1. Very recently, I had the opportunity to see the not-so-recent film "The Truman Show." The concept is brilliant....
"The film chronicles the life of a man who is initially unaware that he is living in a constructed reality television show, broadcast around the clock to billions of people across the globe. Truman becomes suspicious of his perceived reality and embarks on a quest to discover the truth about his life....
2. ... Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) lived his entire life, since before birth, in front of cameras for The Truman Show, although he is unaware of this fact. Truman's life is filmed through thousands of hidden cameras, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and broadcast live around the world, allowing executive producer Christof (Ed Harris) to capture Truman's real emotion and human behavior when put in certain situations....
3. ... Truman [accidently] reaches the edge of the dome, its bow piercing through the dome's painted sky. An awe-struck Truman then discovers a flight of stairs nearby, leading to a door marked "EXIT".
4. As he contemplates leaving his world, Christof speaks directly to Truman via a powerful sound system, trying to persuade him to stay and arguing that there is no more truth in the real world than there is in his own, artificial world. Truman, after a moment's thought, delivers his catchphrase "In case I don't see you... good afternoon, good evening, and good night" , bows to his audience and steps through the door and into the real world." The Truman Show - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
5. An imaginary world in which the individual's every need is taken care of so that he is kept docile, and ignorant of the ills and gambles that real life provides. And an 'executive producer' who takes care of the individual so as to increase his own power, and weath.
6. But everything is designed so that the individual is never allowed to understand how and why he is being taken care of, ...and being used.
7. Finally, the dénouement, when the individual realizes the fiction, the mirage of his cradle-to-grave fake existence...and he is given a chance to continue to be taken care or, or to walk through the door into reality, and be exposed to the buffeting of the winds of life.....he takes his destiny into his own hands.
8. The film is a brilliant portrayal of the predictions of Alexis de Tocqueville, who wrote in "Democracy in America" of the danger of Liberalism, of the warm embrace of big government, wanting only to provide for the citizen...but for its own power.
9. Writing in the 1830s, he described an immense, tutelary power, which takes sole charge of assuring their enjoyment and of watching over their fate. As he predicted, this power is absolute, attentive to detail, regular, provident, and gentle, and it works willingly for their happiness, but it wishes to be the only agent and the sole arbiter of that happiness. It provides for their security, foresees and supplies their needs, guides them in their principal affairs, directs their industry, regulates their testaments, divides their inheritances. He asked whether it can relieve them entirely of the trouble of thinking and of the effort associated with living.
a. Tocqueville foresaw that the human soul would enter into a long repose. In the process, individual energy would be almost extinguished; and, when action was required, men would rely on others, in a new and unprecedented species of servitude.
10. So, the conflict remains in our time, between what we glibly call liberalism, and conservatism, the felt need for guidance, and the longing to remain free. What this would involve, Tocqueville explains, is a species of compromise between administrative despotism and the sovereignty of the people, and the compromises that result, not in liberty, but in a soft, gentle despotism welcomed by those subject to it.
To exalt in one's accomplishments and success, one must be willing to face the travails of life.
"The film chronicles the life of a man who is initially unaware that he is living in a constructed reality television show, broadcast around the clock to billions of people across the globe. Truman becomes suspicious of his perceived reality and embarks on a quest to discover the truth about his life....
2. ... Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) lived his entire life, since before birth, in front of cameras for The Truman Show, although he is unaware of this fact. Truman's life is filmed through thousands of hidden cameras, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and broadcast live around the world, allowing executive producer Christof (Ed Harris) to capture Truman's real emotion and human behavior when put in certain situations....
3. ... Truman [accidently] reaches the edge of the dome, its bow piercing through the dome's painted sky. An awe-struck Truman then discovers a flight of stairs nearby, leading to a door marked "EXIT".
4. As he contemplates leaving his world, Christof speaks directly to Truman via a powerful sound system, trying to persuade him to stay and arguing that there is no more truth in the real world than there is in his own, artificial world. Truman, after a moment's thought, delivers his catchphrase "In case I don't see you... good afternoon, good evening, and good night" , bows to his audience and steps through the door and into the real world." The Truman Show - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
5. An imaginary world in which the individual's every need is taken care of so that he is kept docile, and ignorant of the ills and gambles that real life provides. And an 'executive producer' who takes care of the individual so as to increase his own power, and weath.
6. But everything is designed so that the individual is never allowed to understand how and why he is being taken care of, ...and being used.
7. Finally, the dénouement, when the individual realizes the fiction, the mirage of his cradle-to-grave fake existence...and he is given a chance to continue to be taken care or, or to walk through the door into reality, and be exposed to the buffeting of the winds of life.....he takes his destiny into his own hands.
8. The film is a brilliant portrayal of the predictions of Alexis de Tocqueville, who wrote in "Democracy in America" of the danger of Liberalism, of the warm embrace of big government, wanting only to provide for the citizen...but for its own power.
9. Writing in the 1830s, he described an immense, tutelary power, which takes sole charge of assuring their enjoyment and of watching over their fate. As he predicted, this power is absolute, attentive to detail, regular, provident, and gentle, and it works willingly for their happiness, but it wishes to be the only agent and the sole arbiter of that happiness. It provides for their security, foresees and supplies their needs, guides them in their principal affairs, directs their industry, regulates their testaments, divides their inheritances. He asked whether it can relieve them entirely of the trouble of thinking and of the effort associated with living.
a. Tocqueville foresaw that the human soul would enter into a long repose. In the process, individual energy would be almost extinguished; and, when action was required, men would rely on others, in a new and unprecedented species of servitude.
10. So, the conflict remains in our time, between what we glibly call liberalism, and conservatism, the felt need for guidance, and the longing to remain free. What this would involve, Tocqueville explains, is a species of compromise between administrative despotism and the sovereignty of the people, and the compromises that result, not in liberty, but in a soft, gentle despotism welcomed by those subject to it.
To exalt in one's accomplishments and success, one must be willing to face the travails of life.
