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Rating: 10/10 (11 September 2016)

The Truman Show is a great example of a well-executed satire. It is entertaining, has an interesting storyline/concept, and has a strong purpose behind it. The performances by all of the actors (Jim Carrey especially) only add to this already solid film.
The first time I watched The Truman Show I was 12 years old. It instantly became one of my favorite movies, alongside Clueless, Forrest Gump, and the amazing Sixteen Candles. Since then, I have watched it probably 6 times, but it somehow never seems to get old or boring. And to be honest? When our English teacher made us watch this movie during our satire unit, I was extremely confused. Never had I considered that this movie was more than a cool concept with a hilarious actor. Now, maybe I was just not a very observant and/or an intelligent person at the age of 12, but I still couldn't understand why this was considered a satire.
As we watched the movie in class, I begun to see it in a whole new light. I noticed things I hadn't noticed before, tried to dig deeper in order to find it's purpose, and most importantly tried to discover exactly why it had been given the title of "satire". After thinking about this long and hard, I came up with that the satirical purpose behind the movie was to show how the media controls us here in America. It uses inflation to exaggerate the situation Truman is in on the show, to help us recognize how controlling the media is not only in the movie, but in our own lives as well. While it may not necessarily use connotative word choice/language, it definitely evokes emotion in all of us as we feel sorry for Truman as he goes through life on a TV set. It uses dramatic irony because the audience knows that Truman's on a TV show before he does.
I think that the movie targets less of the mainstream media, and more of the people sitting back and watching as our television sets and the internet take over our lives. We are taught to not take things at first glance for what they seemingly are and to always question the world around us. This can be related to the lies that both Fox and CNN tell us on the daily about politics and what's going on around the world. The people that blindly follow either news source no matter what they are saying are the true target of this movie. Now, of course our lives aren't being broadcast to the entire world, but similar to Truman some people's lives are being controlled by a TV station. And it's our job to discover the truth and get out. As Christof said, "We accept the reality of the world with which we're presented."
To sum things up, this movie is nothing short of a masterpiece. Learning the true purpose behind the movie has only made me like it more as I can appreciate the thought going into each line and scene to make it more than just "entertaining." I truly believe that this is a movie every person should see, even if they don't necessarily agree with the purpose, just because it is such a well thought out and brilliantly executed movie. If you are bored on a Friday night, or just want to see something that will really make you think instead of just mindless TV shows, please give this movie a try!