7 of 7

Write now Article Tools

Has anyone watched the Truman Show before?

Have you been watched by the Truman Show before?

Knock, knock. Maybe it's time for you to rethink about truth, perception and reality as you know it.

What will follow is a philosophical review of the Truman Show (1998) starring Jim Carrey. Having watched the show will help you understand my text alot better.

By the insistent and ever-constant conditioning on Truman from the part of the actors', they "trick" Truman in the belief of the actual reality of Seahaven as a world justified to really exist.

If events never developed in such a way as to allow Truman to start doubting, then by virtue of the actors' insistence, the truth would have been denied to Truman for possibly his whole life.

Thus, the knowledge he has about the world is but a construct of the people about him. This construct, of course, may either be true e.g. America is part of the world, or false e.g. Seahaven is part of the real world of America.

Our real world, supposedly, relies on knowledge passed on, ironically, the same way as Truman's "fake", constructed world.

Do you not think so? The ideas Truman has about his world have to be educated to him from young. This is also the way in our world, where parents, educators, friends, strangers, governments etc. tell us what to believe in from young.

These beliefs are then taken as truth, until we reach a certain age to begin doubting their validity e.g. Santa Claus exists. Justification is then given to us to make us confirm and convert us into advocates of that belief e.g. democracy is good for it supports human rights.

The modern world we live in validates truth, or knowledge, based on the justifications provided for the former to be true. If falsehoods or fallacies are found in the reasoning, the belief is unjustified. Otherwise, it becomes truth. If more than one consistent reasoning models exists, then it is subjective truth. This thus forms a predominant model of knowledge validity testing in our world, which its strengths have been advertised as being able to prove absolute truths that cannot be disputed e.g. the Earth is round.

A flaw in such a reasoning model is apparently showcased in the Truman Show. Given, everything in Truman's life that is doubted may be justified, but does it mean that it is absolute truth? It seems that such deductive reasoning models may not be so reliable anymore if the premises of reasoning is exclusively true to just one entity-in-question e.g. Seahaven's truth

• 1
• 2
• 3
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Movie analysis: The Truman Show and our perception of reality?
We want to hear your view. Write now!