The truman show

While watching "The Truman Show", there were so many different thoughts and questions running through my head. The first thought that popped into my head was how could people be okay with themselves knowing that they were manipulating this poor and innocent man into believing that the life he was living was reality. The fact that it was the biggest thing in society and that absolutely everyone was into it and that no one stopped to question the morality of the idea was ridiculous. Obviously it's only a fictional story, but the situation can be compared to many real life circumstances in which a person is used for someone else's gain and entertainment. Personally I don’t believe it matters what the circumstances are, it isn’t morally correct to use someone’s life for your own benefit. Very similar to today and our hundreds of reality TV shows, the directors, producers, and even us viewers ourselves are using these reality stars just like they did Truman in the movie. The only difference between the Truman show and actual reality shows today would be that the people in the shows are aware of the fact that they’re being recorded. In my opinion having all these shows only imply that we are so bored with our own lives that people have to come up with sufficient pitches for another “entertaining” reality show. Truman’s life was completely manufactured to be “perfect”, but even with that illusion, as soon the doubts of its true reality settled in, his curiosity to the truth only intensified. If I were to be put into his situation, I might be torn on what to do. Even Truman himself at first was hesitant to accept that what he perceived to be reality could in fact be all made up. Thankfully there hasn’t been a instance in which I have had to question my reality, but what if it happened? I don’t know. The closest thing that I can compare it to is being lied to and then having to find out the truth. Even though I don’t think it’s as severe as learning your whole reality and existence is fake, but it still undeniably forces you to question the “truth” and whether or not to accept it as it is. If I lived in Seahaven and knew that it was a perfect and safe place and was still offered the choice to enter into another world, I think it might take a while but eventually I’d take it. Knowing that there is a whole new and different world out there that I know nothing about provides enough curiosity to go with it. In my opinion, the worst that can happen is just that I might not like what I see or learn. If that were the case, I could easily return to Seahaven and everything would return to “normal”. It all comes down to the notion of our free will in our lives. Each and every person on this earth has the ability to do whatever they please. Using the movie as an example, christof did everything he thought possible to prevent Truman from leaving Seahaven and being exposed to the truth, yet it didn’t stop him because he was truly determined to leave and see what it was that he had been missing out on. Truman’s triumph only shows that the role of free will is extremely powerful and if we really desire to acquire any kind of knowledge despite the circumstances, it is possible. Ultimately his situation is similar to that in “The Allegory of the Cave”, in where prisoners had the opportunity to leave the mock reality they believed in and be taken into the real world. Finally, it depends on the individual person because the one man that was forced out, was enlightened and accepted the new truth, yet when he tried to get the other prisoners out, they refused to follow despite the promising details. The role of free will in our lives is principally whatever we choose it be, just like Truman who decided to go on and progress with his.