At the start of The Truman Show, Truman’s life seems perfect. He wakes up, walks outside and says “Good morning” to the neighbors, then goes to work like every normal person does. But weird events begin to happen, such as lights beginning to fall from the sky or people acting strangely toward him. Slowly, Truman starts to feel off, but he doesn’t know what is. Something in his world just doesn’t feel right and then he realizes the shocking truth: his entire life has been a show on TV and everyone around him is acting. In the end he makes the decision to leave everything behind and live his life.
When The Truman Show was released back in 1998, it captured the audiences with a story that was strange and emotional. Truman Burbank isn’t aware that his entire life is being recorded and watched by millions of people. Everything that exists in his world was fake, such as his friends, his job, and even his family. The show was created by a director named Christof, who was trying to portray a story that he thought was a perfect life, one that was happy, safe, and under control from the start till the end. The movie also appears as a warning about Reality TV and entertainment that will grow in the future, something that Christof seemed to predict in the creation of Truman’s world. Now that feeling feels more real than we would expect, and especially how parents film their kids today.
We’ve all experienced it, a parent pulls out their phone to capture a birthday, funny moment, or their child’s first steps. It may look normal, and often it’s done with love. However, without meaning to, some parents will take a video of their kids so often that a child’s life begins to feel like a show. There is a clear distinction of happy moments to meltdowns, when everything is shared online. This ties back to the life of Truman: some children grow up being watched without knowing they’re a part of something bigger.
What makes this situation more interesting also is that today’s audience is everywhere. Friends, family, and even strangers are on a variety of social media platforms. While the intention may be harmless, the constant filming can help shape how a child perceives themselves. They may start to put on an act for the camera.
It makes us think, will children today get the same change and find out that his whole life was entirely fake having to choose to walk away and live on his own terms. Will today’s kids have the same choice? Or is the world growing on the idea that it’s being recorded all of the time.
Let’s not blame our parents, but maybe it’s time to ask ourselves, are we making memories? Or are we just making a show our kids never agreed on. Just like Truman’s life, the children today grow up realizing their entire lives were being constantly watched, being published without even agreeing, the only difference is Truman had the decision to walk away, but will children today have the same choice.
