2019 HSC Module C: Close Study of Text Question and Band 6 Answers.

Question 6 — Film – Peter Weir, The Truman Show (20 marks)

What is your personal response to Weir’s exploration of control in The

Sample 1

Individuals are often seen as a product of their own environment and are challenged or coerced
by the beliefs and ideas inherent to their surroundings. Within our contemporary society, these
majority views often construct controversial social norms and in turn, verisimilitude, which leads
to a fundamentally flawed society. Peter Weir’s “The Truman Show” explores these underlying
issues within our contemporary society and exploits the control of mass media that manipulates
people’s everyday lives, encouraging the audience to question the morals and ethics behind
such influence. Hence, Weir demonstrates the hardships behind implicit societal pressure, that
gives us a direct message through its cynical commentary.

The Truman Show explores the control of mass media through Weir’s critique of the
surveillance and lack of privacy that is prominent throughout the film. Weir deliberately
constructs the director Chritof and his central protagonist, Truman, to represent the media’s
authority and overt control, portrayed through the endless monitoring and controlling of Truman
in an artificially established world, Seahaven. In this film, a myriad of camera shots and angles
are utilised, delineating the fake atmosphere of Seahaven as well as emphasising Truman’s
obliviousness despite constant surrounding surveillance. This is evident through the consistent
manipulation of the mise-en-scene whenever Truman purchases a newspaper, as the hidden
fly-on-the-wall shots accompanied by a fisheye lens with dark shadowy border creates a sense
of furtive observations, accentuating the fake life Truman is forced to lead. Additionally, through
the ironic absurdism of “I believe Truman is the first child to have been legally adopted by a
corporation...Brilliant!”, Weir highlights the questionable ethics of the show. It implores the
audience to acknowledge the privacy that’s been stripped away by the media. This depicts the
lack of privacy that still remains as a major concern stemming from the misleading role of the
media. Therefore, Weir exemplifies the perpetual censorship the media imposes upon society
which in turn, leads to disfigured and artificial social ideas.

Furthermore, The Truman Show conveys the media bias and agenda that plagues our society,
which is represented fervently throughout the film, as the various propaganda woven into
Seahaven’s society serves as a direct critique of the authoritarian nature of the media.
Throughout this film, subtle advertisements are carefully woven throughout Truman’s life,
providing satirical commentary on our society. Product placement is spearheaded through the
constant control and coercion of what consumers buy through the media. The close-up shot of
Meryl during her shameless endorsement of Mococoa in “I’ve tasted other cocoas, this is the
best!” as an increasingly anxious Truman becomes further engrossed in the verisimilitude of his
own life. This selfish behaviour displayed by Meryl serves as a direct parallel of the unethical
and misleading representation of the media. The controversy is heightened as Weir implements
irony in Christof’s assonance “There is no more truth out there than in here” as he reveals his
true character of avarice and megalomania. This insatiable desire for control mirrors the
constant bias and propaganda projected by the media in order to maintain their image and
views. Additionally, the claustrophobic imagery, accompanied by the non-diegetic melancholy
soundtrack during Truman’s ultimate epiphany, suggests the individuals’ struggle to overcome
the constant manipulation of truth and information present within our society.

Thus, Weir explores the theme of control through the criticism of the manipulative acts of the
media, warning the subconscious audience regarding the potential consequences and dangers
of media censorship and control.

Sample 2

Media has enormous power to manipulate realities and individual’s emotions in life, hence it has
the power to control people. In the film The Truman Show, Peter Weir criticises this
phenomenon through his skillful employment of characterisation. He conveys the negative effect
of continual surveillance by shaping an optimistic protagonist Truman and then illustrates the
power of media to control people by establishing minor characters and antagonist Christof and
portraying how they control and manipulate Truman. This invites us, as an audience, to reflect
on our own private life in this contemporary life with the omnipresent power of media.

Weir shapes Truman as an optimistic character who is interested in exploring and is strongly
bonded to his family, yet under constant surveillance by the media and consumers. Weir
introduces Truman through a monologue in the bathroom in the opening scene “No way, mister,
you’re going to the top of the mountain”. It indicates the curiosity and adventurous spirit
embedded inside Truman’s personality since he is imagining himself exploring the whole world.
This scene is edited so that Truman is shown on a television screen with a word ‘live’ on it,
suggesting that his daily and private behaviour is completely exposed to the media and
consumers within the film. Moreover, Truman’s love towards his family is shown where he is
flipping through the family album alone. The close-up shot of his facial expression highlights his
hesitations revealing that family occupies a significant position in his heart and will affect his
decisions of whether to pursue his own dream or stay back with his family. Meanwhile, Weir
uses the diegetic sound of the television to show explaining the advantages of staying at home
to create a sense of irony, to prove it suggests that Truman’s emotion is constantly supervised
by the media to make sure that he can always be controlled. Weir successfully creates Truman
as a sound character who values adventurous spirit and genuine relationship. However, by
positioning him under thousands of hidden cameras, he evokes our speculation of our own
private life in this contemporary society, where our information is constantly gathered by the
media through omnipresent surveillance. It also ignites our new ideas towards the text that
freedom and privacy as human rights may be deprived of for some individuals in the world due
to others’ profit.

On the other hand, Weir establishes the antagonist Christof to symbolise the power of media to
control and manipulate others’ emotions and life. Weir introduces Christof through an interview
at the beginning of the film where he is speaking to the audience. The close-up shot enhances
his dark clothing, beret and spectacles which combines with his calm and detached tone to
shape a stereotypical character as an artistic creation. This invites the audience to feel his
power and authority to control this TV show and him controlling Truman’s life through
highlighting his knowledgeable nature. The power of the media is conveyed through the
dialogue in the interview, where Christof says “As Truman grew up, we were forced to
manufacture ways to keep him on the island”. The following flashback of Kirk performing his
death in front of Truman indicates that Truman’s kindness and longing for genuine relationship
are ironically used by Christof to induce his guilt and fear. This is shown by the overhead shot of
the sunken boat which combines with a non-diegetic dramatic slow beating drum to create
tension, causing the responder to feel Truman’s vulnerability under Christof’s control. This
renews the cruel nature of Christof and his obsession with power, inviting us to see that the
media may use the idea we hold to impose another life under us, hence controlling our life. We
should be more aware of such control in life.

The minor characters shaped in The Truman Show reflect how the media has the power to
manipulate the community around us to force those who hold different opinions to conform to
authority. The media’s power to control individuals is explored in the scene when Truman is
asking his mum for truth about his dad. The medium shot of him gazes into his mother’s eyes
juxtaposes his mum’s avoidance of eye contact. This indicates that the emotional distance
between mother and son, the closest bond of humanity is fake in this world that Christof has
created. This describes how Christof takes the advantages of Truman’s guilt of the tragedy of
his father to confine him in this world for his own profit. This evokes our empathy towards
Truman’s tragic experience, but also reflects on the fact that our own disadvantages may be
used by others in life to control ourselves.

In conclusion, Peter Weir successfully criticises the strong power of media to control other
individuals through his skillful employment of characterisation. This provokes us to reflect on our
own life, appreciate the basic human rights we have that some others may be deprived of, but
also be aware that our lives are also controlled by the media in a similar way where Christof
controls Truman.