Existentialism In Peter Weir's 'The Truman Show'

Peter Weir’s The Truman Show (1998) is about Truman Burbank, the unwitting star of a live television show that is broadcast to a global audience twenty four hours a day since his birth. What he believes to be his hometown of Seahaven is in fact a giant television studio filled with hidden cameras, designed to record his life. All the people around him, including his family and friends, are in fact actors. Every aspect of his life is controlled and written from behind the scenes by the show’s producer and director, Christof. However, a series of unusual incidents lead Truman to notice something amiss with his life. He tries to escape Seahaven a few times but is successfully prevented by Christof and his crew. Eventually, Truman manages to hoodwink the crew, escaping to sea. Surviving a storm Christof throws at him, he arrives at an edge of the huge sky-painted dome that surrounds his world. At this point, Christof announces himself to Truman revealing to him the truth of his existence as part of a television show and convincing him to stay. However, the film ends with Truman making a choice for himself walking through the door mark ‘Exit’ that leads to the real world.

At the heart of existentialism theory is that of personal freedom and the freedom of

Meryl says that “Well, for me, there is no, there is no difference between a private life and a public life. My, my life is my life, is The Truman Show. The Truman Show is...a lifestyle. It's a noble life. It is...a truly blessed life.” However, although she has chosen out of her own free will to be a part of The Truman Show, she is role-playing being Truman’s wife because she is not is wife (although she might be legally but not mentally). She has objectified herself as she is aware that she is not merely his wife, but is rather consciously deceiving herself, thus acting in bad