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Symbolism In The Truman Show

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Truman Burbank is the star of a favored reality television show called “The Truman Show.” The show is a live feed of Truman’s life. Cameras continue to roll 24 hours a day, seven days a week, commercial free. The whole world tunes in to watch and over the years has developed a connection with Truman. However, Truman Burbank has no idea. He believes he lives in the town of Seahaven, a staged set on which he has remained his whole life. In " The Truman Show," Writer Andrew Niccol illustrates the theme of perception versus reality through the use of dramatic irony, pathos, and symbolism. Andrew Niccol's use of dramatic irony gives us an inside look on the life of Truman and how his whole existence is a lie. Imagine if your entire family, …show more content…

At the beginning of the movie, it was stated that Truman was the very first child ever to be adopted by a corporation, even going as far as saying that he was born on live television. This brings out lots of emotion and opinions about the show. Viewers feel lots of sympathy for Truman because nothing in his life has ever been his own other than his reactions. That is what Christoff said made the show work, "We've become bored with watching actors give us phony emotions. We're tired of pyrotechnics and special effects. While the world he inhabits is in some respects counterfeit, there's nothing fake about Truman himself. No scripts, no cue cards...It isn't always Shakespeare, but it's genuine. It's a life" (The Truman Show).
Niccol uses Truman Burbank's fear of water as a form of symbolism for Truman's isolation, not only the physical seclusion of the dome from the outside world but also his feeling of solitude from his friends and family in the world he thought was real. He, rightfully so, begins to feel like the whole world is against him and this makes him feel alone. In contrast, Sylvia began to symbolize truth. She was Truman's light at the end of the tunnel. She was the only real encounter in Truman's life, and this was huge because she was what motivated him to gather up the courage to search for the truth. His goal became to ultimately find Sylvia and run away with her to Fiji. This represents his

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