Truman Show

The issue in The Truman Show that applied most to this class, I think, was the problem with reality verses performance. For the actors/actresses on the show, their work was their life, and this is often the case with work-aholics. However, their work was a life, not just life in that it consumed all of their time and mental energy, but that it was their only life-the family, friends, home, etc. In the movie, no other life is revealed for these people. It is odd because so much of the town in the show is a set, unreal, yet these actors and actresses that have a permanent role in the show have to live it as if it were real. They miss out on reality as much if not more than Truman. I know we have discussed how the show is real-life for Truman, therefore he is the only true aspect of the show-the only thing that is truly interesting for that reason. However, his concept of reality is so off base that he is not exactly real, or he is not exactly contemporary American possibly. It would be more like watching a man in a foreign space, speaking English, and living in a very old/traditional town. But, his world lacked many realities such as sponteneity, exploration, true coincidence and pure free will. In that way Truman sounds like a slave. But, back to my concern with the actors/actresses. They have the knowledge of what the real world is like, looks like, acts like. It is never discussed whether they leave the set or not, but they are not sheltered like Truman. Therefore, they are aware of all the falsity and inaccuracy in this created world and life, making work not just life or a lifestyle, but a fake, unreal life, false to the real world. How or why would these people choose this world? Perhaps they desire the money, the fame, but this created world is obnoxiously fixed and fake to the point that it appears that the actors/actresses have become a kind of brainwash case convinced that the life they lead is good and noble. The life they lead preserves a lie, and imprisons a man, an American (emphasis on the freedom of Americans), in a dome for his whole life, for entertainment!