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fire.

Is perception to be blamed, as a product of mental processes innate in us, or is it something more structured, logical, thoughtful - that which is externally inculcated?

Reality, of course, is a composition of truths, taken as a whole, and is then seen as an end result, a physical manifestation of all that truths that may be conceptually deconstructed from it.

I take Jean Baudrillard to be my teacher, when it comes to postmodern views of reality. Truman's reality is housed in Seahaven, a simulacra of the real world. For this, in many aspects his world is very similar to ours. What, is different, is the essence of this reality. Is it the real world out there, or is it an artificial construct of the real world out there? Christof, the in-movie producer of the Truman Show, later suggests Seahaven as a real escape from the outside world - which, he seems to think, has lost all authentic meaning of the real.

His view may be closer to the actual reality than our own interpretation, even if it does not mean grounds to convince Truman to stay on in Seahaven. The modern world is like the average movie, where everyone in it is faking their emotions and mindsets, to achieve various purposes to get yet another faked response from another. Even places like Disneyland market themselves as an escape from the real world by their "fantasy theme park" emphasis, though it is not free from the conventions of the real world e.g. queuing up to buy food is still a must.

This suggests, that reality is blurred between what is real and what is false. While what is real may never be known, it is an even saddening thought to know that the unreal cannot be seperated either.

Learn more about this author, Ajani Mgo.
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