The Truman Show: Capitalism and Mass Entertainment
“The Truman Show”: Capitalism and Mass Entertainment
A World Subordinated to Profit
The Truman Show paints a picture of a world where the profit motive has subordinated a human life to the whims of mass entertainment. Truman exists in a fake, profit-driven world, where culture has been replaced with a Utopian vision of the American middle class. The social science fiction film The Truman Show, directed by Peter Weir, utilizes a diverse variety of camera and visual techniques to support the idea that the main character, Truman, is the focus of a meticulously detailed and fabricated reality. The screenplay’s protagonist is the unwitting subject of a reality show that panders to the whims of the entertainment industry. Truman has been unknowingly thrown into a precarious situation, where everything he knows is a lie. The Truman Show is an interesting case because the director uses techniques that are controlled by some of the characters within the narrative. The cinematography in the film helps to demonstrate how much romance, value, and meaning the world of profiteering has sucked out of society.
Fish-Eye Lenses and Hidden Cameras
In The Truman Show, the use of fish-eye lenses lends credence to the narrative, in that they help to develop the idea that Truman is the star of a reality television show that implements hidden cameras to observe his life. During the scene where Truman is reunited with his impostor father, the producer of the show utilizes a camera hidden in a button to view Truman’s reaction through a close-up shot. This is important because it affirms the central idea of the film: that Truman is the subject of a reality TV show, and inevitably, the producers would have to get creative in their endeavors to capture his life on camera. The Truman Show also serves as a commentary on the American dream; camera techniques are utilized to capture the Utopian vision of the show and detail how, in the end, it is not realistic. A medium shot early on in the film serves this purpose, framing the travesty that is the happiness of those around him. As Truman approaches his workplace, he is stopped by two twins whose histrionic acting serves as the ultimate symbol for the prescribed happiness of the capital-driven American dream. Those playing Truman’s acquaintances are often shot in close-up shots to focus on their facial expressions, capturing their euphoric mania, presumably due to their existence within the picture-perfect middle-class neighborhood. This demonstrates how unrealistic this particular Utopian vision of the American dream is in practice.
Commercialization of Society
Among other themes in The Truman Show, a recurring message is one detailing the commercialization of society through capitalism. Truman’s life is littered with instances where his friends and family will break character completely to deliver an advertisement to the show’s audience. In one iteration, where Truman’s wife breaks out of a meaningful conversation to engage in the product placement of “This new Mococoa drink,” the camera zooms in on her to highlight the commercial elements of the interaction. In advertisements, zoom shots are often used to showcase the subject, which is often the product. Because of this, the use of the zoom shot successfully demonstrates how superficial the conversation is.