Approaches Expectations Assignment.
This question is from an interesting site called Philosophical Films that asks a series of questions based on the Truman Show:
During an interview, Christof states the following: "I have given Truman the chance to lead a normal life. The world, the place you live in, is the sick place. Seahaven is the way the world should be." Is Christof correct? What, if any, would be the benefits of living in Seahaven as opposed to the real world?
When Christof says he has given Truman a chance to live a normal life, he is correct. From Truman’s point of view, he is living a normal life since the life he has been given is the only life he knows. Christof is looking at his opinion from this viewpoint, but in reality, Truman’s life is not normal to the outside world since Christof is in control. Christof says that our “world, the place you live in, is the sick place.” Christof sees the world a place with no control and therefore has created his own where he is in charge and every action is controlled by his hand. His name, Christof, has the word Christ in it and is symbolic in the way that not all people are positive if a God does exist; Christof is the God, the maker, in this scenario and there is no doubt about it. Seahaven is Christof’s safe place. He knows the moment x,y, and z will occur. The problem with Seahaven is that there will be rebels that oppose the perfection. Once this ripple in the perfection spreads, Christof can fix it and that is what makes Seahaven a more comfortable place to live versus the real world. Seahaven is protected by Christof and when something goes wrong, it can be easily fixed. In the real world, more time will be needed to fix a problem. In Seahaven, Christof knows his people/characters so well that he can predict their emotions and feelings. If he wants them to be happy, like Truman felt for most of the movie, they will be happy. Christof’s world- problems are not real and isolation is sociable.
ReplyDelete-Calfin
Christof has a very different view and grip on the world. He can make determined judgement based on the actions of Truman, which is not a very moral way to live. Placing someone in a different world within an already monotonous world is a cruel way of controlling someone elses life, however, Seahaven has two benefits; one being a predetermined destiny based on what Christof sees in Truman. The other being the elimination of pain in the world. -Jesse Nathan
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Christof when he says the world we live in "is the sick place" There are terrible things that happen in this world, but what if those terrible things never happened? Would things still be the same? I think that the terrible occurrences in life lead us in our journey to discover who we are. For example, in The Truman show, if Truman's dad never died, Truman would not have been afraid of the water, and it wouldn't have been such an accomplishment for him to get into the boat and sail away in hopes of leaving Seahaven and finding Sylvia. We were able to see that he valued his life and his love for Sylvia over his fears. That would not have been apparent if he didn't have the fears. I think that in some ways, the world Christof created for Truman is worse than the real world. Christof had complete control of Truman's life, staging his dad to die so Truman wouldn't want to leave the island, almost drowning him on live television. He acts like Truman is not a real person, just a doll he is playing with. During one of the ending scenes when Truman is trying to leave the island and Christof demands the storm is made stronger to scare Truman into turning around, one of the workers said "For God's sake, Chris! The whole world is watching. We can't let him die in front of a live audience!" And Christof replies, almost humorously "He was born in front of a live audience." Both Christof and the worker are not concerned for Truman, only about the people watching, in Christof's case, he doesn't even seem to care about that!
ReplyDeleteIn Jesse's response he says the two benefits of living in Seahaven are "one being a predetermined destiny based on what Christof sees in Truman. The other being the elimination of pain in the world." I do not see these things as benefits. Christof takes away Truman's existential rights by creating a predetermined destiny for Truman. Also, there is still pain in Truman's world. He lost his first love, Sylvia, he lost his father, and his wife. The worst of the pain came when Truman discovered that the only real thing in his life was him, everyone else in his life were actors. In Moriah's response, she said "Seahaven is protected by Christof and when something goes wrong, it can be easily fixed" But not everything was fixed. Truman never stopped dreaming of a day when he would once again be united with Sylvia. Truman was afraid of water because his dad was taken away from him while they were fishing together. Both of those things were done by Christof. It might have protected the show, but what about Truman? He will never forget that the first 30 years of his life were determined by a man he never met. Christof's name might have the word "Christ" in it, meaning he is like a God, but with the things he does to Truman he seems more like a devil. I do not think that there are any benefits to living in Seahaven now that I know the secrets of this made up town, but if I lived in Seahaven and like Truman, did not realize everything around me was fake, I might believe that I have a good life, but only until I found out the truth.
~Kali Mondor
No Christof is wrong, in almost every way possible. If everything was as perfect and spotless as Seahaven the world would be stuck in a very weird frame of mind. Lets say that the world was exactly like Seahaven, the world probably wouldn't be able to function, the world would be just one giant film set. A film set for a specific person to rule over everyone and dictate theirs lives. Where would we be then, if the person in control decided to only do thing strictly to benefit himself, the world would be very different that from what it is now. The world needs chaos and pain to keep moving, if we didn't have problems how would we know how to fix them when we found one. The world needs trouble and pain to continue. i can only say this because i could see the lies that made up Seahaven but if i lived in Seahaven like Truman did i would desperately want this world to be just like the small town. Truman was blind to the problems and issues of the actual world so of course someone who lived in Seahaven would want the world to be exactly like it. The world would become a bit to perfect and some people , like Truman. would begin to question the world and what it truly means and if it is real. They would go out of their minds, and this would cause the rest of the human population to , hypothetically, go into a giant spiral to find the truth behind the mask of Seahaven. Lies it would be nothing but Blasphemous lies, and i would like to point out why this would eventually fail... Human Curiosity. Everyone is naturally curious and when one person find out the truth it would spread throughout the world like a plague. If the world was like Seahaven there may be some benefits before it crumbles around everyone's feet. In a controlled environment there may not be any wars unless the person controlling it wanted their to be on. But that is the only reason i can think of, aside from that no Christof is wrong in all respects of the word. The world needs Chaos to thrive, in order to keep on spinning. Because how can we be sure of something unless we question it.
ReplyDelete~Molly K. McCarty~
Christof's statement has its rights and wrongs. When he says that the world is a sick place, he is right. When he says that Seahaven is the way the world really should be, he is again right. But when he says that he gave Truman a chance to lead a normal life, he is wrong. How is keeping a man from his birth on a TV set that you have convinced him is reality normal? If Seahaven was a real town in the real world, it would be a great town. Everyone would know each other, and everyone would be friendly to each other. But the fact that all these people are actors and they are payed to make Truman believe he is living a real life is not right. Living a normal life would be living out in the real, sick world, with the reality that not everyone will love you and not everybody will know you. The real world is trying to survive in the real world, which Truman does not have to do living in Seahaven. This could be viewed as a good thing, not having to worry about any of that, but it is also bad because he has no idea how to live out in the real world. So, in short, Christof was wrong when he said he gave Truman a better life.
ReplyDelete- Brian Fischer