In both of the cases, the author and the director used to method of symbolism to help them get their purpose across to the readers. Many objects in both of the stories were given a meaning and an assumed understanding of what it is symbolising. Shadows is something that is presented in both of the cases, in The Allegory of the Cave there were objects that walked past the fire behind the prisoners, which gave out shadows to the prisoners to see. The shadows represented the truth that was not allowed to be seen by the prisoners but was able to get a small sense of what it is. In The Truman Show, there was a character who played the role of the shadow for Truman.
When H.I. marries his wife Ed, the camera is positioned above them, so that is seems as though the audience is looking down on them. This angle makes them appear weak and vulnerable as they are binding themselves to each other. The angle of looking down on the actors also works vice versa as it shifts positions and looks up at the priest, making him appear superior. Another example of these camera angles is when the man hunter tracks down the baby, and attempts to fight H.I. for him.
From birth, it has been decided that he would live in an on-screen life, whether he wanted to or not. Since Truman is not given the choice to spend what will ideally be his whole life on screen, he is unknowingly forced into his world, his life, his culture. Truman does not know anything else since he has never been taught anything else. Even if one is forced into a culture, that does not mean that they can never go out and discover a new culture to apply onto the culture they have already been born
In the first movie, The Truman show, at the first half of the movie it seemed like Truman enjoyed a good amount of urban privacy, for example, he and his wife had their own utopian house with a green front yard and a white wooden fence. Nonetheless, not until the second half of the movie it was revealed that all Truman movements, action, childhood and personal life was recorded by thousands of cameras around the city and then it was broadcasted on TV for the whole world to see. Truman was living in a Hollywood studio set without him knowing. Therefore, his privacy both urban and personal were harassed on daily passes. On the second movie, Brazil the government had the data of all its population.
The Truman Show does differ in some ways; the first obvious way is that there is only one man who has an unintentional blindness to the world. Truman Burbank is the protagonist or the prisoner in this story and his life appears seemingly normal initially, until it is revealed that he is the center of a reality television show that he has been the star of since the moment he was born. He has lived in the same town for all of his life and has not ever ventured outside of the town despite being nearly thirty years old. Every time he attempts to leave or plan a vacation, the television show director sends some kind of a disruption to keep him from leaving, although he is actually in a large dome that prevents him from simply leaving. Everyone in his life is an actor, however, many of them genuinely care for him and do not want him to live like this anymore.
His every move is captured by hidden cameras and continuously broadcasted to the rest of the world. Everything in Truman’s life is part of a massive television set which is ultimately controlled by Christof, the creator and director of the program. The theme of manipulation is highlighted throughout
However, one prisoner is released and forced out into the reality, allowing the reader to understand that the world one sees and experiences is not the reality, but rather an illusion. Similarly, in The Truman Show by Andrew Niccol, Truman Bank has been growing up in Seahaven Island, a place created just for him to live in for a television show that is all about him. Throughout the film, Truman realizes that Seahaven is not the real world, and viewers see his journey to get out of this illusion, and into reality outside the false world. Both The Allegory of the Cave and The Truman Show prove that the physical world is an illusion that prevents one from discovering reality. The concept of illusion versus reality is evident in both works through similarities in plot, similarities in symbolism, and differences in character.
Throughout the movie, Truman begins to realize that the whole world revolves around him and how the producers of the show have created his reality, thus developing his sociological imagination. To start,
The director does this purposely so that the viewers are drawn into the film. This also mirrors the human nature of reality shows. We get addicted to watching a reality show and we base our whole life around that one show. This is shown when the viewers of the Truman Show (the truman bar and the two old ladies) have watched the show since Truman was born. This scene is linked to an early part of the film where Truman lost his dad when he was young.
Not only are all his “loved ones” paid actors, but his entire existence is monitored by thousands of cameras and every aspect of his life is carefully controlled by Christof and his production team who go to great lengths to keep him clueless about the reality of his existence. In fact, his team kills off his “father” to make Truman afraid of the ocean and prevent him from venturing beyond his island hometown, which is housed in gigantic dome-shaped
But that producers make all flights booked and block all trains from leaving. In doing so Truman has no way of escaping his world. Another way we see Truman seeking meaning is after Truman sees his dad several years after he has died. He is completely thrown off and immediately starts searching for the truth. He goes to talk to his closest friend Marlon and his mother to talk about what he has just seen.
What we desire, and we need has a very clear distinction. Desires may not increases the chances of survival, but what we need is it self our survival. The things we try to obtain may include,independence,rights, and most importantly freedom. Freedom is only obtained for our enjoyment but is it really what we need?
In the movie The Truman Show, the idea is presented of a world similar to that experienced by Descartes. It shows the qualities that were relevant to Descartes’ development of knowledge and how he proved that the world existed, and how it allowed Truman to find the world around. Once Truman was able to prove that he existed, and that the evil genius did not, he was then able to see Christof in a more dual role as both the Evil Genius and God on his quest to finding out who he truly is. In The Truman Show there is a character named Truman Burbanks(?) who is unknowingly unaware of the world around, and if there really even is a world.
The Truman show The life of Truman Burbank is founded on a enormous secret. He is the unwitting and unsuspecting main character of a reality television show named The Truman show. Ever since the day Truman was born has a TV company broadcasted his every move. Truman 's whole life has taken place in a tremendous dome and everybody in his surrounding are hired actors. During his thirtieth year does the film begin and he recognises occurrences that all appears to be centred on him.
The Truman show is a movie that’s plot is based off the republic by Plato, written in 360 B.C.E. The Truman show is about a man who’s lived his entire life in a fictional town that is actually a TV show set. He does not know that his life is a TV show but he starts to learn the truth throughout the movie. Although Peter Weir reuses the idea of a cave were stuck in and that the truth is hard to realize from Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”, the transformation of the truth being much more than what we perceive and getting yourself out of your cave ultimately leads to a deeper truth that is as philosophically compelling. As Plato writes, “Human beings living in a underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood” meaning that literally, people are trapped in a cave. This is directly used the Truman show, as the TV show set is the cave that Truman in chained in.
