"The Truman Show:" The Desire for Real Life -Joe

The above is a clip from the end of the film of The Truman Show, when the main character realizes that his entire life has been filmed to the entertainment hungry masses.

The Truman Show holds many of the realist elements in that it seeks to present the life of an individual without foreknowledge of the observation of the individual. Truman, the protagonist in the movie, lives his life the same way you or I live our own life. Except, Truman is unknowingly being filmed for the whole world to watch. The director of this worlwide phenomenon is able to achieve this secret form of voyeurism because Truman was adopted by the show when he was born and a whole world was built around Truman, like a whole town serving as the setting for this show. The show begins with Truman's birth and has maintained success long enough to film into Truman's mid 30s. This includes every trip to the bathroom and every minute through his sleep. 

The Truman Show also explores the fascination people have with observing other humans. What makes this accepted form of voyeurism significant, as opposed to voyeurism against the individuals wishes, is the uninhibited observation of other's emotions. In a clip from the movie, Truman suspects that his life is being controlled by some unknown force, and decides to test these forces. He makes several attempts to escape the island where he has lived for years with the only means possible, a boat. Through years of being told he has a fear of the ocean, he makes his escape for the foreign world beyond his town. The director, who is the unknown force, has the ability to create hurricane level storms in the ocean, and do so to the point of capsizing Truman's boat. Eventually, Truman makes it to the ends of the dome that separates TV Land from the real world, and he decides to move forward into the unknown.

The realization of being controlled and breaking away from some force is emblematic of realism. Realist wish to break away from religious or civil institutions and to form the self in nature, where life really happens. The effort to portray life in a certain way is in contrast to realism, as it is controlled by the individual portraying life. As evidenced by the director's need to control how Truman's life is presented to the world as perfect and consistently interesting is contrived and impossible to achieve in real life. Thus, the more we yearn for a realistic depiction of life, the more we stray from reality because we wish to sensationalize and dramatize reality. Reality is just reality, boring and plain.