Truman Show Responses

Fear of Life

Author's Note: Here is my first response to The Truman Show. I found this kind of hard to respond to a movie, I had no trouble finding a topic, but the fact that I had to do it all on memory made it kind of difficult. Also when responding to a novel the book is right there and there is text evidence that you can use to support what you want to say, but you have none of that when responding to a movie. 

Truman is a man who lives in a television show, he does not know that his life is fake that is not really a life at all. Everything is controlled by the producers and all the people around him are actors put there for his benefit. It is not real, just a synthesizer of life that takes emotion away. In the scene where Truman is too scared to go on a boat ride on the ocean the ocean represents life and portrays how fear keeps people life.

The ocean can be rough and cruel, but also kind and gentle, just like life, when you are out in the ocean there can be a sense of being completely alone and that is what you basically are in life. Life is spending your time doing things that matter to you and making a difference to others, it is doing something that has real meaning, not going through the motions day after day like you are a mindless robot. In one scene Truman has to go on a boat, but chickens out because he is afraid of being on the ocean. This is Truman showing that he is scared of life, although it intrigues him it also scares him and his fear is part of what is keeping him from life.

A couple of scenes later is revealed that Truman is scared of the ocean because one day while boating with his father his father wanted to go back to shore, because he thought it looked like it was going to storm, but Truman begged and eventually convinced his dad to stay out longer. A storm ended up hitting just like his father had predicted, but his father ended up dying to Truman. As a boy when he wanted to stay out on the ocean, that is like Truman loved life, but after he lost his father in it he no longer liked it instead he feared it. His father being lost was mostly Truman's fault because he was the one who did not listen to his father, Truman feels guilty for his father's death. The guilt is not a huge factor in the fact that Truman is scared of life, but it plays a small part since it is his fault that the dad was lost the guilt could add to the fear because he might be like "what if I do this to someone else".

Truman is a man living a fake life and when offered the chance at  real one he is too scared to take up the offer.  He used to be someone who loved life, but the losses he suffered and the guilt all took their toll on him turning him into to someone who is afraid of life. Fear is something that can be good in small amounts, but when it keeps you from something such as life it is anything but good.

The Storm

Author's Note: Here is my second response to the Truman Show, it is like a follow up to the first one. That one was about Truman being afraid of life and this one is about what Truman encounters in life. I have no idea where the rebirth thing came from in the last sentence, I kind of read it over and was like "I didn't even realize I wrote that!", maybe I should delete, but I thought it sounded kind of cool even if it was random.

Troubles and sorrows swirled around him in one big over whelming wave, it surged upon him crashing against his skin and then ebbing away. Again it rose to attack him knocking his body against the hard edge of the lifeboat, the only thing that is keeping him from the torrent below.  A storm upon the water is what Truman experiences, the seemingly endless fight just for his life is his reality. In the second half of the Truman show, Truman takes a chance, leaping into life and experiencing the horrible storms and the quiet peace that comes after.

When the people running the show find Truman on the ocean and no way of getting to him they set storms upon him in hopes he will go back on his own or die. There is one man in particular, actually the creator of the show who is trying to make the storm big enough so that is kills Truman.  Just as the water represents life, the storm represents troubles within life, such as loss and betrayal. From each of those troubles or storms in life they will calm to a stronger you or a dead you, and there are those who cause the storms that would like to see the latter. The creator of he show is one of those people, constantly raining other's parades. He could also be compared to Satan who works against you constantly trying to stray you from the path of Life. If you can survive the storm though there is always a clear break at the end.

As Truman battles the last part of the storm, he falters and is plunged into the depths of the sea, he is believed to be dead but manages to hang and climb back into the boat. The creator finally gives the orders to stop assuming that Truman is dead, and when it is revealed he is alive the creator guy doesn't do anything. After the storm the cloud cover broke, and a beautiful blue sky was revealed which meant that Truman made it through that especially hard time in life and came out alive and stronger.  The calm sea that came after the storm is the quiet peace and relief after a particular hard time.

Once fearful of life Truman ended up jumping straight into it and surviving through a rough part to make it to the other side. The horrible storm took its toll, it took things from you, but you survived and it ultimately gave you strength. The light makes it over the horizon, rising to warm your weakened body. The morning comes after a rough night and you breath a sigh of relief, because you made, because you are reborn.