The Truman Show Essay

Practice Writing Task 1
Lauren is a very significant character in Peter Weir’s movie, ‘The Truman Show’ due to the crucial part she plays in Truman leaving Seahaven, the ‘paradise’ created for him by Christophe, the director. Christophe created this world for Truman for television, but it was Lauren who made it possible for him to leave this artificial world. Firstly, she did this by falling in love with Truman, and by being taken away from Truman’s world. Secondly, she set up a campaign against Christophe to release Truman from his cage. Finally, the memories she gave Truman allowed him to truly question his identity and his life by giving him a reason. Overall, she is a very influential figure, through the power of love, as love has the ability to change people and inspire leaps of faith.

Firstly, by falling in love with Truman, Lauren created a connection with him, a ‘true’ connection in a world where there is none. When he reciprocates and follows her, Christophe tries to stop Lauren from telling Truman the truth about his world, that it is fake. But he partly fails, as Lauren tells Truman that his life is a lie, that everything he knows isn’t real. But when Lauren’s ‘father’ takes her away, Truman knows something is wrong, what Lauren was telling him might be the truth. However, he has no proof, so he keeps on living his day to day life, thinking of her, which is the power that love holds over him. The camera shots that show Truman’s reaction to Lauren being taken away are mainly close up and low angled shots, which emphasises his shock and frustration at the sudden loss of Lauren. The extreme close ups of Lauren’s face shows her longing to tell Truman the truth and her frustration at the actor who was taking her away from him. The rest of the movie all came about because of her, and her actions in showing Truman towards the light.

Secondly, Lauren set up a campaign once she had been kicked out of the set, and worked hard to free Truman from his artificial prison. This shows the lengths she would go to for the sake of love and ethics. In this, she is following her moral compass and fighting for what she believes is right, that people should not be caged as animals, they should be free. She even confronts the director, Christophe at a key scene, by calling TruTalk, The Truman Show’s advertising side. The different sets showing the contrast in themes between Lauren’s apartment where she was fighting with Christophe in his moon base, as the real world’s setting is more homely and realistic compared with the artificial, hi-tech computer lined moon base that controls the actions of all the actors on Seahaven. This contrast helps emphasise the different beliefs of both sides of the argument; Lauren with saying that trapping Truman in a false world is wrong while Christophe believes it is right so long as it is a perfect world. By arguing with Christophe, Lauren confirms through ethical morals that trapping Truman in an artificial reality is wrong and shows how hard she will fight to confirm this.
Finally, the memories Lauren gave Truman allowed him to truly question his identity and his life by giving him a reason. Lauren wasn’t present in the current set itself, yet Truman remembered her, love spurring him on to construct a picture of her out of bits and pieces from magazines of women. This and her cardigan from the night when she was taken away, with a badge saying ‘how will it end’ is a leading symbol of the truth, predicting how the end will come about. Through her love with Truman, she made it inevitable that he would try to follow, and leave his artificial cocoon behind him. This proves that with her presence in his past, she allows him to overcome his obstacles to reach her, proving the power that love holds in inspiring leaps of faith.
Overall, Lauren’s actions in contributing to Truman Burbank’s escape make her a very significant character, as she gave him something that he could use to escape, the reason of love. Firstly, Lauren falls in love with Truman, giving him a real connection and partly tells him the truth about Seahaven, which is emphasised by the low angled and close up camera shots showing Truman’s shocked expressions. Secondly, Lauren shows by setting up a free Truman campaign that she is morally conscious about the lives of others, especially loved ones. This is emphasised through the contrasting sets of Lauren’s apartment and Christophe’s hi-tech moon base showing reality vs artificiality. Finally, Truman’s memories of Lauren allowed him to question himself and his reality because of a reason, to find out what really happened to her. Through their love of each other, it allowed Truman to escape the artificial prison that Christophe made for him and reach Lauren. So Lauren is a very significant character because of the influence she had on Truman through the power of love, and the influence that Truman had on her inspired her to fight back against Christophe and his fake world.