Calling Out the Media Through Satire

Rating: 8/10 (10 September 2014)

Jim Carrey plays the perfect persona for a problem that has become even more pertinent since this movie came out in 1998. Playing a man growing up in a made up city run by a TV show that broadcasts his life is the much more literal and inflated idea of the media controlling everything the public sees. Weir targets the media and how they never give anyone any privacy. He shows this very literally in Truman's world, by showing his every movement and letting the whole world see it. The plot is a great use of Horatian satire to add the right amount of funny and light- heartedness, while also addressing the very real problem. It makes you laugh, but also cheer for Truman while he tries to find out the real truth of his world. The emotional connotations bring you closer to what Truman feels and how life changing an experience he is going through. You can see the fear and anger going through Truman as he finds out more and more about world. You can also see this fear in the director of the Truman Show, but for a very different reason; the fear he might lose the person he has grown up controlling and directing. The deflation of Truman's right to privacy can go hand in hand with what can happen in todays world. It may not be on the same level of the public watching your every move, but today, people can always be in contact with each other and see what everyone else is doing through social media and cell phones. Overall, the Truman show is a fantastic story that can be enjoyed at a simple level while you can laugh at Truman's world, but also enjoy it at a much much deeper level where his predicament can stand for much more serious real world problems that have become even more true 16 years after it was made.