Group members: Leeshien Ares, Dirk Canen, Lynlie Edaño, Kyne Galope, John

Casimir Gorgonio, Adrian Rylee Lagado, Genesis Lumbang, John Benedict Yap

Strand/Track and Block: STEM 11-G

TOA: ETMT 3: Review and Analysis of the movie “The Truman Show” directed by Peter

Weir

Movie Review

The main character of the movie is only Truman Burbank. It is set in an island

town called Seahaven that resembles American suburbia. The movie explores various

themes, such as the nature of reality, the power of media, the loss of privacy, and the

search for individuality. The movie's premise revolves around Truman. He is born into a

movie set and lives his life in a seemingly perfect town without knowing his entire life is

being filmed for a TV show. Later Truman begins to notice odd happenings in his

simulated world. He gradually finds the truth by connecting the dots between the weird

occurrences. The movie sends the message of the manipulative nature of corporate

media. Showing how the media shapes reality for the sake of entertainment and profit.
 Movie analysis

Freedom is a concept ingrained in the human person. Which, in every period of

time a human person has existed, serves as the cornerstone of human desire. This

means that the human person is a free being by nature, and it is our pursuit of freedom

that drives us to explore the boundaries of human existence. Much like in “The Truman

Show”, Truman, by nature, is not free, as he is born within the confines of an illusion of

what reality is. He cannot comprehend the outside world as he has no concept of what it

is. Truman is a human being, meaning it is his nature to seek freedom. In this context,

the movie serves as a thought-provoking metaphor for the human desire to seek

freedom and the desire to transcend from limitations placed upon us.

Facticity

Facticity is defined by Jean-Paul Sartre as being in a situation with the world. The

tasks we decide to be constantly engaged in and care about have very little to do with

us, they are sort of decided for us by the particular facticity that we were born into.

Truman is caught in the facticity of being in a set of a show ever since he was born. This

then limited his freedom, potential, and generally his existence. The flow of his daily life

is controlled by the producers of the show. This also placed him in bad faith or mauvaise

foi as he lived a preordained purpose; to star in a show that served as everyone’s

entertainment. The world designed for him by the producers hindered his exercise of will

as seen in his repeated attempts of escaping where every time he would think of ways

to leave Seahaven, the producers would orchestrate ways to stop him. He was unable
to visit the places he wanted to go to like Fiji and New Orleans as this does not go

according to the flow written by the producers. The set then, although ideal in many

conditions, became hell for Truman. Being in a situation with other people forced

Truman to live in a loop and stopped him from exploring and discovering various things

about the world as depicted in what Truman said when he started seeing patterns in the

people around him “They’re on a loop. They go around the block. They come back.

They go around again. They just go round and round.” (Weir, 1998, 00:47:06) However,

this did not paralyze Truman’s freedom, which according to Sartre is absolute. It

denotes people to be fully free so that every choice they make can ultimately be traced

back to them and them only. In the movie, though Truman is limited to his facticity of

being chosen as the star of the show without his knowledge, he was able to use his

freedom to a maximum extent through choosing an alternate option. Meaning, he still

has radical freedom as the choice of escaping the fake world he was in came from him

and him only.

Alternate possibility

The Principle of Alternate Possibility by Harry Frunkfurt states that an action is

free only if you do the otherwise; When only one course of action is available, we are

not responsible for it. Throughout the life of Truman, every cast member has avoided

revealing the truth to Truman, except one; Sylvia, who was hired as an actor, broke

character and decided to do the otherwise of her job. She told Truman that his life was a

set and everyone knew everything (Weir, 1998, 0:26:00). This is the first event in the

movie that can truly be classified as free. By revealing that his entire life has been a set,
he came to realize that his everyday life has been a loop, and everything has been an

event of an agent. Sylvia breaking character makes the other cast members, and

producer’s even more responsible for their action since they have could have done the

otherwise which would be telling the nature of Truman’s life. Truman’s freedom cannot

be classified as authentic as there are people who control the life he is living. “I'm being

spontaneous. Somebody help me, I’m being spontaneous!” - Truman (Weir, 1998,

0:48:10). Truman says this in a sarcastic manner, after slowly realizing that he has been

a bird trapped within a cage, mocking the actors, and producers who have been

directing the flow of his life and restricting his freedom. "You never had a camera in my

head!" - Truman (Weir, 1998, 1:33:21). This line reflects Truman's defiance against the

limited alternate possibilities imposed on him. He challenges the omnipresent

surveillance and control, asserting his agency.

Soft determinism

Soft determinism or compatibilism is a theoretical notion that gives the

impression of human free will and determinism are compatible. This means that, for a

person that has free will but still manages to exist in the universe in a deterministic

system where preexisting causes, including moral choices are determined. As claimed

by Willam James (1842-1910), in every circumstance in human activity, determinism is

always accurate. Thus, it is already determined. But, when a person is not being

constrained means that they can only act freely by acting with desires. However, soft

determinism is predetermined but free will can conclude that simply doing what the

person wants is acted freely but to others they would see it the opposite way. Instead of
acting freely, it would seem that it is being controlled by others. Nevertheless, desires,

choices, and volition that lingers through itself then it is justifiable that the person is in

control and above that, it is determined by other components outside your command.

Take for example “The Truman Show”. Truman Burbank finds himself ensnared in the

facticity of his birth, trapped in a lifelong performance that began the moment he was

born. This manufactured reality severely limits his freedom, hindering his potential and

constraining his very existence. Truman’s daily life is meticulously controlled by the

show’s producers, leaving him with little room to exercise his free will. One scene that

depicts soft determinism is during “Truman’s Morning Routine”, Truman’s daily routine,

including his morning radio announcements and newspaper headlines, illustrates how

external influences shape his life. His environment, job, and social relationships are all

carefully curated by the show’s creators, presenting a deterministic perspective. Another

scene, “Sylvia’s attempts to Reveal the Truth”, Sylvia, an actress who initially pretended

to be a love interest, demonstrates the philosophy of soft determinism when she tries to

reveal the truth to Truman. Although she is limited by the show’s control, her actions

showa willingness to transcend those limitations to empower Truman with knowledge.

Conclusion

“The Truman Show” combines the elements of facticity, soft determinism and alternate

possibilities into one narrative that instigates a reflection into our own lives. Truman’s

journey leads us to look into the limits of our free will and how we exercise it, our

individuality and the nature of our reality. The ending of the film gives us an opportunity

to find the fine line between free will and determinism and how our free will defines our
life’s trajectory. Truman’s actions in the movie reminds us that despite how complex life

seems to be, the desire for freedom is an important part of the human psyche that

drives us to seek the truth that ‘sets us free’. The Truman show will forever be an iconic

piece, because of its ability to make the viewers ponder on the nature of reality, free will,

and the power of human resilience and desire in the face of limitations.
References

Moral responsibility and the principle of alternative possibilities (Stanford Encyclopedia

of Philosophy). (2020, July 9).

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/alternative-possibilities/#:~:text=Principle%20of%20Alt

ernative%20Possibilities%20

Weir, P. (Director). (1998). The Truman Show [Film]. Scott Rudin Productions