Cinema Nirvana Blog: The Truman Show
by Poep Sa Frank Jude Boccio
My Zen teacher, Samu Sunim, would define an 'authentic experience' as "immediate, intimate, spontaneous and obvious," and then add, "like a
bowel movement." The Truman Show, a 1998 comedy-drama directed by
Peter Weir, written by Andrew Noccol and staring Jim Carrey as Truman
Burbank asks us to look deeper into our own relationship with authenticity.
For those who may not have seen this film before, it chronicles the life of a
man who discovers his whole life has been the narrative of a constructed
reality soap opera (just think of the apparent paradox and contradictions of
the concept of 'constructed reality') that is televised 24/7 to billions of fans
across the world. The majority of filming took place at Seaside, Florida, a
master-planned community located in the Florida Panhandle.
Since its release, and financial and critical success, the film has been
analyzed as a thesis on Christianity, simulated reality, existentialism,
developmental psychology and a critique of the forthcoming rise of 'reality
television.' This month, as part of Cinema Nirvana, we’ll look at the film to
see what dharmic teachings it may hold for yogis.
Interestingly, Paramount was initially cautious about The Truman Show
which they thought of as the 'most expensive art film ever made.' It took 16
drafts of the script before Weir considered it film-worthy! Jim Carrey
offered to do the film for almost half of his usual salary as he felt it would
help him assert his identity as a 'serious' actor. It worked, with Roger Ebert
expressing admiration for his work, and his performance being compared
to James Stewart and Tom Hanks. While original music for the film was
composed by Burkhard Dallwitz, you’ll also hear music from Philip Glass,
who has a cameo in the film as one of the in-studio composer/performers.
Already, life imitating art imitating life.
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "The Truman Show is
emotionally involving without losing the ability to raise sharp satiric
questions as well as get numerous laughs. The rare film that is disturbing
despite despite working beautifully within standard industry norms."
Finally, in another case of life imitating art, Joel Gold, a psychiatrist at
Bellevue Hospital in New York City, revealed that by 2008, he had had five
patients with schizophrenia and had heard of twelve others, who believed
their lives were reality television shows. Gold names this particular
manifestation "The Truman Show Delusion," and attributed the delusion to
a world that had become hungry for celebrity and publicity. Gold stated that
while some patients were happy with their symptoms, "others were
tormented." In fact, one traveled to New York City to verify that the World
Trade Towers had truly fallen, having believed that the 9/11 terrorist attack
had been an elaborate plot twist on his own personal storyline! Another
went to New York (hmmm, see a pattern here?) to climb the Statue of
Liberty, believing that he’d be reunited with his high-school sweetheart at
the top and finally be released from the show.
As always, I’ll be bringing the pop corn. You are invited to bring along any
other snacks and non-alcoholic beverages. The films are presented freely,
and we do accept donations gratefully for the Tucson Community Food
Bank.
See you at the movies!
Poep Sa Frank Jude
Click here for the Cinema Nirvana schedule
Frank Jude Boccio | bio
Ongoing Classes:
Tue 9:00-10:30am, Mindfulness Yoga (Mixed-Level)
Sun 9:00-10:30am, Gentle Mindfulness Yoga
Sun 7:00-8:30pm, Mindfulness Practice Sangha (by donation)
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