My critique on 'The Trueman Show'.

For critical studies I was asked to write a 500 word critique on one of the following movies:-

• Taxadermia
• Cinema Paradiso
• The Trueman show

I chose to critique the Trueman show because to me it was more visually interesting. Before I even watched the film I gathered that the Trueman show was a show about someone called Trueman. A "show" means being exhibited publicly, but when I began to watch the film I then realised that Trueman Burbank was unaware he was being watched on a television show worldwide. He had been placed in a constructed reality. 

The reason I felt the creator of the Trueman show made it, was because it would display the reality and the human lifestyle of Trueman Burbank. There would be no fake emotions and no false human behaviour towards certain situations that Trueman was put in. Christof (the creator and executive producer of the show) could control what happens in Trueman's reality and he could also change anything that happened. Christof could censor anything from the show, for example in the show the studio lighting falls down and lands right in front of Trueman, but a day later in the papers it was a satellite that fell from out of space. Christof can cover almost anything up with the use of censoring. He can edit the truth and broadcast the lies through into the media the next day. 

Christof had so much power. He could decide what happens to Trueman in the show. He planned his life out, he controlled the life he built for Trueman. This gave me the concept that Christof was playing God. He made the world, he built the characters around Trueman, he could control the weather, he could control the time of day and he could also control life and death. Even though Christof could control almost anything 

there were some things he couldn't control. Such as Trueman falling in love with another girl. As soon as Christof saw this he had that girl removed through a story plot. The show is based on reality and Trueman's emotions are so real that they cannot be controlled. He is not an actor, he is not fake. 

In this show they broadcast product placement through advertisement. They advertise the products in such an obvious way on the show to make sure we can recognise the placement of the product. The characters look straight towards the camera and quotes on how amazing that certain product is, this makes Trueman confused because it isn't normal. We advertise publicly in real life too by the brands we wear and the merchandise we collect, but we don't advertise it clearly like the media does. When I started looking into how the film relates to reality I saw the relation with the hidden cameras everywhere like in the Trueman show we also have cameras everywhere. We have cameras for security on houses or shops and we also have CCTV cameras around the streets to help keep us safe. So just like Trueman we are also being watched by a higher power. I could also relate to the feeling of and I quote "just going around and around on a loop", the feeling of being stuck in a loop of everyday life. 

Towards the end pf the film Trueman tries to run away to Fiji to find the girl he had previously fell in love with. He escapes from his emotion and physical prison and begins to fight the system. He takes a boat and sails to the edge of the "reality". Christof now thinks the only way is to convince Trueman to stay in this reality. Christof starts talking to him from the sky which relates back to the idea of him being the 'God' or the 'Father'. It then felt that Trueman was 'the Son' or 'Jesus' because not only does he then walk on water he is the chosen one, picked to enter this world made by God. In the last moments when he walks through the door I felt happy that he was strong enough and gained that power to leap through the void into the unknown. I felt it was the fight against made up vs reality. I personally believe that Christof as a 'father' believed he had made the perfect world for him, a safer reality possibly protecting him from the harshness of real life. I found it strange how we just accept the reality that has been given to us because we know no different. Trueman explores and finds a way out which he is not sure what is out there but he has the courage he has built up to do so and I felt so proud of him. This film made me wonder if I was in a constructed reality and in someways I think we all are. 

(Favourite quote from the film:- 

Christof- "I know you better than you know yourself"

Trueman- "You never had a camera in my head!". )