The Truman Show
1. Both The Truman Show and Being John Malkovich were nominated for awards as fantasy films. What types of fantasy do these films portray? How are these fantasies created, mediated or shared?
2. For example one could say that the scene in which John Malkovich enters his own head in Being John Malkovich represents narcissism and self-involvement: we all are the centers of our own universe. Do you see this as similar to the way the world of The Truman Show revolves around Truman? Are there any special features, similarities or differences between the two ideas?
3. Think about the role of objects in this film. Each object belongs to the designed set of the Truman show, supposedly contributing to the realistic representation of this world. Each object, however, can be suddenly lifted from this background role to "star" in its own mini advertisement. Also, because many objects have been outfitted with cameras and wiring, the surveillance of Truman in this world is effected through the contribution, manipulation and crafty placement of objects. This literalizes a paranoid fantasy: in this universe, Truman is truly being looked at by the objects that surround him.
4. What relationships between the "mediated" world and the "real" world are represented in the film? We see two layers of filmed reality in this film: "The Truman Show" is a fictional television show (and we see the people who watch it and who are its fictional audience). It is also a film, The Truman Show, which we watch as another audience, sometimes in coordination with the fictional audience, and sometimes from a more privileged position of omniscience. How is our viewing influenced by the responses and reactions we see form the fictional audience? Are we being directed also, and when? Do we become self-conscious at some point about our participation to the film's action? What effect does this have?
Every street name in Seahaven refers to a movie actor. For example there is a "Lancaster Square" and a "Barrymore Road."
The archway in Truman's town is inscribed with the phrase "Uno Pro Omnibus, Omnes Pro Uno" -- One for All, All for One.
Many of the elements in the film are very similar to Philip K. Dick's 1957 novel "Time Out Of Joint," about a man from 1998 who is obliviously kept under government observation in a fake 1957, in order to unwittingly work out lunar warfare strategies. Specific similarities include Truman overhearing his captors on his car radio and the scene in which he attempts to make people look round in the convenience store.
Truman Burbank: Jim Carrey
Meryl/Hanna Gill: Laura Linney
Marlon/Louis Coltrane: Noah Emmerich
Lauren Garland/Sylvia: Natascha McElhone
Angela Burbank, Truman's Mother: Holland Taylor
Kirk Burbank, Truman's Father: Brian Delate
Young Truman: Blair Slater
Christof: Ed Harris
Lawrence: Peter Krause
Vivien: Heidi Schanz
Ron (Twin): Ron Taylor
Don (Twin): Don Taylor
Spencer, a Neighbor: Ted Raymond
Travel Agent: Judy Clayton
Truman's Neighbor: Fritz Dominique
Truman's Neighbor: Angel Schmiedt
Contact the instructor: dk2244@yahoo.com