How Sartre and The Truman show have common factor? The
answer comes from the title of one of Sartre’s chapter, The look. In both case, the look has a major role.
We experience the world because
the Others are looking at us. Actually, it is the case in The Truman show, Truman exists because Others are watching at him
all the time, in fact, if the public decides to change the channel of the TV, Truman
does not exist anymore. In this movie, Truman is reduced to an object, into the
hands of director, even his meeting with Meryl is expected and orchestrated
since his birth.
Truman, has some doubts, he
feels he is observed, and he understands he cannot fight against that, as
Sartre writes in Being and Nothingness:
“I am vulnerable […] I occupy a place and that I can not in any case escape
from the space in which I am without defense –in short, that I am seen”. Truman
tries to escape from the place he lives, but he does not succeed.
At the beginning of the
movie, we can consider Truman as “l’être en soi”, because he is unaware of him,
in the sense that he ignores the truth and his freedom. But at the end, when he
achieves his escape he becomes “l’être pour soi” because he is aware of his
existence and of this capacity of freedom. But, during the movie, from the
beginning to the end, he is “l’être pour autrui”. In fact, he exists thanks to
and by the look of the Others. And it’s why, according to me, The Truman Show depicts the human
reality.
“As an essential structure
of a temporal-spatial situation in the world, I offer myself to the Other’s
appraisal”. This idea of the Other’s appraisal is an important part of
human being’s life. In fact, if the Other’s Look diverts from us, we cannot exist,
as Truman. The Other’s appraisal makes us an object, but without it we can
live. The Other by making us an object, allows to us to override of this object
made by his sight, to become a person.
According to Sartre, the
Other’s look is a real part of our existence. But nowadays, this last takes so
much importance that people offer their image all the time, with for example the
social network as Facebook, Snapchat or Twitter. And the entire humanity, with
the expansion of the medias, become “l’autre pour autrui”. Moreover, there are
some people whom need to flaunt to exist, as we can see with the TV reality show, and what sacres me is this kind of TV reality shows have a lot of audience.
To initiate a debate: Do you
think we are leaving in a Truman Show world ?
Hi Cyrielle, firstly thank you, your post about this film makes me want to see it !
ReplyDeleteI agree with the mixture between Sartre and The Truman Show. So are we leaving in a Truman Show World ? One the one hand, when we see Jim Carrey, we think that he leaves in World of Ilusion. On a certain way, The Truman Show reflect idea of myth of cavern, who was developped by Platon. Characters are leaving in a communication society, where image-conscious are getting the upper hand. Besides, a lot of informations doesn't really wrong or right, and it becomes hardly to find the right of wrong.
However, I think we can't say that we leave in a Truman Show world, on account of some activities ! Well, we are allowed to make sport, or anything, admire landscapes, or get animals ! Actually, even if I have the impression that society is directed by some key figures, I'm not convinced that we live in a "Truman Show World"... And you ?
Hi Maxime, thank you for your answer. First, I make a very big mistake, isn't leaving but living (shame on me)...
DeleteSecond, I totally agree with you. As you say, we have a lot of activities which allow us to go out of the cavern and make us aware of the world and of the existence.
But to take over my real question, I don't think we live in a Truman Show world. As far as I am concern our world is different because all the human kind lives in the same place. In The Truman Show, the main character lives in a world separated of the "real", without any violence according to the director. I think it's a little bit restrictor to say we live in a Truman Show world, it's to easy to compare our world to Truman's world, and affirm they are the same. But, from my point of you, we have a common point with Truman, due to the Others' sight we exist as a person.
Hi there!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post! It made me think about people living through social media/network. Its really funny how we all share photos and posts about our lives inky showing the pretty things that we do or have. I find it spectacular how we are able to make other believe that our live is pure beauty or happiness.
I sometimes laugh about it because if you do not have a critical eye, you end up believing everything that you see. As a result, you start analyzing your life and start thinking that you are not as lucky as the others because you experience unpleasant experiences, sadness, etc. it is a vicious circle because you end up in despair regretting that you do not have the life of other. Utterly, you end up being envious and trying to imitate others.
So what I am trying to say, its that when we see social networks, we have to bear in mind that what they are showing is partial and most times not even true. So, when you see a girl that looks like a model in a photo, don’t feel bad about yourself, keep in mind that the photo has been taken millions of times until she or he felt satisfied, and later processes through filters and photo shop!