Analysis of a drama film-The Truman Show - Essay Example

Analysis of a drama film-The Truman Show A movie, also called a film, cinema or motion picture is the process of developing an art form with a series of still or moving photographic images either recorded using cameras or created using animation techniques or visual effects. The essence of a film as well as its conceptual framework that describes its relationship to reality, other art forms, audience and society are analyzed in the disciple called Film Theory. As per the Film Theory, the films are classified in to different film genres depending on the narrative elements. Usually, it is the setting of a film that decides its genre. But the themes and the mood of the film also play a vital role in the categorization of the film under a particular genre. For example, a drama film, which is also the focus of this study, is characterized by its emotional themes and in-depth character development. A good drama film interacts and conveys the emotions with the audience and the audience is able to identify and relate to the problems, challenges or issues faced by the main character. In a drama film, the story unfolds gradually, giving enough pace and time for the development of the main character or the protagonist.        Drama can be defined as “a literary composition involving conflict, action crisis and atmosphere designed to be acted by players on a stage before an audience” (Ghetto 2011). This definition is applicable to traditional stage as well as drama film as they both descend from literature. Similar to the literary genre ‘drama’, a dramatic film involves characters who face a conflict. It involves various stages like ‘exposition’, ‘complications’, ‘climax’ and ‘resolution’. In ‘exposition’, the characters as well as their conflict are introduced and it is heightened during the stage of ‘complications’. The ‘climax’, which is the point of highest tension, is the most determinant part of a dramatic film wherein the character decides how to solve the conflict. In the final stage, the ‘resolution’, the conflict is resolved. In a dramatic structure, be it a play or a drama film, conflict plays a significant role in the development of plot. A conflict can occur, (i) between characters, (ii) between a character and his/her circumstances and/or (iii) within a character, who is torn internally, due to his/her opposing desires? These different stages in the story of a drama are organized in to a sequence by the construction of certain devises called as ‘narrative’.             It is the narrative that defines a story in terms of space and time. It also decides and structures the dramatic elements and the events of the story. The narrative can also manipulate the awareness of audience by using a series of “co-creative techniques” such as “flashbacks, replays of action, slow motion, speeding up, jumping between places and times for constructing the story world for specific effects” (Schmidt 2011). There exist some theories that govern the narrative that share some links with the theories of drama. Both the narrative and the drama draw their theories from Aristotle’s “Poetics”, where he explains that topics such as “character, plot, beginnings and endings, poetic justice, and the goals of representation, are as relevant to narrative theory as to a poetics of drama”. In the modern times, however, most theorists follow the view of Roland Barthes who stated that “narrative is present in myth, legend, fable, tale, novella, epic, history, tragedy, drama, comedy, mime, painting [think of Carpaccio's Saint Ursula], stained glass windows, cinema, comics, news item, conversation" (Richardson 2012).    Though there are similarities in the literary and filmic narratives, there exist diverse dissimilarities when the narrative strategy is articulated through the medium of films. Since films use various cinematographic modes for the aesthetic expression of narrative, the concept of generalization that rules a dramatic film and a literary text gets obscured. The filmic narrative is greatly reliant on the visual and auditory senses and this feature transcends it from the process of breaking the narrative to its components. Moreover, the access a filmic narrative gives to space and time and the views and images shot and performed, unlike drama, are not produced in "quasi-lifelike corporal subsequences, but its sequences are bound together in a technically unique process (“post-production”) to conform to a very specific perceptual and cognitive comprehension of the world" (Schmidt 2011).        This study is an analysis of a drama film, “The Truman Show” and the narrative constructed in it. "The Truman Show" (1998) is an American drama film directed by Peter SWeir and written by Andrew M. Niccol. The film depicts the life of Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) who is living in a constructed reality television show that is getting broadcasted 24-hours-a-day and is viewed by billions of people across the globe. Truman, though initially is unaware about the reality of his life, gradually grows suspicious of it and begins a quest to discover the truth of his life. The filming of "The Truman Show" took place at a master planned community at Seaside, Florida in North Western Florida (Florida Panhandle). The film gained financial success and was nominated for the 71st Academy Awards, 56th Golden Globe Awards, 52nd British Academy Film Awards and 'The Saturn Awards'. The film, as per film theory, is classified as a comedy-drama film and it was highly acclaimed by the critics for its satirical elements. Plot Analysis:        The protagonist of the film, Truman Burbank, is the main character of a longest nonstop live broadcast catering to a global audience. He is unaware that his life, activities and emotions are being filmed and that all those who are with him are acting their roles well for the success of the show. His mundane life in the seaside town of Seahaven is being captured by more than 5,000 hidden cameras. Most parts of the film appear as if the audience is watching "The Truman Show" rather than a film based on a reality show.        The film opens on the broadcast day 10,909, when Truman is nearly thirty years old. Until this day, Truman has not realized that he is living in an artificial world that Christof has created for him. Omnicom Corporation had adopted Truman from the day he was born and turned his life to a reality show where “his wife Meryl (Laura Linney), his best friend Marlon (Noah Emmerich) and his mother (Holland Taylor)” (Niccol 1998) are actors who are performing in front of Truman to convince him that his life is real. As in the words of the master architect of the Show, Christof, "We’ve become bored with watching actors giving us phony emotions. We’re tired of pyrotechnics and special effects. While the world he inhabits is in some respects counterfeit, there is nothing fake about Truman himself. No scripts, no cue-cons. It’s not always Shakespeare, but it’s genuine. It’s a life…Louis Coltrane (Marlon) and Hannah Gill (Meryl) also stresses the originality of Truman's life by saying that "It's all true, it's all real. Nothing about it is fake, it's merely controlled" (The Truman Show n.d.). Here, we come to know that Truman is the only human and everyone and everything else has been reduced to a mere show.        In the film we come to know that "The Truman Show" is generating great revenues through T.V commercials and also by yet another advertising technique of ‘product placement' by its other characters, especially by Hannah Gill (Laura Linney), who performs as Truman's wife, Meryl Burbank, in the show. The show markets products like Truman Bars, video collections of greatest hits, pillows, etc. making the show itself a product of the show. Everything in the show is for sale worldwide and Truman does not even have a clue that his life is not real or that his life will be broadcasted by Omnicom Productions and watched by a global audience till his death.        Truman appears content with his life though in the inside view, which is the success of the show, the audience see him unhappy and suspicious of his life. The show follows Truman even to those private moments when he thinks that he is alone. He is desperate to create a picture of his lost love (Lauren), a role played by Sylvia (Natascha McElhone). We learn from a flashback sequence that Lauren had tried to tell Truman that he was being filmed. But she was quickly removed from his presence and the show by her 'father' saying that she was schizophrenic and that their family is moving to Fuji. Truman, but keep thinking about Lauren and her message, until one day several slips from the production unit occur that fuels his suspicion. Convinced that he is being watched Truman determines to get to the truth by misbehaving in many ways that begins to damage the Show. Christof arranges a re-union of Truman with his father that makes Truman emotional. The following sequences convince the film's audience about the 'controlled reality' in which Truman lives. We also learn that Truman was the first baby ever adopted by the corporation from the six unwanted babies lined up for the part. We also become aware that the show had many infiltrators and Lauren was one among them.        In the meanwhile, Truman starts performing for the Show and determines to get out of the island. He fools the production crew and start sailing away from the island. He was nearly drowned in the 'sea' by Christof by creating a violent storm. But Truman successfully reaches the dome Christoff, Truman's God, tries to convince him to stay saying that the world in which Truman lived was far better than the real; "You were real. It’s what made you so good to watch. Listen to me Truman. There is no more truth out there ... than in the world I created for you. The same lies. The same deceit only in my world, you have nothing to fear” (The Truman Show n.d.). But Truman exits his life /dome/stage saying that "And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!" (The Truman Show n.d.). Here, we can see that Truman, in the end, is performing for his audience (both off-stage and on-stage) like any other theatre artist. Analysis of Narrative:        Truman's life, like any theater performance, is a staged performance by a group of artists who plays their roles to perfection. Truman is the only real character in this show, who is unaware that his life is being staged, or that he is living in a 'controlled reality'. But in the traditional genre of drama or dramatic film, the characters perform to convey a controlled reality to the audience within a stipulated time period. But "The Truman Show" is the production of an inspired broadcast corporation, who intends to control Truman's life by providing him a heavenly paradise, a utopia, similar to the American Dream that everyone desires for. In short, the seaside town of Seahaven, as its name suggests is created to be a perfect world. In it, the life of Truman becomes art that imitates life perfectly.        The film has a voyeuristic setting that allows its viewers to gaze upon the everyday life of Truman. A few close-up shots of the producers and the main characters of the Show provide an insight as well as the base for the main plot of the film, which is Truman's life. The time marker and the show credits are inserted in the Show while allowing the show viewers to watch their star Truman. Thus, the filmic audiences are provided with a 'window within a window' style of spectatorship. For instance, Truman is being gazed by the hidden camera in Meryl's necklace; his neighbors, friends and colleagues; the actors on the set; the production crew; the 'global' audience members of the television show on the film set; the real film spectators in the theaters; and finally the gaze effected by the subjectivity and reflexivity of the narrative text.        Truman, here, is subjected to the voyeuristic gaze of every individual of the world. When Truman realizes that he is in a show after listening to the wrong frequency on car's radio, he stops the car and looks at the people around him with suspicion. But it is the epiphany scene, where the creation meets his god on his search for the truth of his existence and his place in the world, that we realize the multi-dimensional aspect of the narrative that describes the power of media over our lives in the world. But this existential question and its reality is replaced by yet another conflict within Truman as well as within the 'Creator' and Truman on whether he will be accepting the offer forwarded by Christof to live the life of a star or will he “assert his individuality and free will by choosing to live in freedom” (Kokonis n.d.).        Reality is a perception created by the temporal and spatial continuum. A successive and mutual blending of images gives these images a chronological function. In this film, the representation of reality is done not by the conventional integration or dissociation of time and space and image and sound. The subject of the show, Truman’s life, is a continuum in the electronic space, for the broadcast viewers. But, we, the filmic audience are compelled to drift in to multidimensional directions in time and space spontaneously, when we are presented with scenes where Sylvia is watching the talk-show of Christof, while she is gazing Truman eating his breakfast and we gaze upon Truman's life through a window, which is also subjected to the gaze of Christof's and Sylvia's world. Here our gaze on Truman's life is identical to Christof's world, but is controlled completely by Christof's world, who can bring upon changes to Truman's life with its power of controlling reality.        The film also brings on a post-modern discourse on the accepted conventions of 'reality'. The life of Truman is indeed real and authentic. But it is controlled by the reality show. Here, a conflict arises between the real life of Truman and the virtual life telecasted live through television. Truman begins his quest for existential knowledge. But his world was built and is being reformed not by the God Almighty but by the master architect, the God-figure, Christof. In Christof's view, "the world ... the place you live in, is a sick place. Seahaven is the way the world should be" (The Truman Show n.d.). He thus pardons himself in the scene of "True Talk" by saying that he has given Truman a chance to lead a normal life. Here, a hardcore reality has been presented to the filmic audience that "the world of global network communication outside Seahaven, and by extension our world, is no less counterfeit, no less inauthentic, no less voyeuristic than Truman’s virtual-reality world" (Kokonis n.d.).        A film story unfolds as per the possibilities and constraints of the medium to provide required time and space bound effects for the spectator. The basic theories of film narration are rooted in conventional theories for the requisite perception by the audience. In "Truman Show" the conventional strategies are shattered to provide a multi-layered textual structure that suspends the spectators in an uncertain narrative space and time.           "The Truman Show" is a postmodern fable that subjects Truman to a world of deceits from the moment of his birth. Truman was raised and molded as per the whims of his Creator, who also gave a real-like life to him. In this drama film we can see that post-modern films have transcended the realm of reality to a higher world of virtual reality where every theory in narrative and the genre of drama film have changed as per the changes in the contemporary economic, technological and cultural contexts. The narrative integrity, defined as per the classical tradition, has indeed gave way in “The Truman Show” to a new kind of narrative in the post-modern arena, with the strengths of inter-textual, hyper-real and virtual realities.   Reference List Ghetto, K 2011. What is Comedy?. George Mwangi. [Online] Available at [Accessed on 18 January, 2012]. Kokonis, M. n.d. Postmodernism, Hyper reality and The Hegemony of Spectacle in New Hollywood: The Case of the Truman Show. [Online] Available at [Accessed on 18 January, 2012]. Niccol, A 1998. The Audience is Us (The Truman Show). JonathanRosenbaum.com. [Online] Available at [Accessed on 18 January, 2012]. Richardson, B 2012. The Cambridge Companion to Narrative: 10 Drama and Narrative. Cambridge University Press. [Online] Available at [Accessed on 18 January, 2012]. Schmidt, JN 2011. Narration in Film. The Living Handbook of Narratology. [Online] Available at < http://hup.sub.uni-hamburg.de/lhn/index.php/Narration_in_Film> [Accessed on 17 January, 2012]. The Truman Show. n.d. Philosophical Films. [Online] Available at [Accessed on 17 January, 2012]. Read More