An important idea in Peter Weirs ‘The Truman Show’ is surveillance and social control. It is important because it gives us as the audience an understanding to be careful because we are always being watched just like Truman. He is being watched 24/7 with no privacy, he is being forced to stay on Seahaven island where he has lived his whole life and the producers of the Truman show use his fears as a way to stop him from leaving because no Truman means no show.
‘The Truman Show’ is more relevant than ever as it predicted the rise of “reality” tv and society under tremendous surveillance. Our modern world is filled with examples of surveillance and it is fair to say that our privacy has become under threat because of this.
An important idea in ‘The Truman Show’ is surveillance and social control, Truman Burbank is the star of his own show and he doesn’t even know it. Truman is being watched 24/7 worldwide with no privacy and has been his whole life even before he was born as we are shown an extreme close up of Truman in the womb. His whole life he has wanted to leave Seahaven island and explore the world but every time he tries he is set back and forced to stay, Seahaven island is in the center of a giant dome and is surrounded with water to keep Truman in.
The producers of the show have found many ways to keep Truman from leaving one of which is his fear of water after witnessing his dads drowning, this is shown with a flashback, ever since this event occurred in Truman’s life he has been afraid of water making it even harder for him to leave considering Seahaven is surrounded by it.
Christof ( the creator of the show ) selected Truman out of the 6 unwanted newborns and legally adopted him, making him the first person to ever be legally adopted by a corporation. When Truman was born he was being watched from all over the world and we know this from dialogue when Christof says “120 million were there at his birth”. During the interview with Christof, there is an inset of Truman drinking his macocoa drink, this shows that he is always being watched along with the dialogue of Christof saying “We have 5000 cameras but started with just one”.
Truman’s whole life has been controlled by society he is always told what his limitations are, from his teacher telling him that he has nothing left to explore because he wants to be an explorer and travel the world, to his father’s drowning. The producers of the show have these things happen to give Truman many reasons to stay but at the end of the film, Truman starts to figure out what has been going on and that he has been lied to so he decides that he wants to leave.
Christof doesn’t want Truman to leave so when Truman is making his great escape on a sailboat Christof creates a storm and tries to stop Truman but Truman is determined to leave. He is thrown overboard but yet he continues, Christof soon realizes there is nothing more he can do so he lets Truman continue on Until the boat hits the side of the dome. Truman soon realizes what has happened and is lectured by Christof and given reason to stay but Truman proceeds to leave meaning that there is no more Truman show.
In conclusion, I think that the Truman show is important to teenagers because it shows just how easy it is for someone to watch our every movement and know what we are doing 24/7 because there are cameras watching over us ( security cameras ) and satellites that can see us from all the way in space and we need to be careful with what we do online because someone could be watching which could be dangerous.