He lives in a perfect suburban town called Seahaven, where he has a generic wife, Meryl, and where he works as an insurance salesman. As he finally realizes that his life is too conventional, he notices that the situations he faces and the people are not completely genuine, he begins to put the pieces together. When Truman is then convinced that his whole world has been a lie, he takes the action towards finding the real truth.

During the first half of the film, Truman is completely oblivious to the fact that his life is staged. Each day he does the same routine. He gets ready, has the same conversation with his wife, has the same interactions with the same neighbors, goes to the same job, and encounters the same exact situations and people along the way. A reason why this routine seems to not bother Truman is because he has become comfortable in knowing what to predict. This relates to people in general, in that we often accept to do what is expected of us because is it what we are used to, which makes us feel less vulnerable. Despite signs of uncertainty or dishonesty, people often chose to just settle, even if that means putting on a fake and predictable demeanor, because they in return feel more safe and content with their lives.

There is a tipping point in life where a human feels as if he or she has to do more. This is called a "mid-life crisis". Psychologically every human is bound to go through this stage, it is just part of life. However, in "The Truman Show", Truman Burbank himself tries to go through this needed time of his life. Sadly, this is not possible due to the utopia Christof has built for him. He is filled with many fake experiences that cloud him from doing what he really wants. He relentlessly tries to reach his goals he sets out for himself, but life keeps getting in the way. Not in a natural way, but his life happens due to the mingling of the creator of the television show. His reality is set up for him, and he is "programmed" to live an average life with no excitement.
Not only is he driven in one path, but his choices are all made for him. Even if he had choices he would have options that would all lead to one decision. Not even his wife was chosen for him. He had no say in all his decisions. This very idea leads him to his outrage. He goes crazy with the simple life, it's not him. How can he live a "real" life if everything around him is artificial? At times this movie makes me angry. It perceives that a perfect life means that you have that picket fence and white house, just like truman. This includes a stable job and the chance to start a family. I think that life is more than that. I think that you have to learn and gain experiences that you can then share with your family and your future kids. A full life has not been lived unless one has learned as much wisdom as they can to share with everyone else. Being successful does not only revolve around money and material things (although that would be nice), but it to me means that one has laughed, loved, and been loved all in one day.

This isn't exactly what I am going to put on my paper but it sets a good brainstorm.

We are born into a world where we accept the things that we are presented. We accept reality as it is and never question the law, the regulations, or authority because it is safe. But sometimes life can get the best of us; we tend to become curious to search for the “truth” or the meaning of life. This is what happened to Truman Banker in The Truman Show. Truman lived a life that most believe they would be happy with, but he seeks for more within the world he is presented. He is on a quest to find meaning in his life, oblivious to his reality that is a world full of scripts, actors, actresses, and a town created merely to cage him in.
Truman Banker is the star of a show created just for him. Ignorant and oblivious, Truman is born sheltered into a world that is seemingly perfect. The creator and director of The Truman Show has given Truman a life to live by with a home, a wife, a best friend, parents, a job, and all the necessities that are required to survive. Given everything, Truman wants more out of life. He wants to explore, find his “dead” father, fall in love with someone that he did not have to settle for, to go to Fiji to find his love, but he is stuck in Seahaven bound by fears. With a man in constant routine, Truman becomes aware of his surroundings and finds out that his whole life has been a lie. He starts to fight back, finding pieces to the puzzle that leads him to his reality of being the “center” of a reality show for a world outside his own.

It is human nature to crave knowledge and be satisfied solely by its authenticity. As humans, we're programmed to feel satisfaction the more knowledge we obtain and realizing that everything you thought you knew is artificial can lead to questioning your entire life. As happened in the case of Truman Burbank, an unusual series of events began to drop hints that pointed to something odd about his life. Truman was a nearly thirty-year-old man who lived in the quiet, picturesque town of Seahaven. His entire life was based on lies and as soon as he began uncovering the facts his thirst for further knowledge intensified.

When Truman initially began to witness things that were out of the ordinary in his town he conveyed curiosity but it wasn't to a troubling extent. A light fixture falling from the sky and the radio signal following his every move were enough to awaken his alertness. However, it wasn't until more serious occurrences began to take place such as the reappearance of his father, who is supposed to be dead, and the complicated process of leaving Seahaven seemed nearly impossible that he realized he was trapped and something was being hidden from only him. He has an internal crisis trying to put the puzzle pieces together to figure out what everyone else is in on because it's driving him insane to not be fully aware of his own surroundings. Truman's reaction to the discovery of the previously unknown in his life comes to show that it's an embedded human characteristic to feel unsafe and violated when we don't have a thorough understanding of things that are suppose to be unquestionable.

The Truman Show depicts the life of a man named Truman Burbank whose sole existence is to entertain millions of viewers worldwide. The initial thought of that may sound intriguing but in Truman’s case it’s anything but. Unbeknowist to Truman, he is the star of a TV show which exploits his every move. Since birth Truman has resided in a community which is completely housed by actors. For most of his life he is oblivious of what is occurring right under his nose. He does not become aware of the routine-like behaviors of his neighbors and colleagues and does not realize the obvious forms of product placement around him until later in his life. The reason why he is kept from the truth is because the producers of the show make it that way. They create ways in which to keep Truman oblivious, and keep him in control by using tactics that may be considered cruel. Though Truman was under the watchful eye of what you might call an omnipresent director, he was able to find a way to escape his commercialized prison. His search for the truth is what ultimately saves him from having a fake existence.
Truman’s journey depicts the escape of a man from a deteriorating and oppressive society through the acceptance of the truth. The society he lived in was oppressive for obvious reasons; he was not allowed to do anything that would go against the precursors that the director/producer had conjured up. The director, Christof, explains that Truman is genuine, that nothing he says is scripted. That in itself is not true, it is impossible for Truman to be a genuine man when everything and everyone around him including his own actions are being manipulated. There’s a stage in Truman’s life when he falls in love with a girl that was not meant for him, his future wife had already been chosen by Christof, and so distractions are created to keep him away from this girl.

People are constantly searching for themselves and when they cannot find it they give up and become hopelessly lost in their socially constructed lives. However, The Truman Show brings light to the concept of breaking social norms. The main character, Truman Burbank, is living a life that was constructed around a television show that he has been oblivious to for the past twenty-nine years. He slowly starts to gain awareness of his situation when his world starts showing cracks in reality. The difference between The Truman Show and our world is that Truman acts on his suspicions and leaves everything he is familiar with behind. People nowadays are too afraid to take a leap of faith in their gut instinct.
People strive to maintain familiarity. They are too afraid to jump into the unknown and make a leap of faith. It seems as though our lives are on a conveyor belt. I am a perfect example of this. I am in college because everyone told me that in order to be successful in life I must obtain a college degree and get a good job and go through the typical process of human life. Like Truman, we must get married and have a desk job to pay for our white picket fences. We must strive to have kids. Then what? We die not ever having truly enjoyed our lives because we are too busy fulfilling the requirements of the status quo.

Intro:
To be an individual is to simply be you. There is personality, thought, and self preservation inhabited by the body. It feels good to have an identity, to know your roots and where you come from. What if, in a hypothetical case of course, everything you were living was a lie? Everything that you thought to be real was merely a deceiving world of lies, fiction, and storytelling? Would that still define you as an individual with your own thoughts, your own personal struggles and gains, and would the goals you have achieved during your lifetime even count? In the movie The Truman Show, a man named Truman Burbank was living in a fictional world full of actors, fake sceneries, and even had a fake family. Truman was simply a placement of a director’s vision to create a television show showing what a normal “true” man does on a daily basis. The Truman Show is about a disguised depiction of the mind and identity within a man who was lost in a false personality of illusory happiness.
Summary of film:
The Truman Show was about a man named Truman Burbank living in a fake televised world of actors and fake scenarios. A man named Christof created this show from Truman’s his birth up until Truman figured out the world he was living in was not reality. Truman was a nice man with a nice personality with a sturdy lifestyle. He had a decent job, stable house, and a beautiful wife. Day by day, Truman experienced the same things repetitively until one day he began to feel empty. His father died in a boat accident when he was just a child which left him traumatized of the ocean. The desire to see his father again left Truman with the assumption that not everything around him was real. He began to notice that his wife Meryl would advertise products when no one but him was around, or better yet, he saw an elevator with a production set behind a wall when he walked into a new building. Truman quickly put the pieces together and concluded that he was living in an imaginary world. Truman tried to escape many times but the actors of the show always delayed his attempts to leave the televised set. The very last day living in the fictitious world, Truman sailed a boat to escape and was caught off guard by a fake storm. He survived and found the end of the dome signaling freedom. He would soon reunite with his true life and have the chance to live a normal life. No more deceit, lies, or illusions. Truman was ready to face reality. At the very end of the movie, Christof gave Truman the choice to stay but he wanted a real identity that was not created buy a televised show. He slowly walked away from the only world he ever knew and stepped into reality and began a new journey in creating a new self.

In the film The Truman Show, a man named Truman appears to be living a seemingly perfect life. He has everything he can ever ask for, including a stable job, a wife to come home to, friendly neighbors and perfect weather. Although this may be true, something still appears to be missing from Truman's life. What Truman doesn't know is that his entire life is fake and has been filmed for the entertainment of people around the world. Although he doesn't know it, Truman's fake life is the cause of Truman's distress. When odd things start occurring around him, Truman slowly ventures onto his quest to search for the truth. Throughout his journey we learn that no matter what, the truth will always be preferred over living a life full of lies and deceit.

For almost thirty years, ignorance is bliss for Truman Burbank. Truman did not appear to question his life because there was nothing truly wrong with his life. He had achieved all the necessary things that a person needs to be satisfied, a home, a job and a wife. This caused Truman to put all of his internalized feelings to the side. Even in the past, when the love of his life Lauren tried to tell him that he was living a fake life, he had trouble understanding what she was trying to tell him. Christof explains Truman's conformity to his fake life when saying " We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented. Truman has been surrounded by this fake life since the day of his birth which justifies the acceptance he has for the life that he lives. It isn't until Truman becomes more dissatisfied with his life that he comes to question the odd things that begin to occur around him, such as the light fixture falling and the radio stating his whereabouts. It is during this time that Truman begins his quest toward finding out the truth about his life.

Truman Burbank, a middle-aged average man has a pretty normal life. He wakes up, goes to work, and comes home to his best friend and wife everyday. But then weird things start to happen. He sees his dad on the streets who was originally presumed dead. Then he hears his whereabouts on the radio. His "perfect" commercial reality comes crashing down when he starts to piece all these clues together. In the end, he realizes he's part of an elaborate reality show, all his actions filmed on camera for the world to see. He sets out to seek the truth, and in the end escapes the only world he knows.

Near the end of the movie, the director of the Truman show was being interviewed about the show. When asked why Truman didn't figure out the truth before, he replied, "people accept the reality they live in." Truman Burbank represents the "truth-seeker." He realized something was wrong with his reality and set out to seek the truth. Although the truth might be nasty and dark, Truman was determined to figure it out. Ignorance is bliss, and people choose to preoccupy themselves with other things so they don't have to think about the truth of reality. Truman became aware of his false surroundings and decided he needed to take action on it. Fighting all odds and conquering his fears, he represents a true, genuine man. He symbolizes the strength we all need to harness in order to find the truth.

Out of the many themes in the Truman Show, the idea of surveillance is definitely a big one. Our world can actually be compared to Truman's, a less exaggerated society where Truman's life is controlled by other people and he is unaware that he is being watched. By being watched, Truman's everyday choices are presented to him by the creator, and Truman just makes these choices. He is being controlled without knowing it. So how much of our world do we actually control if we are able to make our own everyday choices independently? In the Truman show, Marlon says, "nothing on the show is fake, it's merely controlled." (35). The influence that the media has on the masses is a sort of surveillance. Our society is controlled by the media, where everyone is required to buy the things they need. It is the way our society functions; some places are owned by other people where we will follow the purpose of the place, such as a theme park. Even though we are free to make our own choices, we have internalized what the media portrays and go on these rides, pay for the carnival games, and eat their food. With the amount of security Truman had, with cameras watching him everywhere he went, he was ensured safety. There was no way he was going to die without all the viewers and audiences knowing. Even so, his fate would be in the hands of the director, who predetermines how Truman's day would occur. By sacrificing our freedom to let events happen by themselves, we can receive protection and security.

The Truman Show depicts the life of a man named Truman Burbank whose sole existence is to entertain millions of viewers worldwide. The initial thought of that may sound intriguing but in Truman’s case it’s anything but. Unbeknowist to Truman, he is the star of a TV show which exploits his every move. Since birth Truman has resided in a community which is completely housed by actors. For most of his life he is oblivious of what is occurring right under his nose. He does not become aware of the routine-like behaviors of his neighbors and colleagues and does not realize the obvious forms of product placement around him until later in his life. The reason why he is kept from the truth is because the producers of the show make it that way. They create ways in which to keep Truman oblivious, and keep him in control by using tactics that may be considered cruel. Though Truman was under the watchful eye of what you might call an omnipresent director, he was able to find a way to escape his commercialized prison. His search for the truth is what ultimately saves him from having a fake existence.
Truman’s journey depicts the escape of a man from a deteriorating and oppressive society through the acceptance of the truth. The society he lived in was oppressive for obvious reasons; he was not allowed to do anything that would go against the precursors that the director/producer had conjured up. The director, Christof, explains that Truman is genuine, that nothing he says is scripted. That in itself is not true, it is impossible for Truman to be a genuine man when everything and everyone around him including his own actions are being manipulated. There’s a stage in Truman’s life when he falls in love with a girl that was not meant for him, his future wife had already been chosen by Christof, and so distractions are created to keep him away from this girl.