Analysis: The Truman Show
The first scene of ‘The Truman Show’ plays a large part in showing all of the characters’ personalities and also showing numerous themes of the film. All of the characters are alone in this scene, which is the only time in the entire film that characters such as Marlon and Meryl are shown by themselves without Truman. It is interesting that they all still try to hide their true selves.
The scene starts with an interview with Christof. He is shown as the arrogant God - he is telling us what to think (“We’ve become bored with watching...”). He portrays himself as the humble brooding artist through the costume he is wearing (lennon-glasses, beret etc) and the camera: bland, bleak surroundings as if he is the struggling artist. However one gets the impression that he sees himself as this omnipotent power: He knows what we think, he has created this world. Even the camera subtly shows this by being focussed on him, and is one of the most extreme close ups in the film, making him seem very big in comparison to the other characters. It is also ironic that the only non-actor in the film (Truman is an actor in his own right) puts on the biggest front.
Truman is shown next, and he is shown in an extreme close up, but zooming out. It is as if he is responding to Christof, as when Christof says “it’s a life”, it immediately cuts to Truman with a light in the corner of the screen flashing “LIVE”. It seems that already Truman is trying to rebel, as he contradicts Christof by saying “I’m not going to make it” (or “I will escape”) when Christof was touting the Truman Show to be this grand affair. In fact Truman ‘responds’ to others frequently in this scene, for example when Christof says “Some people leave him on all night for comfort”, Truman responds with “You’re crazy you know that?”. This is directed chiefly at society, for becoming so obsessed with commercialism and products.
When the camera zooms out on Truman, the letters A -0108 appear on the bottom of a television monitor. This corresponds to Acts 1;8 and is part of the symbolism that surrounds this film. “When the holy spirit has come upon you, you will receive power to testify about me to great effect, to the people in ...all of the ends of the earth, about my death and resurrection” (Acts 1;8). I believe that this is Truman talking to Christof and the viewers about re-runs. This is further emphasised by the quote “If I don’t make it to the peak, you will have to use me as an alternative source of food”. The “peak” could be referring to the climax of the series, or the top ratings. Also to do with religious symbolism, it is interesting to note that the order the characters are introduced is also the order that biblical figures rose: Christof, Truman, Meryl :: God, Adam, Eve.
Meryl is introduced as Hannah Gill, and her personality reflects this name. The word ‘Hannah’ is a word spelt the same forward as it is backwards and so suggests a person with not much originality and someone that is very transparent. Meryl is just such a person, being modelled on the 1950s housewife she is merely a collection of cliches (ie staring off into the distance, preening herself). This makes her the perfect soap character and very two-dimensional. After her interview, Truman comes back with another sarcastic retort in response to Meryl’s claim “It’s a truly blessed life”: “Yeah, tell me something I don’t know”. Here he is showing the way that people can be exploited by the media and how they feel about it afterwards.
The interview with Marlon is very ironic as he is saying that nothing is fake in his world but seems to be extremely edgy and is constantly glancing off camera. This is because he is uncomfortable without lines being spoon-fed to him every instant by Christof.
The middle scene is extremely important as no matter which theory of discovery (whether Truman knows everything at the start of the film or figures out halfway through) you subscribe to, Truman almost definitely comes out of this scene knowing the truth. The scene starts out with a long shot of Truman and Marlon sitting on the bridge. There is also a reflection of the bridge in the water, but it seems to be distorted, murky and an altogether darker image. This reflection could be Peter Weir’s image of reality, and adds to the mirror motif in this film (shown earlier in such things as the bathroom mirror). Peter Weir is saying that we are really being manipulated through the media, but this is very ironic as he is using the media to tell us this. This is why the image is so distorted.
The dialogue in this scene is mostly Marlon very subtly putting Truman down (“You wishing you’d made something more out of yourself?”) in order to make Truman stay and to dispel his fears. However when Truman says “everybody seems to be in on it”, significantly Marlon can’t hold his gaze and looks away, pausing. If Truman is observed extremely closely for his reaction he looks away with an (apparent) sudden look of shock and betrayal in his eyes and most importantly he is seen to nod ever-so-slightly to himself (this is very hard to pick up). It is at this point that Truman realises that everything around him is a sham and his best friend has betrayed him. When Marlon says “I know that feeling when everything seems to be slipping away”, he looks like he really means it and Truman looks like he believes Marlon. However at this point we get a huge shock as the facade of ‘suspension of disbelief’ is shattered as we realise that Christof is giving all of Marlon’s lines to him. When it cuts to the control room, the first two people we see (Christof’s lackeys) are staring mindlessly at the monitors. This could be Peter Weir having a cynical shot at his audience and at our voyeuristic society in general, that we just mindlessly consume and don’t question anything.
Once Christof appears in the scene, the whole scene suddenly becomes very cliched (“I’d step in front of traffic for you”). When Marlon says ‘If everyone was in on it, I’d have to be in on it too”, Truman just stares at him as if to say ‘how can you just sit here and lie to my face?’. Marlon is noticeably uncomfortable while delivering these lines. Once Truman’s father enters, the scene becomes one huge soap opera. Everything is way over the top, and while Truman tries to cling to the last shreds of sanity in his rapidly diminishing world, Christof is busy taking those threads of emotion and technically manipulating them and turning them into something that closely resembles ‘The Days of Our Lives’. Christof’s approach is typified with quotes such as “Easy on the fog” and “Crane cam”. When the ‘scene’ finishes successfully, Christof is very much the pretentious artist, ‘overwhelmed’ with his work and taking all of the thanks while Truman is still running the gauntlet of conflicting emotions.
The final scene complete the biblical symbolism seen all the way through the film. In this scene many religious motifs can be seen: crosses, references to the bible (psalms 139), floods, walking on water, sun out of the clouds, stairway to heaven, organ music etc. The scene is related to three tales from the bible: Adam, Jesus and Job. Adam was created in God’s image in a perfect world, but then temptation came along (Sylvia/Snake) and released forbidden knowledge. In the end he was expelled from the Garden of Eden to lead a life of sin. Jesus was God’s son, and his whole life was a sacrifice so that others (ie the audience) could live in hope. He was killed but ultimately rose again.
Job was a farmer who questioned a number of things about God, so God got very angry and tested in the desert for many years. This is where his story takes the opposite form to Truman’s. Job confronted God and God humbled him by saying things such as “Are you as strong I am, can your voice thunder as loud as I am?” (Job 40;9). Job immediately stopped questioning when he realised he was inferior and returned to his normal life with twice as many possessions as before.
Truman however does none of this and keeps questioning as Christof tries to scare and the reason with him, and ultimately learns the final and absolute truth (reality). This is a very cynical view for Peter Weir to have as he is saying that God is a manipulative and vengeful entity and to unlock the secret of who we are we must continually question overbearing figures such as this ‘God’ or our media.
