Stereotypes In The Truman Show By Peter Weir

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Having recently graduated from high school and attended many graduation parties before I came to college, I became very familiar with people always saying, “they grow up so fast, or I wish I was a kid again”. As a kid life is pretty great. You don’t have any responsibilities; people are always looking out for you, making sure you don’t hurt yourself. You are driven everywhere, everything is paid for, and you are almost always monitored. In the film the Truman Show by Peter Weir, the main character Truman obtains some of these attributes a child displays such as protection and being constantly watched by the corporation. Furthermore, Truman resembles a modern day celebrity as he stars in a television show within the film that takes on the …show more content…
With the development of technology and media production, celebrities’ faces are everywhere. Whether it is movies, advertisements or commercials, their faces are shown to the rest of the world. In addition, celebrities are role models as they are the face of many companies. Because their image is easily accessible they are constantly being watched and looked up to. People strive to have the publicity that celebrities have. “Almost always women – willing to step forward and relate their woeful life stories on camera in exchange for a reward. Sometimes it was prizes like refrigerators and washing machines, today it’s media visibility.” (Reality TV and the Production of Ordinary Celebrity, Grindstaff , 23) With the digital world dominating our lifestyles people generally want publicity. However, sometimes the publicity can have a negative affect on some people. It can do damage on people with big ego’s like Johnny Manziel, or some people can run from it like Amanda …show more content…
For example, lets look at the television show Survivor. The castaways are always being watched/filmed just like Truman. Even though Survivor is a television show and obviously scripted, it is filmed to perceive the audience as happening at the moment that they audience is watching it. From the eyes of the audience, it does not seem that the castaways are being controlled. It appears that the castaways control their own destiny and hope to not be chosen to leave the island. However the castaways do not control their own destiny. The producer/director of the television show does (corporation). Morally it is not right to do that, however the corporation has ownership just like it did in the Truman Show. While Seahaven was not a real world, it correlates to how our real world is. Seahaven was Truman’s home, which is an analogy for the sheltered lives many live. We are always caught up in our daily lives that are centered on ourselves and technology. It is not about ourselves though as others can always see what we are doing with our technology, more specifically social media, which invades our right to

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