The Truman Show: A Cleverly Disguised Tragedy

I felt that this movie from 1998 had been slept on for far too long, it was time that someone shined a light on just how great this film truly is.

Now let me plug a few things...

[Wagman]

What's with all the redacted audio?

[Laura.Kramer]

the way director peter weir said he wanted to have cameras installed in every theater the film was shown in, having the projectionist at one point cut the power, cut to the viewers, and then cut back to the movie... I can't even imagine

[chrisrse.]

They made this video jokingly as a part of my own truman show

[mandymckk]

“Truman could leave at any point if he really wanted to” meanwhile they’re blocking him at every turn, gaslighting him his whole life, and doing everything in their power to stop that from happening, going to drastic and dangerous measures to stop him from leaving. Cristoff is truly an insidious manipulator

[animal]

I always took Truman's last line as him realizing he had a catchphrase and just saying it to appease the audience before starting his real life.

[bearvarine]

They sent Truman to cross the bay to REMIND HIM that he had a terrible fear of water. To REINFORCE that fear.

[shadowblood]

By the end we all felt like 1 of 3 people. Truman, Christoph or the guy in the bathtub.

[emilybone]

I like to think that Lauren/Sylvia rushing out her house at the end is her going to find Truman, and despite everything, he knows he can trust her, and she can help him find his way in the real world.

[uberterris]

I remember one time we were watching the Truman show in class. Normally whenever they put on something, the students aren't that interested, so when the bell rings they're fully ready to leave. But when we were watching the final scene of the Truman show with the stormy ocean, the bell rang and half the class stayed sitting. Everyone was fully willing to be late to their next class just to see how the movie ends. To me that says alot, because I've never seen such a reaction with any other movie.

[ratkingomega]

Let’s get real here, if the Truman Show was real. That ending would have been the greatest ending to a TV show ever.

[philosophicaljay]

I always thought that the reason they give Truman the job to deliver something across the bay is because it makes it seem like he is staying in his city by his own volition. If he was never offered a chance to leave the city it would make it easier to doubt the validity of the world around him, but by making it seem like it is his choice he doesn't doubt it in the least until forced to.

[Adrian-rimy]

Never noticed this before but the boat that Truman took was called the “Santa Maria” which is the same name of Christopher Columbus’ boat that he used to discover “The New World”, and Truman is using it to escape his prison and find a new world, too.

[Donchan]

In a world full of actors, Truman really was the only “true man”

[jepifany]

i think the most important part of the ending isn't when everyone watching cheers for Truman, it's when they're done cheering and change the channel. That's the real tragedy-- once the movie is over we can change the channel, watch something else, and wonder vaguely about Where He is Now, but Truman is stuck with the consequences of this forever. He can't stop living his life, and his life was destroyed for the fleeting entertainment of strangers who move on the second he stops entertaining them. Even the Free Truman movement seems to be incredibly small-- if it's bigger than just Lauren at all.

[wolf_-_gamer]

When I first watched this in my psychology my teacher didnt show us the beginning. We found out as Truman did

[liamkruchten]

I always thought the reason he was given the task of leaving the island for his job was to maintain the illusion of choice. That he is able to go anywhere and is often given the opportunity, but it is his own fault he can't. That would be an important psychological trick into making him believe he isn't on a tv show.

[thatone]

His fear of the ocean was not 'holding onto characterization' it IS his characterization. That is what the show intended. They manufactured his talassophobia to control Truman better. So that they DON'T have to deal with him leaving. It's the whole point, not a side fact that they "luckily kept in"

[sdsorrentino]

When I watched it, as Truman was escaping I was almost shouting

"FOLLOW HIM WITH THE CAMERA! I WANT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS!"

And suddenly I was the villain of the movie.

[swoodpanel]

Notice how Truman's environment barely even changes in 30 years, like being stuck in the 50's. In fact they could tell him that it's 1955 every year and he wouldn't even know. That's so twisted.

[jamesdevine]

If I was living in a Truman Show reality right now, the crew would be sweating bullets seeing me watch this video.