The Reflection of the Truman Show - （２）

 I have watched this movie when I was a seven-year-old child. Although my mother has explained the content of the film to me many times, I still could not realize the implied meaning behind the plot at that time. Recently, when I chatted with my senior high school Chinese teacher, we talked about the most impressive and attractive movie I had watched, then this situation reminds me of The Truman Show.
  The Truman Show is a 1998 American satirical comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. The leading role is Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank. The film describes that a man called Truman Burbank is entirely unconscious that he is living in a peeping-Ton TV show which broadcast around the clock to billions of people around the world. Truman’s hometown, Seahaven, is a giant dome. Everything in the Seahaven is artificial, inclusive of the weather, the sun, his wife and his friends. The producer Christof attempts to capture Truman's real emotion, reflection and human behavior when puting Truman in every situations. Truman gradually notices that his near-prefect world has something extraordinary happen at the age of 30, such as his dead father appears on the street as a vagrant and there are the same people appearing in the same places at certain times everyday day. He begins to become aware of some subtle oddities in his daily life. In the end of the movie Truman escapes the unreal world and comes into the real world.
  After enjoying the film, there are three principal and different aspects that are worth deeply discussing and reviewing. The first aspect is from the viewpoint of the producer - Christof. He adopts Truman Burbank in the name of the movie company, and keeps paying attention on Truman from his childhood; moreover, he offers various obstacles to create dramatic and exaggerated effects, such as his fear of the water, the determination of the love affair and the obstructions on his adventure… From the perspective of human rights, all sorts of sufferings seem too merciless and inhumane. Nevertheless, all living creatures which exist in this world and on this planet, whether there is as well as a producer such as “God”, “fate” or probably even the known or not. It keeps breathing down our necks, but we are not conscious of it.
  The second aspect is from the viewpoint of the audience. All of the relatives, friends, neighbors, and passersby, which have played the parts in Truman’s journey of life, are merely actors and actresses. Only the lead - Truman is the “True Man” in the show, so the words he has said and the affection he has revealed are the sincereness and truth. Because of the realization of all Truman’s real emotions, the acting beyond truthfulness and the theatric, effective and impressive plots, the audience can not help but addict to the plot. On the other hand, the Truman Show undoubtedly gives the audience the pleasant sensation of peeping someone. Under billions of eyes, Truman’s life was totally recorded by five thousand spy cameras. However, in the meanwhile the audience accompanies Truman to grow up, to adventure and break down all the barriers in his 30-year life. That is the reason why when Truman crosses the artificial sea and opens the door of the tremendous film studio in the end of the show, the audience breaks into rapturous applause.
  The third aspect is from the outlook of Truman himself. When Truman realizes that the world where he has lived in is unreal, he asks a question: "Was nothing real?" Then the producer – Christof answers: "You were real. That's what made you so good to watch. There is no more truth out there than there is in the world I created for you. The same lies, the same deceit. But in my world, you have nothing to fear." Truman, after a moment's thought, delivers his trademark phrase - "In case I don't see you... good afternoon, good evening, and good night,"- bows to his audience, and steps through the door and into the real world. In fact, the words that Christof says imply a parabolic truth: if we human being would always live slothfully and easeful rather than approach our ideal, establish self-affirmation, we would gradually lose our ways day by day. Ultimately we end our lifespan in fooling around just like a tragedy. Truman eventually throws away the comfortable yet untrue life but choose to live to be himself instead. We should learn the way that Truman faces his real life, even if we know there are plenty of obstructions in the future. Besides, we should as well imitate Truman’s optimistic character and the spirit of facing challenges bravely. These noble personalities, which lead him to find out who he really is, are priceless treasure that will make us success and lead us to the truth.