The Truman Show Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Truman Show - Assignment Example The film appropriately shows the dilemma of identity experienced by Truman as he wonders whether is life is real or is part of a staged drama, with its script written by other controllers. This dilemma which he experiences is part of the multiphrenia referred to by Gergen in many respects. First, the self population of Truman in his own life and the presence of a large audience watching Truman’s activities through hidden cameras is a determinant of the fact that Truman has a multiple sense of ‘self’ where one is himself and the other is the Truman being watched by the audience. Even the world around Truman is part of the staged â€Å"reality† based in the sets of Seahaven thereby creating an artificial world for Truman to dwell in. While every other character in the show is an actor, Truman is one who is just living his life like a supposedly normal individual, but which is a show for the world outside. Although Truman seems to be quite a popular character from the television show, it is important to understand that Truman himself has been isolated from the external world just as Gergen described is an implication of the inculcation of more and more individual values. Before being himself, Truman is put in front of others in the world making him an object similar to a commodity or a good that is understood in terms of its demand among the people. Gergen gives a critical thought on the set of interpretations made by the audiences who base their meanings out of some pre-knowledge gained through experience. Gergen has called this ‘forestructure’ or ‘perspective’ which is a set of prior understandings which enable an individual to derive meanings out of any textual or verbal information. Since the same perspective has now adopted multiple forms, there has been an increase in the complexity of truth. This fact also introduces confusion as to concept of rationality within an individual. Although Truman is able to f ind his way out of the fake world he had been forced into. In many ways, Truman is living an ideal life: one which is illusory and fake, and the way his life differs from an average human being largely lies in the perception of Truman’s world.