Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Fishbowl #5 The Truman Show: fifth hour

Afternoon!  Today is our last fishbowl day.  Let's make it a great one.

A couple of reminders of things we've previously discussed:

  • Please carefully proofread your posts.  Gratuitous errors in some interfered with comprehension.
  • Use the "reply" feature to thread your posts if you're responding to a particular question or comment v. saying, down the page, that you're responding to a prior question.
  • Aim for 3-5 good posts for each discussion.
Writing about film is a bit different than writing about written text as, obviously, we don't have a book of quotes to choose from.  Here is a copy of the script as well as a website featuring some "famous quotes".

Another great way to approach posting about film with specific plot points and evidence is choosing those concrete, 60 second snapshots from your film notes.  Here is an example of an effective question and comment for a discussion of film.

Example question:  One of the quotes that stuck out to me from the film's end is when Truman asks Christof who he is, and he responds by saying "I am the creator...of a television show".  That pause seems significant.  Why does Wier have Christof refer to himself as "the creator"?  What is he criticizing about Chrisof's power over Truman?  Man's power over other humans in general?

One scene that seemed important is from when Truman is little, and he says he wants to be a great explorer, like Magellan.  His teacher turns to him and says, in short, that he's too late; there's nothing left to explore.  This scene shows Truman's lifelong desire to go beyond Seahaven and, moreover, mankind's innate curiosity, as well as people's willingness to stifle that curiosity to maintain the status quo.




Happy posting!

75 comments:

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  4. In this situation of the blue or red pill, what would you choose and why? Do you like change?

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  5. In the scene where Truman is going through a photo album looking through his wedding photos, Truman notices that his wife has her fingers crossed. How is this significant to the film? Why was she crossing her fingers?

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    1. I think this caught Truman's eye because usually when someone crosses there fingers on a promise it means that they are not truly making that promise. Truman's "wife" was an actress so her marring him was not real. But in movies in our time when people get married they don't cross there fingers so why did she even though she was acting?

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    2. Often when people cross their fingers while making a promise, it is technically just rejecting the promise. Considering this is a T.V. show, Merrill probably feels like their Marriage is nothing more then just a television show and she doesn't actually feel love with Truman.

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    3. I think that this is significant to the film because of what crossing fingers represents. In most cultures when you cross your fingers you are lying about what you are saying or doing. So by Truman's wife crossing her fingers at their wedding it is showing that her marrying him wasn't truthful. Unlike in Fahrenheit 451, the audience sees how Truman and Meryl met each other, but Truman didn't appear to love Meryl. It is possible that Meryl married him for a reason no one would know. This is important to the rest of the movie because it shows that everything is fraudulent, even things we consider sacred such as marriage.

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  6. At the end of the movie the "creator" controlled the sunlight and weather and it made me wonder; what year is the movie based on and why was it not mentioned in the movie?

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    1. I think they never state the exact year and movies. You can tell this is an advanced society, you know it's far in the future in a world they created on their own. I believe this movie was based several hundred years in the future..

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    2. Much like Fahrenheit 451, I don't think the exact year is necessarily important and the idea were supposed to understand is that this is a dystopian society that is possible in the future (to an extent).

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    3. I think the director of the movie had the same idea of the author of Fahrenheit 451, eventually TV could end up like this. The scene where the man is sitting in his bathtub when the show goes blank and he gets extremely upset was a message, that people could become like that as well.

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  7. When the policeman said Truman's name Truman questioned it.. Do you think the policeman knew his name because he might have been one of those people who have dropped into the show?

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    1. When they crossed the bridge I think they left the "set" of the town, and started going into the real world... so the policeman didn't know any better; Truman's so well known.

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    2. I think the police man was another actor part of the show and he just slipped and said his name on accident.

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    3. I think that when the police man said Truman's name Truman didn't question it but something finally clicked for him. I think that he finally realized how everyone where he lives knows him and his name even if they hadn't met before. Instead of a confused reaction he looked like he had more of shocked reaction and had become enlightened to his situation.

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  8. When Truman first meets Sylvia when he is younger, she is wearing a pin that says "How is it going to end?" Why did the people behind the show choose that statement?

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  9. Why would everyone do this and be able to do it for this long and go along with Truman thinking that its real, and how did it take him so long to figure it out?

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    1. I assume for most people it wasn't constantly acting. I think this was their real life as well, just it revolves around Truman's. They only have to act when they are with Truman; or near him.

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    2. I think people went along with it because before the movie started the actors were shown and they all said that "The Truman Show" was real, that it wasn't just a show. So in a way I feel like these actors have been doing the show for so long that it has become a true reality for them.

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    3. Well I feel like people started to get sloppy with the whole thing like people started to call him Truman, they let his "dad" on set after he died, the radio played their walky-talky things, I was falling apart anyways.

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  10. Who did you think the "fans" of the show represent in terms of the book? I believe they represent the book lovers/ readers because they seemed happy about having the show until it was over then they were still happy.

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  11. Why do you think that the girl that Truman was in love with in college was taken off the show and what could that mean about the creator of the show?

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    1. She was taken off the show because she tried to tell him that he was on the show.

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    2. I think she was probably taken off the show because most-likely she was truly in love with Truman unlike some of the others on the show who were just acting. Also, she was trying to tell Truman the truth and that was probably a danger to the creator and the show. The creator seems like he would have to have a really crazy mind.

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    3. They took her off of the show because she would have told him that he was the star of a tv show rather than having his own real life

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    4. She is the same person who called into the interview with the creator and was seen crying of joy when Truman walked off the show. I think she is the only person who had truly ever loved him, and he still had feeling for her because he created a picture of her from models in magazines. Once she feel in love with him, she felt she needed to tell him the truth, that's why she was taken off the show.

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  12. How do you guys think Merrill (Truman's wife) is similar to Millie?

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    1. I think Merrill is similar to Mildred because she is very fake. She doesn't like change and she was terrified of breaking the law and crossing over the bridge. She pretends to love Truman.

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    2. Both Merrill and Mildred are skeptical to accept the truths which their husbands are trying to show them

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    3. I think in both cases Truman's wife and Montag's wife both tried to keep them from discovering the outside world or rebelling against the world they lived in.

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    4. Merrill and MIldred are similar because they seem to have the same mind set about the truth and they don't seem to care all that much about their husband's

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  13. Do you think that they were threaten to play along or else something would happen to them?

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    1. They were actors? So they signed up to do the show..?

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    2. I think the actors got paid a lot of money, because the creator of The Truman Show said they have made a lot of money throughout the years during the interview. That is what is extremely sad about Truman, his relationships were motivated by money.

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    3. @marissa Why would real money have any influence on them if they are always on set? They have nothing to do with real money everything they need is on set.

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  14. If Truman didn't know it was a show, Do you think there were more people who also didn't know?

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    1. I think everyone on set knew it was a show. When he gets on the bus and the little girl leans over to see him. She says, "Mommy, is that the man..." and her mom quickly gets her quite. They all know him, and that this is a show about him that they are involved in.

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    2. No because Truman was the only one who was "real" as the "creator" said towards the end of the movie. Everyone else on that little country was an actor/actress.

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  15. Since both Truman and Montag started to rebel when they found a new love for example Montag with books and Truman with the girl. Do you think love is a driving factor for rebellion?

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    1. I believe Love drives everything. Its our main motif in life, we have to be passionate about something; and in order for us to be passionate about it - we have to love it. Yes I do believe in these cases love is the driving factor of rebellion.

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    2. Good question. To me, Love drives a large majority of the world. Love seems to be the motive for a lot of things. I think when you are truly passionate about something you will do so much for it and almost everything you could possibly do to save it, seems reasonable.

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    3. I think it could be. People I think rebel for what makes them happy so in Truman's case the love for this girl.

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  16. How were they able to hide all the camera's, the 5000 camera's from him for so long?

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    1. They were microscopic. So they were so small that Truman could not even see them.

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    2. This was in the 50s so how did they have the technology to make them microscopic?

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  17. Do you think they will start a new show will a new person? After Truman left? Or would that be the end? If it is the end, what would they do with the giant dome? Would they just make it a tourist attraction?

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    1. I think this is the end of the show. They may think about making a new show with a new guy but - at the end of the movie when "the creator" tried to convince Truman to stay and Truman said "in case I don't see ya! Good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight." You saw the shocked look on the creators face. You could see how hurt he was - he couldn't do it again.

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  18. @Alec Tiger, I had a similar question to that about that, how long would he be kept there, is he would be stuck there forever not shown any of the real life, separated from society.

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  19. How was the cast so committed to this show and into staying in the dome for so long playing along in this little world?

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  20. What happened to his real family, I don't remember them saying anything about his birth parents.

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    1. At the end it talked about how he was a baby up for adoption so the company just adopted him, his parents did not want him.

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  21. Do the kid actors know that they are on tv, like do they know that Truman doesn't know he is on tv? Did Marlin know he was acting when they where little kids or did he think he was a real friend?

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    1. I think they told the kids they were on a tv show, and they gave them all of the lines and they knew not to ever tell Truman the truth about his life

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    2. I believe that they might not have been told until later, it's hard top say but I feel as they wouldn't take the chance of that in case that Truman got too close and someone slipped, I figured that they would take all sorts of precautions.

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  22. Would you guys say that Sylvia and Clarisse are kind the same kind of character?

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    1. Oooooo yes! Sylvia and Clarisse are both willing show Truman and Montag a new perspective on life and question the world.

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    2. Yes they both were the reason the main characters (montag and truman) opened there eyes.

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    3. Yes! They are both trying to show the truth in the world and cause change. They are both what drives the change in the book and show. Making Truman and Montag begin to think about what if and what they want. It makes them adventure outside of their comfort zone.

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    4. I there are the same in where they know that the world around him is different than what he thinks but Truman had a love for Sylvia but Montag was just fascinated with what Clarisse knew.

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    5. I would say that Sylvia and Clarisse are the same character and this was a connection I made while watching the film. In many ways they are similar but first and foremost they each are trying to get the main character to wake up. Clarrisse was trying to get Montag to wake up to what he was really destroying, while Sylvia was trying to wake up Truman from his idea of reality. Another way they are similar is how both Montag and Truman had a friendship or good relationship with Clarrisse and Sylvia. Although it isn't known about whether Montag liked Clarrisse as more than a friend, both pairs had emotional connections with each other. Its pivotal in books and film to have a character that assists the main character in their story and that is what both Clarrisse and Sylvia did.

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  23. Throughout the movie it shows the people that are watching the show. These people sleep when Truman sleeps and it kind of made me relate back to F451 because people in F451 are always watching TV and always have ear buds in. This is not a question, just a thought I can across when I was watching the movie.

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    1. I agree with you Taylor. Both The Truman show and F451 really show satire towards how society is so driven by technology and fame.

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  24. When given the choice to learn the truth or stay ignorant most people want to discover their reality. My question is, do you see any benefits to staying in an ignorant state?

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    1. I think that the main reason why people want to seek out the truth is because they are dissatisfied with their reality, so I guess the benefit to remaining ignorant is if you are truly happy being ignorant then why changed it.

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  25. Do you think he can handle the real world, I mean he was raised in the perfect world with no real problems, would he be able to live alone.

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    1. Weird thing to relate it too: But it's almost like a house pet being released into the wild. They tend to get eaten first.

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    2. I think he is going to have that girl....ugh i forget her name.. to help him out. At the end of the film you saw her running to him. And he's famous so I'm sure he'll have money

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  26. I think that when people are presented with something to fight for, in this case, Truman's was the girl in high school, then they will fight to break out of their cage that they've been forced into.

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  27. In a way do you think the creator saw Truman as his son? Because at the end the creator tries to convince Truman to stay and tells him how he knows everything about him and has known him is how life.

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    1. No, I think he only saw him as a way to make money and was only saying that stuff to Truman to get him stay on the show. He seemed very selfish during the interview and didn't seem to care about anything except for his career.

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    2. The creator of the show could think of him as kind of a son, in the aspects that he saw Truman grow up and do everything he has done. He also tried to make him stay in the dome where the show was filmed

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  28. I think they change the weather to associate memories with something negative so he won't want to think about it and he'll focus on being positive because it's better for views.

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  29. How did Truman overcome his fear of the water and how hard was it for him to get over it? Do you think that Truman's curiosity drove him to overcome his fear? How does that connect to getting over our fears now?

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    1. Truman's curosity deffinetly overcame his fear because when Truman crossed the bridge, he just disregarded his fear to discover the truth.

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