Why Is The Truman Show Unethical

When Christof, the creator and producer of The Truman Show, said that the show “brings hope and joy and inspiration to millions” many morality issues were raised. For example, it was not fair for Truman to be treated as less than human for the pleasure of others, even if that number is millions. Life is precious and to treat it as less is disgraceful. It would be a different situation if Truman knew about, choose, and wanted to be a star of the show, but throughout the movie, Truman does not even know he is being filmed. When he learned about the surveillance, Truman wanted to escape his pre-chosen fate. Sylvia Garland was correct when she said, “He's not a performer. He's a prisoner.” because unlike everyone else on set and in the crew, Truman …show more content…
Besides creating the show, he was hypocritical, manipulative, and selfish, and Truman was the direct receiver these negative qualities. When the interviewer began his chat with Christof, he thanked him and said, “We all know how jealously you regard privacy.” This shows how hypocritical Christof was since he makes a living and enjoys having full surveillance on Truman. Countless times throughout the movie, Christof manipulated Truman. This was most prevalent when Truman attempted leave Seahaven and Christof told him “You can leave if you want. I won't try to stop you. But you won't survive out there. You don't know what to do, where to go... I know you better than you know yourself. You're not going to walk out that door...”. Christof encouraged the cast members to prevent Truman from leaving the set in whatever way they saw fit. The cast threw nets on Truman and made him fearful for the shows benefit. However, Christof was the most inhumane to Truman when he tried to drown him while he was fleeing by boat. Christof relentlessly threw lighting at Truman and created fatal waves. He justified almost killing Truman because Truman “...was born in front of a live audience.”. If Christof cared about Truman like he preached, or at least treated him with human dignity, he would not have preferred Truman dead than him leaving the show. To Christof, Truman was only as necessary as his rating and was only …show more content…
Truman had almost no privacy, very little freedom, and was psychologically abused. It is obvious that Truman did not enjoy his constant surveillance because one of the only views he shared Christof was, "You never had a camera in my head.". The only privacy Truman had was his thoughts, which made him feel incredibly violated and drew him to insanity. The production chose "to manufacture ways to keep Truman in Seahaven" by psychologically torturing and playing mind games with him. As the days went on, Truman became exhausted by constant traumatic experiences, paranoia, and fear. He lived in a world that may have wonderful elements, but he had no control in that world. To Truman, the uncertainty of the outside world was so much more appealing than the manufactured world that he was forced to live in. By leaving, Truman gained the truth he was searching for and finally gained a choice about his own