Examples Of Individualism In The Truman Show

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Existentialism is a philosophical belief about the meaning of existence. Through a person's will to become free and through their choices, shape who they will become. Jean Paul Sartre would use the saying “Existence precedes Essence”, meaning that life is not predetermined, but rather shaped by the choices one makes in their lives. Many existential theorists were commonly depressed because a vast majority of their theories are very bleak; suggesting that if you don’t control your life you don’t exist and that the only meaning life has is what one gives it. The common themes of existential belief, free thought, individualism, and absurd, are represented in many forms of media produced since the early 1900’s. Existentialism is seen as a very…show more content…
Truman is born into the life of a reality television star. The only difference between him and other reality television stars is that, for the majority of his life, he is completely oblivious to the fact that he is being filmed and aired on television. Truman is never possessed with the feeling of wanting to leave the island town of Sea Haven after his father’s death at sea, successfully keeping him in his routine for 30 years. Eventually, Truman begins to notice things that seem odd and out of place, starting with a stage light that fell into the street in front of his house. The radio later reported that it was a part from an airplane that flew over the town. One day, Truman sees a man on the street that he believes to be his “dead” father. Later the creators of the show write his father back into the show seeing that Truman was so obsessed with his father now. He confirms his idea that something is fishy in Sea Haven when he noticed a pattern of people going by in front of his house everyday. Truman eventually has enough of Sea Haven and tries to leave, only to be repeatedly blocked by well-timed traffic and emergency roadblocks. At one of the roadblocks, a police officer called Truman by his first name even though they had never spoken before, essentially confirming that fact that the life he had always known, was made up. In the middle of the night, Truman sneaks out of his house…show more content…
This theme is well portrayed in The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In this story the narrator, describes the three-month time they spend at a psychiatric treatment room. During the three months, the narrator is stuck in a room with yellow wallpaper and bars over the windows. As the story progresses, the steady decline into madness is described as the narrator becomes more and more obsessed with the yellow wallpaper. Without having any sort of human connection, she begins to see things in the wallpaper that she believes are trying to escape. She becomes so mad, she crawls around the room and has rubbed part of the wallpaper off. While she is not alone in the house, she is the only one in the room and has nothing but her thoughts to distract

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