Archetypes In The Truman Show
MCO 450: VISUAL COMMUNICATION + Spring, 2015 * DR. NATHARIUS
SUBMISSION TEMPLATE 2 pages: THE TRUMAN SHOW: A FILM ANALYSIS
Student Name: Last: Green First: Michelle Student #: 1205641147 THE PRINCIPALS INVOLVED IN THE FILM
Word Count: 436
Producers: According to The Truman Show’s IMBD profile, there were six producers and executive producers credited for the making of the film. Edward S. Feldman was also involved in the films 101 Dalmatians & Witness. Andrew Niccol also helped produce Lord of War, The Terminal and In Time. Lynn Pleshette aided in the production of the movie Mary Reilly. The next producer to work on The Truman Show was Richard Luke Rothschild who also was involved with Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, Double …show more content…
Jeaopary, and The Scorpion King. Scott Rudin has over one hundred movie credits to his name, contributing to big movies like Steve Jobs, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Moneyball, True Grit, and No Country for Old Men. Adam Schroeder was the final producer for The Truman Show, and previously helped produce movies like Sleepy Hollow, Zoolander, and Clueless.
Studio: According to The Truman Show’s IMBD profile, the studio that released The Truman Show was Paramount Pictures. Some of the most recent movies released from Paramount are Noah, Super 8, Thor, Iron Man, Star Trek, Paranormal Activity, Zodiac, and many more.
Director: According to The Truman Show’s IMBD profile, The Truman Show’s director was
Peter Weir. He is also known for directing movies such as The Way Back, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Fearless and Dead Poets Society.
Director of Photography: According to The Truman Show’s IMBD profile, the director of Photography for The Truman Show is Peter Biziou. Biziou was also involved in other movies such as Derailed, Ladies in Lavendar and Unfaithful.
Film Editor: According to The Truman Show’s IMBD profile, William M. Anderson and Lee
Smith are both credited for the editing of the film. These gentleman also worked on movies such as Dead Poets Society, While She Was Out, Interstellar, Inception, The Dark Knight and The Prestige.
Scriptwriter: According to The Truman Show’s IMBD profile, the writing credits are given to
Andrew Niccol. Niccol is also known for the writing of many movies like Good Kill, The Host, and In Time. The Truman Show was based on “a one-page film treatment titled The Malcolm Show in May 1991” (Wikipedia, 2015).
Major Characters: On The Truman Show’s IMBD profile, five of the main characters in the film are Truman Burbank played by Jim Carrey, Meryl Burbank played by Laura Linney, Marlon played by Noah Emmerich, Lauren played by Natascha McElhone, and Christof played by Ed Harris.
Protagonist: The protagonist in The Truman Show is Jim Carrey’s character Truman
Burbank.
Antagonist: The antagonist in The Truman Show is Ed Hariss’s character Christof.
REFERENCES:
The Truman Show. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truman_Show
The Truman Show: Full Cast & Crew. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120382/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm
Truman Show [Motion picture]. (1998). Paramount.
THE MAJOR THEMES, NARRATIVE POINT OF VIEW, ARCHETYPES IN THE STORY
Word Count: 256
Major Themes: The Major Themes presented in The Truman Show are actually all three. There is the Man to Self, where Truman is fighting his own inner thoughts and fears. Also represented is Man to Man, where Truman is put at odds with Christof. Finally there is Man to Fate, where Truman is faced with his biggest triumph, choosing his own destiny at the end of the movie.
Point of View: The Point of View in The Truman Show is omniscient or all-seeing. We as the viewers are given an all access pass to the world of Truman, the production and staff studio, and the outside world. Though the characters were not aware of all that was happening in the movie, the audience is revealed much throughout the film.
Archetypes: There are several archetypes that can be identified within The Truman Show.
I definitely recognized the mother and father figures within the movie. Truman’s literal mother figure is representative as this archetype. “To distract Truman (Jim Carrey) from his recent discoveries and suspicions, Christof (Ed Harris) orchestrates the return of Truman 's father and creates a moving television moment in the process” (Youtube 2011). Another archetype I identified was family. The general relation of Truman to his wife and his craving for his father is an example of this archetype. I believe that the feminine archetype are also identifiable in The Truman Show. You can see Truman’s obsession with creating a woman out of clippings from magazines. Another archetype represented is the shadow through the character …show more content…
Christof.
REFERENCES:
The Truman Show (6/9) Movie CLIP - Father Son Reunion (1998) HD. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfJc2bORFHs
Truman Show [Motion picture]. (1998). Paramount.
THE STORY LINE ELEMENTS OF THE FILM
Word Count: 383
Exposition: At the beginning of The Truman Show, the audience is shown that Truman has been filmed and recorded since his birth. It shows his entire life panned out before the entire world. His life has been recorded by five thousand miniature cameras placed throughout his ‘world.’ He has been recorded for twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week and broadcasted to the whole planet. After the opening scenes, Truman begins to notice things that are out of place. Examples of this are a spotlight falling from the sky, his wife crossing her fingers in their wedding photo, and when his car radio spells out his exact location over the airwaves.
Rising Action: The rising action comes when Truman begins contemplating his life and coming to the realization that the world seems to revolve around him. His wife Meryl seems to grow increasingly stressed by the pressures of performing on the show. Truman begins to try and escape his home of Seahaven, but is consistently blocked in his attempts with traffic, canceled flights, broken down busses, and a nuclear meltdown. Meryl ends up breaking down, and Christof hatches a plan to bring back Truman’s father in order to prevent Truman’s escape. At this point in the movie, Truman begins sleeping alone in his basement. Truman ends up tricking the cameras and escapes unnoticed through a tunnel, and for the first time in the shows history, broadcast ceases.
Climax: Christof sends Truman’s best friend Marlon to search for Truman. In a panic, Christof makes it day time unrealistically in order to aid in the search.
Falling Action: At this point in the movie, Truman finally faces his fears of water and sails away from Seahaven to find Sylvia. Christof makes a huge storm to try and prevent Truman from reaching the exit.
Resolution: Truman reaches the edge of the sound stage. Christof tries to talk Truman into staying. He said: “You were real. That’s what made you so good to watch. Listen to me Truman. There is no more truth out there than there is in the world I created for you. Same lies. Same deceit. But in my world, you have nothing to fear” (Philisophical Films 2015). Truman finishes the film by walking out of the exit and into the world.
REFERENCES:
The Truman Show (Philosophical Films). (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.philfilms.utm.edu/1/truman.htm
Truman Show [Motion picture]. (1998). Paramount.
OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE FILM
Word Count: 350
The Three "Narrative Streams:" The three narrative streams in The Truman Show are the Truman Story, Television Crew with Christof, and the public audience.
Subtexts in each of these "streams:" There are several subtexts in each of the "streams” featured in The Truman Show. First, Truman’s story within Seahaven is set in a perfect world. The film first establishes the produced and man-made place that is Truman’s world. With cookie-cutter houses, too-bright lights and twittering birds, the viewer is forced to feel that this narrative stream is meant to feel sort of like being lied to.
Three camera/editing/ special effects techniques: The stylization of The Truman Show was generally created to be very hyper-realistic and ‘perfect.’ One of the techniques that was used to create the ambience of the town was to have the set created up to a certain height. On many of the buildings, this meant just building the first floor, and then in post-production, the remainder of the floors were generated through computer generated images. Another special effect used was the generating of the structural dome that surrounded Seahaven. According the short film Faux Finishing, this was one of the hardest looks to achieve in order to allow the audience to perceive the size of the dome correctly. Another technique used in the making of The Truman Show was filming the actors in a tank with a painted ocean backdrop in the back. In order to make a cohesive image, post-production would then recreate the painted clouds to move up into the dome shape.
REFERENCES: Faux Finishing: The Visual Effects of 'The Truman Show [Motion picture on DVD]. (2015). USA: Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment.
Truman Show [Motion picture]. (1998). Paramount.
CRITICAL REACTIONS TO THE FILM
Word Count: 216
Positive Reactions: It seems that generally critics really enjoyed The Truman Show. On the movie rating and review website, Rotten Tomatoes, The Truman Show received an overwhelming 94% positive rating. Similarly, on IMDB, it received a rating of 8.1 out of 10 stars. One critical review of the film stated that “The Truman Show is such a film, hence it occupies an important space in cinematic paradigm” (CG Jung, 2015). I am in agreement with this thought, as this movie definitely is a stand out among many of its time. It seems that most critics agree that the “The Truman Show provides a thoughtful critique of both consumerism and the corruption of individuals” (Appsychproject 2013).
Negative Reactions: It does seem that there were a few viewers who disliked this film and its content. There are some critics who are concerned that movies such as The Truman Show can help to stimulate the paranoia of viewers of the film. “The Truman Show has lent its name to a rare psychological syndrome where the affected individual believes that he is the subject of a reality television show and that everyone around him is merely acting” (Appsychproject 2013). It seems that critics of the film are concerned that portraying this psychological disorder can be detrimental to already fragile self-images.
REFERENCES:
Part I: A Summary and Psychological Analysis of The Truman Show. (2013, February 26). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from https://appsychproject.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/part-i-a-summary-and-psychological-analysis-of-the-truman-show/
The Meaning of The Truman Show. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.transparencynow.com/trusig.htm
The Truman Show. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.cgjungpage.org/learn/articles/film-reviews/696-the-truman-show
The Truman Show: Full Cast & Crew. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120382/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm
The Truman Show. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/truman_show/
Truman Show [Motion picture]. (1998). Paramount.
MY PERSONAL REACTION TO THE FILM
Word Count: 178
Watching The Truman Show elicited a lot of thoughts and feelings from me as a viewer.
I want to start off by saying that I truly loved this film and found it to be provoking and made me very introspective. It’s hard to watch this film and not look over your shoulder. Being able to look closely at this film and dissect the visual communications has definitely given me the opportunity to learn about the way I perceive movies. I feel that The Truman Show is a great look at the way we are broadcasted to the world, especially now in a time where we are self-promoting into a world of social media and internet usage. I think in our modern world, we become both Christof and Truman, setting our thoughts, images, relationships and personal information into the world to be seen constantly and consistently. I am not sure this movie would have worked better at any other time than when it was made. Again, I feel this was a brilliantly produced movie that is though-provoking and thoroughly
enjoyable.
SUBMISSION TEMPLATE 2 pages: THE TRUMAN SHOW: A FILM ANALYSIS
Student Name: Last: Green First: Michelle Student #: 1205641147 THE PRINCIPALS INVOLVED IN THE FILM
Word Count: 436
Producers: According to The Truman Show’s IMBD profile, there were six producers and executive producers credited for the making of the film. Edward S. Feldman was also involved in the films 101 Dalmatians & Witness. Andrew Niccol also helped produce Lord of War, The Terminal and In Time. Lynn Pleshette aided in the production of the movie Mary Reilly. The next producer to work on The Truman Show was Richard Luke Rothschild who also was involved with Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, Double …show more content…
Jeaopary, and The Scorpion King. Scott Rudin has over one hundred movie credits to his name, contributing to big movies like Steve Jobs, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Moneyball, True Grit, and No Country for Old Men. Adam Schroeder was the final producer for The Truman Show, and previously helped produce movies like Sleepy Hollow, Zoolander, and Clueless.
Studio: According to The Truman Show’s IMBD profile, the studio that released The Truman Show was Paramount Pictures. Some of the most recent movies released from Paramount are Noah, Super 8, Thor, Iron Man, Star Trek, Paranormal Activity, Zodiac, and many more.
Director: According to The Truman Show’s IMBD profile, The Truman Show’s director was
Peter Weir. He is also known for directing movies such as The Way Back, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Fearless and Dead Poets Society.
Director of Photography: According to The Truman Show’s IMBD profile, the director of Photography for The Truman Show is Peter Biziou. Biziou was also involved in other movies such as Derailed, Ladies in Lavendar and Unfaithful.
Film Editor: According to The Truman Show’s IMBD profile, William M. Anderson and Lee
Smith are both credited for the editing of the film. These gentleman also worked on movies such as Dead Poets Society, While She Was Out, Interstellar, Inception, The Dark Knight and The Prestige.
Scriptwriter: According to The Truman Show’s IMBD profile, the writing credits are given to
Andrew Niccol. Niccol is also known for the writing of many movies like Good Kill, The Host, and In Time. The Truman Show was based on “a one-page film treatment titled The Malcolm Show in May 1991” (Wikipedia, 2015).
Major Characters: On The Truman Show’s IMBD profile, five of the main characters in the film are Truman Burbank played by Jim Carrey, Meryl Burbank played by Laura Linney, Marlon played by Noah Emmerich, Lauren played by Natascha McElhone, and Christof played by Ed Harris.
Protagonist: The protagonist in The Truman Show is Jim Carrey’s character Truman
Burbank.
Antagonist: The antagonist in The Truman Show is Ed Hariss’s character Christof.
REFERENCES:
The Truman Show. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truman_Show
The Truman Show: Full Cast & Crew. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120382/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm
Truman Show [Motion picture]. (1998). Paramount.
THE MAJOR THEMES, NARRATIVE POINT OF VIEW, ARCHETYPES IN THE STORY
Word Count: 256
Major Themes: The Major Themes presented in The Truman Show are actually all three. There is the Man to Self, where Truman is fighting his own inner thoughts and fears. Also represented is Man to Man, where Truman is put at odds with Christof. Finally there is Man to Fate, where Truman is faced with his biggest triumph, choosing his own destiny at the end of the movie.
Point of View: The Point of View in The Truman Show is omniscient or all-seeing. We as the viewers are given an all access pass to the world of Truman, the production and staff studio, and the outside world. Though the characters were not aware of all that was happening in the movie, the audience is revealed much throughout the film.
Archetypes: There are several archetypes that can be identified within The Truman Show.
I definitely recognized the mother and father figures within the movie. Truman’s literal mother figure is representative as this archetype. “To distract Truman (Jim Carrey) from his recent discoveries and suspicions, Christof (Ed Harris) orchestrates the return of Truman 's father and creates a moving television moment in the process” (Youtube 2011). Another archetype I identified was family. The general relation of Truman to his wife and his craving for his father is an example of this archetype. I believe that the feminine archetype are also identifiable in The Truman Show. You can see Truman’s obsession with creating a woman out of clippings from magazines. Another archetype represented is the shadow through the character …show more content…
Christof.
REFERENCES:
The Truman Show (6/9) Movie CLIP - Father Son Reunion (1998) HD. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfJc2bORFHs
Truman Show [Motion picture]. (1998). Paramount.
THE STORY LINE ELEMENTS OF THE FILM
Word Count: 383
Exposition: At the beginning of The Truman Show, the audience is shown that Truman has been filmed and recorded since his birth. It shows his entire life panned out before the entire world. His life has been recorded by five thousand miniature cameras placed throughout his ‘world.’ He has been recorded for twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week and broadcasted to the whole planet. After the opening scenes, Truman begins to notice things that are out of place. Examples of this are a spotlight falling from the sky, his wife crossing her fingers in their wedding photo, and when his car radio spells out his exact location over the airwaves.
Rising Action: The rising action comes when Truman begins contemplating his life and coming to the realization that the world seems to revolve around him. His wife Meryl seems to grow increasingly stressed by the pressures of performing on the show. Truman begins to try and escape his home of Seahaven, but is consistently blocked in his attempts with traffic, canceled flights, broken down busses, and a nuclear meltdown. Meryl ends up breaking down, and Christof hatches a plan to bring back Truman’s father in order to prevent Truman’s escape. At this point in the movie, Truman begins sleeping alone in his basement. Truman ends up tricking the cameras and escapes unnoticed through a tunnel, and for the first time in the shows history, broadcast ceases.
Climax: Christof sends Truman’s best friend Marlon to search for Truman. In a panic, Christof makes it day time unrealistically in order to aid in the search.
Falling Action: At this point in the movie, Truman finally faces his fears of water and sails away from Seahaven to find Sylvia. Christof makes a huge storm to try and prevent Truman from reaching the exit.
Resolution: Truman reaches the edge of the sound stage. Christof tries to talk Truman into staying. He said: “You were real. That’s what made you so good to watch. Listen to me Truman. There is no more truth out there than there is in the world I created for you. Same lies. Same deceit. But in my world, you have nothing to fear” (Philisophical Films 2015). Truman finishes the film by walking out of the exit and into the world.
REFERENCES:
The Truman Show (Philosophical Films). (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.philfilms.utm.edu/1/truman.htm
Truman Show [Motion picture]. (1998). Paramount.
OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE FILM
Word Count: 350
The Three "Narrative Streams:" The three narrative streams in The Truman Show are the Truman Story, Television Crew with Christof, and the public audience.
Subtexts in each of these "streams:" There are several subtexts in each of the "streams” featured in The Truman Show. First, Truman’s story within Seahaven is set in a perfect world. The film first establishes the produced and man-made place that is Truman’s world. With cookie-cutter houses, too-bright lights and twittering birds, the viewer is forced to feel that this narrative stream is meant to feel sort of like being lied to.
Three camera/editing/ special effects techniques: The stylization of The Truman Show was generally created to be very hyper-realistic and ‘perfect.’ One of the techniques that was used to create the ambience of the town was to have the set created up to a certain height. On many of the buildings, this meant just building the first floor, and then in post-production, the remainder of the floors were generated through computer generated images. Another special effect used was the generating of the structural dome that surrounded Seahaven. According the short film Faux Finishing, this was one of the hardest looks to achieve in order to allow the audience to perceive the size of the dome correctly. Another technique used in the making of The Truman Show was filming the actors in a tank with a painted ocean backdrop in the back. In order to make a cohesive image, post-production would then recreate the painted clouds to move up into the dome shape.
REFERENCES: Faux Finishing: The Visual Effects of 'The Truman Show [Motion picture on DVD]. (2015). USA: Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment.
Truman Show [Motion picture]. (1998). Paramount.
CRITICAL REACTIONS TO THE FILM
Word Count: 216
Positive Reactions: It seems that generally critics really enjoyed The Truman Show. On the movie rating and review website, Rotten Tomatoes, The Truman Show received an overwhelming 94% positive rating. Similarly, on IMDB, it received a rating of 8.1 out of 10 stars. One critical review of the film stated that “The Truman Show is such a film, hence it occupies an important space in cinematic paradigm” (CG Jung, 2015). I am in agreement with this thought, as this movie definitely is a stand out among many of its time. It seems that most critics agree that the “The Truman Show provides a thoughtful critique of both consumerism and the corruption of individuals” (Appsychproject 2013).
Negative Reactions: It does seem that there were a few viewers who disliked this film and its content. There are some critics who are concerned that movies such as The Truman Show can help to stimulate the paranoia of viewers of the film. “The Truman Show has lent its name to a rare psychological syndrome where the affected individual believes that he is the subject of a reality television show and that everyone around him is merely acting” (Appsychproject 2013). It seems that critics of the film are concerned that portraying this psychological disorder can be detrimental to already fragile self-images.
REFERENCES:
Part I: A Summary and Psychological Analysis of The Truman Show. (2013, February 26). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from https://appsychproject.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/part-i-a-summary-and-psychological-analysis-of-the-truman-show/
The Meaning of The Truman Show. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.transparencynow.com/trusig.htm
The Truman Show. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.cgjungpage.org/learn/articles/film-reviews/696-the-truman-show
The Truman Show: Full Cast & Crew. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120382/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm
The Truman Show. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/truman_show/
Truman Show [Motion picture]. (1998). Paramount.
MY PERSONAL REACTION TO THE FILM
Word Count: 178
Watching The Truman Show elicited a lot of thoughts and feelings from me as a viewer.
I want to start off by saying that I truly loved this film and found it to be provoking and made me very introspective. It’s hard to watch this film and not look over your shoulder. Being able to look closely at this film and dissect the visual communications has definitely given me the opportunity to learn about the way I perceive movies. I feel that The Truman Show is a great look at the way we are broadcasted to the world, especially now in a time where we are self-promoting into a world of social media and internet usage. I think in our modern world, we become both Christof and Truman, setting our thoughts, images, relationships and personal information into the world to be seen constantly and consistently. I am not sure this movie would have worked better at any other time than when it was made. Again, I feel this was a brilliantly produced movie that is though-provoking and thoroughly
enjoyable.