The Truman Show

Work Title: The Truman Show
Medium: Film
Episode Title:
Year: 1998
Writer(s): Andrew Niccol
"Original" Writer: Yes Own work?: No
Summary:

"In this movie, Jim Carrey is Truman, a man whose life is a fake one... The place he lives is in fact a big studio with hidden cameras everywhere, and all his friends and people around him, are actors who play their roles in the most popular tv-series in the world: The Truman Show. Truman thinks that he is an ordinary man with an ordinary life and has no idea about how he is exploited. Until one day... he finds out everything. Will he react?" (from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120382/plotsummary)

Era/Year of Portrayal: present_day
Distinctive characteristics of the world in portrayal:

N/A

Technology

  • Name of portrayed presence-evoking technology: newspaper, television, radio, everyone around Truman
  • Description of the technology: Truman lived in a fake word, everyone in his life is actor, and all the content of his media are made by a TV producer. In his life, all the media are normal media without special technology or super high quality, but Truman believed the content in these media. He interact with the guy in the radio when he was driving, has the presence as social realism. He thought all the people around him are real. The content of media in Truman's life are related to what Truman saw everyday and all the people around him act very normal. The TV producer used these"normal thing" to make Truman believe he was living in a "real life" and prevented Truman to find out all his life was a TV show.
  • Nature of task or activity: The only task Truman need to do when he use these media is to live as a normal person.
  • Performance of the Technology: All the media in Truman's life worked well at first. The TV producer used these media and media content to make him believe he was in the "real life". However, once the radio was broken and Truman heard TV producer's talking and made Truman to think if there are something wrong in his life. Moreover, once an actor told Truman everything in his life is not real, and broken Truman's sense of presence in some way.
  • Description of creator(s): The creator of Truman's faked life is a about 60 years old male TV show producer. He had a group of TV makers built a world for Truman, in where they can control everything. They even can control the weather in Truman's life.
  • Major goal(s) of creator(s): The producer what to make a TV show to show people's daily life, to see their real action. Moreover, he used this show to make a lot of money.
  • Description of users of technology: Truman was a boy born in the "Truman Show" he lived in this faked world and used these media, get along with these for about 30 years. He had a job to sell insurance. He also had a family in this faked world.
  • Type(s) of presence experience in the portrayal: both
  • Description of presence experience: Truman believed his world is real, he trust the content of media, feel like the island he lived is a real place not a faked placed in the TV show. He believed all the actors in his life are real people who lived in this island. He interact with them in a normal way.
  • User awareness of technology during experience: Truman aware he was living in a fake world in the end of this film. Some actors told him and the radio broken once, he noticed something wrong. These thing caused Truman's presence broken.
  • Valence of experience: Before Truman noticed he was living in a faked world, he enjoyed his life, he want to go to outside to see different things, but the TV producer use every way to prevent him. He feel sad. When he found out he was living in a faked word, he felt so angry and try everything to live here.
  • Specific responses: Truman did not like this presence experience, when he found out his world is a faked world, he feel very angry. What the TV producer did to Truman caused some ethic problem too.
Long-term consequences:

It took Truman 30 years to find out all his life is a sense of presence. Nothing in his life is real. It is a happy end since Truman leaved this faked world to find his new real life.

Other:

The media in this show are low technology, but the worked very well to produce Truman's sense of presence.

Coder name: Weimei Sun
Coder email: tuf20217@temple.edu
Coder affiliation: Temple University