Narratively, The Truman Show is about a man who lives in an artificial world constructed specifically for him with the express purpose that his life be broadcast 24/7 in front of the whole world for their entertainment pleasure, and technically speaking, this is what the film is about. However, for the more philosophically adventurous among us, The Truman Show can take on a whole new meaning depending on your perspective. Specifically, to understand the film from an existentialist point of view, you must assume the perspective of Truman himself. For Truman, Seahaven is not only his world, but it is THE world. It is the only existence he has ever known. His whole definition of who Truman Burbank is derives from the experiences he has had, which have been exclusively maintained and controlled by the show's producers. When Truman begins questioning the nature of his own reality, he is not merely exposing a conspiracy of a secret reality television show, but from his perspective, Truman is challenging the idea of an objective reality itself. This questioning the preordained essence of the world is not an insignificant one and is usually the beginning of any path leading towards existentialism. The film's climatic sequence, where Truman goes sailing to find the edges of his existence and is met with a ferocious storm that nearly kills him, orchestrated by the show's creator, Christof (but from Truman's point of view, God himself) is perhaps the most bold existentialist statement ever put on the silver screen. Then, when Truman rejects Christof's offer to live in the safe, but artificial world created for him, instead choosing to venture into the real world, Truman's transformation into the ultimate existential warrior is complete.
A film fanatic at a very young age, starting with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies and gradually moving up to more sophisticated fare, at around the age of ten he became inexplicably obsessed with all things Oscar. With the incredibly trivial power of being able to chronologically name every Best Picture winner from memory, his lifelong goal is to see every Oscar nominated film, in every major category, in the history of the Academy Awards.
