Truman's World tells the story of a young man named Truman, who is the protagonist of a popular reality TV show, but knows nothing about it.Eventually, he endured the temptation and torture, out of the reality show studio, out of the virtual world.Truman's World uses implicit symbolic and metaphorical techniques to express the theory of "media control".
In Goffman's theory, acting can be divided into foreground and background. When performing in the foreground, the individual must show an idealized face by hiding the plot and motivation that does not match his ideal image.Backstage is completely different from frontstage, it is both dressing room and lounge, performers can not be as concerned about their own image and set limits, in a natural and relaxed state.In Truman's World, Truman performs not only on that TV show, but also in his own life.Truman's performance can also be divided into "front stage act" and "backstage act".For example, greeting your neighbors when you go out in the morning is called "front desk behavior" and is designed to gain recognition for your social relationships.When Truman was in the bathroom, talking to himself in the mirror, he looked as if he were a different person. This was his "behavior in the background".Truman's performance did not benefit from his special identity, but from human nature, just like every one of us.
The parody of life is also an inevitable choice.We all know that natural expression does reflect the true nature of a person's heart, but it may not be acceptable.Therefore, not only to achieve the natural effect, but also to be controlled to a certain extent, has become the pursuit of people in the performance.It is the meaning achieved by such performances that they are accepted by interactive objects and audiences and achieve the desired goal of the performers.Goffman himself paid special attention to such performances.It is also pointed out that when a performer performs such a performance, although it is mainly his intentional control, the performer may faithfully believe in his performance, thereby integrating himself with the performing character.The above discussion leads to a deeper reflection, that is, in the performance, how the performers themselves view the performance.As a real-life person, Goffman argues, performers always want the performance to be real, not pretentious, and the content of the performance to be consistent with the objective reality, rather than performing for the sake of it.In the movie, Truman's "front desk behavior" is a necessity of life.But when he knows his true situation, if he continues to play the leading role in a television show, his performance becomes "fake" and "act for the sake of acting" that does not correspond to reality.If Truman had been fooled before, he would have been fooled by the world if Truman had continued to be at the mercy of others after he knew the truth.His performance was really a sham.Such absurd behavior, not Goffman's theory of "performance", will make Truman himself difficult to accept, let alone will not be recognized by the audience.
In the definition of a role, Goffman noted that the role consists of an activity in which the incumbent acts solely on the basis of the norms to be followed by a person of his position.As can be seen, Goffman associated "role" with "norm".In Truman's World, Truman's life is reflected on the television screens of people all over the world.However, as a person, Truman and we all have a real own world, the world is private, not open to the outside world, is only Truman's own.When Truman learns the truth, his "norm" as a person conflicts with his norm as a hero in Truman's World, so he must seek change and agree.The way to change it was to leave Harbour.
Media Controllers - Metaphor for Christopher
From the beginning of the film, the subtitle "Kirstow's Creation" came into view.Christof, the English name of Christ, is the general director of Truman's World, who controls the whole operation and scheduling of the reality show, the fate of Truman, a reality show similar to "God".
Kirstow was able to give cool-tempered instructions based on Truman's characters' growth and mood changes.As the third perspective of Truman's life, Christopher had a warm side to Truman, but when Truman tried to escape, he was cruel enough to stop Truman by giving instructions of "wind and waves" and saying, "blow him over!"
In his last conversation with Truman, Christopher said, "Listen to me, the outside world is as false as the one I gave you.There are the same lies, the same deceit, but in my world you have nothing to fear. I know you better than yourself.Christopher is the movie's metaphor for "media controller", people can't see him, can't even feel him, but he can monitor people's every move, even guide and control people's past, present and future.He was not without emotion, but he was uncertain, and his only aim was to control, absolute control.
Media-controlled approaches — ubiquitous lenses
As an input carrier of "media", lens is like the spokesperson of "media", and its appearance means the role of media in life.
As a "reality show" film, "The World of Truman" reminds the audience of the existence of the camera every moment.From Truman's birth, from one camera to the 5000 cameras that followed, the camera's surveillance penetrated Truman's life.Every moment of Truman's life—talking to himself in the mirror, driving in high spirits, buying newspapers, and secretly grieving over one's loved one—Kirstow even mentioned in an interview that "the next step is to broadcast Truman's intercourse with his loved one live."For Truman, there was no privacy.Truman, who seemed to be free, was in a "panorama prison" (proposed by the French philosopher Foucault in his book Discipline and Punishment).The omnidirectional camera surveillance, asymmetry of information and unequal power put Truman's life in a collective peeping.
Meanwhile, Truman's World expresses the meaning of "camera" very cleverly, not by making the audience face up to the camera or lens, but by special design.This kind of "lens in the lens" design gives the audience the pleasure of peeping, but also produces a kind of "self-reflection" effect, forms the multi-layer emotion superposition, causes the thought.
Consequences of media control — a media-wide living environment
In Truman's World, not only the main character Truman is controlled by the media, but also the other actors, the staff and even the audience outside the reality show.
Other reality-show actors and reality-control workers who appear to be the show's main characters, but are also "involuntary" in reality, are confined to the studio, listening to Christopher, the media, and living in media-controlled conditions.The film's portrayal of the audience further embodies the consequences of media control.Doormen, restaurant waiters, a couple of elderly women, a Japanese family, a man in a bathtub alone... the audience covers all over the world, from all walks of life.They are influenced by Truman's life experience, and with Truman's laughter and sadness, reality TV has become an integral part of their lives.That's why when reality shows went off the air, there was strong social discontent.
Truman's actions are magnified and spread to every corner of the world; other actors and staff on reality TV react accordingly to Truman's reaction.
Therefore, it can be seen that the consequence of media control is to form a "human living space supported by media technology".People unconsciously rely on the media under the "all-media environment", and life revolves around the media, not their own life.
The dilemma of "media control"
The Carnival of Consumption——Transplantation of Commercial Economy
Compared with other forms of controlled society, in the media-controlled society, it is easier to form the symbol of consumption ideology.In the film, reality shows generate huge profits, equivalent to the annual output of a small country, because everything on the show is on sale and available for purchase.Media control can transplant commercial economy to every corner of public life, irrational consumption is also easier to produce.
In reality shows, the public may know that they have cameras and can control their consumption behavior, but as technology evolves, the public's awareness of the "media" will become less and less.Everything about media can be recorded as long as it is related to the media in ordinary life, which can form a huge database for brands and commodities, facilitate the consumption of everyone in the commercial economy.
It can be seen that while reality shows are consumed by viewers, viewers are also consumed by the media, resulting in huge business opportunities.Under the media-controlled society, the audience themselves accomplished the "commercialization" of the transformation.
Human alienation - loss of emotional expression
In the movie, Truman and his father meet again, the touching scene of Truman hugging his father, while Christ calmly directs: Don't smoke too much, arm camera ready, press camera 3.
In addition, Truman's World, everyone except Truman, who knows nothing about reality shows, focuses on their good image on camera, even Truman's wife, who smiles at the camera when arguing with Truman.They were like marionettes in a puppet show, with their mouths torn.They have no great joy and sorrow, only around Truman's life development reaction, lost the right to choose emotions.
Media control makes the mass with self-consciousness be controlled and bound by media tools and lose the ability of real expression of emotionally.
Alternative "utopias" — loss of illusion and reality
In an interview with Christopher, the former actor, Shvijah, angrily asked Christopher, "What right do you have to make a farce out of a person's life?You don't feel guilty at all?"Christ replied calmly, "I offer Truman a normal life…the world you live in is sick, and Taoyuan is the model world."
The society under the control of the media seems to have created a world of "utopia" like Taoyuan Island, where everyone lives and works in peace, order and harmony.This caters to the aspirations and aspirations of the vast majority of people.Indeed, under the influence of media control, everyone acts as accurately and accurately as a computer program, so that an absolutely idealized "utopia" may be formed.However, the society that everyone forms under the control of the media is like wearing a mask, without real starting point, without real emotion, and without real purpose. Such a society cannot be called "real".
So Christopher was able to confidently answer that Schwijachumen was "willingly sitting in what you think is a prison."People's yearning for "utopia" is more inclined to immerse themselves in such a society, people accept the reality, long past, lost in the reality of "illusion".
Truman's World depicts a world controlled by the media-the revelry of consumption, the loss of human emotional expression, the loss of reality and illusion.In the film, Truman once said: "I may be manipulated, as if I've had my whole life."It's not just about Truman in the camera, it's about reminding audiences not to be slaves to the media in the context of technological innovation.
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