Question #2 - Themes, Ideas, and Messages
Give a major theme/idea/message of the film. Discuss what you think the film’s point was (in relation to this theme) – and then comment on whether or not you think Scripture agrees with the way the theme was presented. Employ at least 1 Bible verse to make your point. Remember to use the Scripture in context. Again, feel free to comment on and disagree with other peoples’ ideas; and if you see someone else use Scripture that you think is out of context, please look it up and report back on your findings. Feel free to explore other themes than the ones mentioned already.
I think that the main theme of the film is that if you lie, you will eventually pay for it. The film's point in relation to the this theme in my opinion was to enforce the theme by giving an example of it. I think scripture agrees with this theme and how it is presented in the way of Christof being defeated by Truman when in Proverbs 19:9 says, "A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breaths out lies will perish."
ReplyDeleteInteresting thought. Give some examples from the movie about how their was lying.
DeleteI feel that the movie contradicted itself. The director saw "big" lying as bad, and "little" lying as o.k. When Truman was in his office and lied saying he was to busy to do something for his job their was no negative look on that from the movie. In fact, it was used as comedy. The huge lie of Truman's entire life and reality is seen as wicked and evil. I see how non-christians would understand and agree with the big/little lies. God says that all sin is the same, so when we watch Truman fib or Christof manipulate Truman's whole life we should see it as all the same. It is not our natural instinct to put those on an equal level, but the punishment for all sin is death. Whether you lie about eating someone's candy or lie about a murder it is all sin in God's eyes. The earthly consequences will be different, but the spiritual consequences are the same. I see a huge difference on the outlook of sin from a non-Christian perspective and Christian perspective.
DeleteLying was presented many times, but some particular times are when Truman's wife lied "little" times. When talking about Truman sounding crazy, she offered to slice, dice, or grate him. Then she called out "Someone do something!" Truman then asked who she was talking to, and she said no one. Also she was raving about the hot chocolate and Truman asked who she was talking to, and she said no one again. A different character was Truman's best friend who was saying lies to him through a microphone while they were on the pier. Truman's mother lied about the pictures in the scrap book, and where they came from. Lastly, when Truman went into the building, he saw something behind the elevator, and the guards told him lies about what it was. The whole movie was practically just lying to Truman.
DeleteI agree with Ma.Horn. I think that the entire film’s theme was based off a lie. That lie was Truman’s life. Everything in his life was fake. It may have seemed real but it was controlled and monitored constantly. Christof even said, during an interview, that there were 5,000 cameras recording Truman’s life.
DeleteThe message of the movie was that lying can turn around and bite you. Throughout the movie, Truman was lied to over and over, the lying was almost mindless. At first, the movie made it like lying was actually ok, if the person did not know about nit. However, at the end of the movie, when Truman reaches the wall, he decides to leave all the lies that were in the dome. Truman heard the lecture from Christof, but he followed his gut and left a place that was never real. Truman leaving the show ended it for all the actors and producers, and embarrassed them on national television. In the end, the movie showed that your sin can come back and bite you.
DeleteTo me is seems that life the way Truman knows it was a lie, and some specific lies in the movie that I noticed were when Marlon told Truman that the last thing he'd ever do was lie to him, all the actors denying that Truman is in a TV show, and everyone telling Truman that the homeless man he saw wasn't his dad even though it was.
ReplyDeleteEvan, I think another lie in the movie is the fact that all the people around him, are just a part of the city. He thinks that his wife is his real wife, his friends are his real friends, and his coworkers are his real coworkers. I think that was very deceptive of Christof to say that all those people were really his friends and family. Like you mentioned, Marion said that he would never lie to him, but Marion said that because of Christof. So I think that also all the lies are rooted in something Christof said or did.
ReplyDeleteI think that Truman's entire world is a big lie. I agree with H.Hickel in saying that Christof was deceptive in telling that the actors were Truman's real friends and family. I think that all of the lies in the movie return to Christof.
DeleteA major theme in the “The Truman Show” is “There is no such thing as a perfect world.” I think the point was to show that even if everything in the world was controlled, unless there is a perfect man controlling it, nothing in it can be perfect. The only man to be perfect walked the earth over 2,000 years ago, and when He comes back this world will no longer exist as it is. Anyway, it says in Romans 3:10&23: 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, In these verses Paul is talking to the Romans and the church at large today because just like the Romans, we are corrupted in our ways. This proves that we can’t be perfect. It means that everyone is imperfect and no one can measure up to God. This doesn’t devalue humans it just puts them in their place. I also agree that one of the themes is “if you lie, will eventually pay for it,” but I don’t see it throughout the whole movie. Would you show me were you see it
ReplyDeleteKayla, I had pretty much the same idea about the movie. My thought was that The world is full of sin, and wherever you may be there will always be lies, deceit, greed, and beauty. In Genesis chapter 4 verse 7 the Bible states that "sin is crouching at your door." I think that relates to everything the movie and life as we know it. In the movie even though it was just Christof trying to get truman to stay he did point out that there was as many lies in the fake world as there was in the real world. I think that that points out in a way that sin is crouching at the door to the real world and the fake world. Also even the nicest people we know are sinful unless you are in heaven there is no escaping sin.
DeleteGreat point. I totally agree that this world is fallen and that we have all fallen short of the glory of God and have put in our rightful place. However, I do not agree with what you said about how you didnt see "if you ie then youll pay for it eventually." Evan used the word eventually because at that second when Christof and his prioducers were lying, they were enjoying the moment and getting probably the best ratings on television. Evan said eventually because eventually they did pay for it by losing Truman and their own show. Did that help you understand why Evan quote was seen throughout the movie?
DeleteKayla, I think Evan meant that Christof was lying throughout the whole movie, but at the end the whole empire that he had gained by lying to Truman came apart.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the theme presented is finding out the truth. Throughout Truman’s experiences, he has to decide whether or not people are telling the truth. He is told by Sylvia that everyone is lying, and then he had to decide whether or not she was lying. Lying can also be considered a theme, considering that most everyone lies and tries to cover up what’s really happening. Although, at the end the director has to pay for what he created, and the others for what they did to Truman. It pointed out that you have to listen for the truth in your own life and lying always come back at you. Zechariah 8:16 says “These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace; do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love not false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord” Although God does not want us to lie, he want us to make peace with the people who have done wrong to us.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ma.Horn. I did not think of it in thit way, but it makes more sense. I previously thought that the main theme was lying but what you said makes a lot more sense. It states it in a more positive and accurate attitude. I am a little confused as to how your verse and how it relates to seeking out the truth. Could you explain where and or how you got this?
DeleteI meant to say,'this' not 'thit'
DeleteI don't believe that I was completely clear so thank you for asking. I think the verse was saying that we need to not listen to lies, and keep truth in our hearts. If someone says God is a lie, and you save that in your heart, then you correct yourself. In the same way, Truman needed to separate the fake in his life from the lies everyone is telling him. Also God wants us to have peace, not to keep hate against the wrongs that were done, but to forgive, and state your thoughts in a way that is towards love. God doesn't want Truman to keep his hate, but to do every thing after in love.
DeleteI agree with K. Hawkins that there is no such thing as a perfect world. Romans 3 it says that know one is righteous and have all sinned and fall shot of the glory of God. No matter how much someone tries to make a world perfect, or try and control everything it wont be perfect without a perfect ruler. God is the only person that can make us perfect no matter what. It doesn't matter how much we try to make things perfect in the world they will only become perfect if God wants them to be perfect.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you D. Renaud and K. Hawkins, no matter how hard we try to make something or someone perfect it just won't work out. And for the only thing you put your time into is to be perfect or make something perfect can lead to destruction, look at Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. He had tried all his life to make a perfect world for the girl that he loved but when the time came she couldn't go through with leaving he husband for him. No matter how hard you try to become or make something perfect it most likely won't work.
DeleteI really liked your comment about The Great Gatsby and comparing it to the Truman Show, but I think the two different stories can be very different as well. In The Truman Show, I think the plot shows more about what it's like trying to live in someone else's idea of a perfect world. In the end of the movie when Christof is trying to convince Truman to stay, you could see that to some extent, he believed the world Truman was living in was much better than the real world. However, for Truman, who wanted to travel and take risks and lead a different lifestyle, the world of the Truman Show was far from perfect. In The Great Gatsby, I think the story depicts more how trying to create a perfect world can ruin you. Each story is from two different sides of the same initial problem.
DeleteI think that the theme is that this world is not really our home. In the movie Truman thinks that he is living in the outside world but really his is confined to this one spot. In Hebrews 13:14 it says,” For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our city in heaven, which is yet to come.” I think that this applies well to the movie because Truman’s city is like our world and that we are oblivious to the fact that this isn’t our home until we are actually made aware of it just like Truman and knowing about “the real world” and that he wanted to be there instead.
ReplyDeleteGood thought. I want to disagree with you on something. You can't excattly say that the "outside world" to Truman is like heaven. Because in heaven there is no sin but in the "outside world" there was. I like how you enterpreted the movie though.
DeleteI disagree with Emma. Brittany never said the real world was Truman's heaven. She is saying we all live in this world that is just temperary, and when we realize our fallen and broken world we long to go to the better place. Truman doesn't have God in his heart, or at least the movie doesn't suggest that, but when he became aware of the sin around him he was willing to do anything to get out. I see what Brittany was saying and I think it was extremely clever.
DeleteNikki:
DeleteI think what you said about how Truman wanted to do anything o get away from sin was very interesting. I think that sometimes we don't want to do anything to stop sinning. Sometimes we sin and then keep sinning over and over again and don't feel guilty about it anymore. This can become very dangerous because we can easily fall away from God.
I think the main theme of "The Truman Show" is directly connected with John 8:32. Which says "And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." In truman's and Christof conversation, Christof came out with the truth and admitted that he had made Truman's entire life one big lie. After doing this Christof was forgiven and set free as Truman walked off the set. So I do believe that scripture agrees with the main theme and message of "The Truman Show."
ReplyDeleteThe main theme of this movie was that there is no such thing as a perfect world. Even though the producer of "The Truman Show" tried to create a perfect world for Truman, it was impossible. It states this theme in the bible as well. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)". At the end of the movie, the producer tried to persuade Truman to stay in the world that was created for him. He said that the world outside was full of sin, and that his world was perfect. But the fact is, no world is perfect.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very good point. Christof in a way tried to recreate what God had already created but failed. There was much sin in this “perfect world” that Christof thought he had created. On one hand I think that Christof created The Truman Show for the publicity, for everyone to know that he had manipulated Truman’s life. And then on the other hand I saw it as him actually trying to create a perfect world that revolves around Truman. I’m not quite sure about what the author of the movie was trying to say though. But I am in total agreement with you when you say that there is no such thing as a perfect world.
DeleteA. Bohlman
DeleteI found the theme of theres no such thing as perfect in the movie too. I love your verse,"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)" I think this was a great verse for you to use to explain your theme. It is such a simple and common bible verse that people think about. Even though its a simple verse I love how it wraps up everything you need it to and states the point straight away. I agree with you on how Christof tried to persuade Truman to think that his world was perfect. Really Truman didn't know any better, so he didn't know what to expect on the outside world. Christof knew that Truman had no other knowledge about the outside world, so he had a pretty good chance of making him believe the world was perfect. I think it was both Truman's drive to leave the fake world and his semi lack of intelligence that made him break free. Truman took a big risk just leaving the world that he was so used to.
Truman 's whole life was a lie. People told him that they loved him and cared about him, but that was just in their script. Christof said that Truman could leave any time he wanted to, but Christof did everything in his power to stop him from leaving. Christof even made a huge storm to try and stop him from leaving but it ended up almost killing Truman.
ReplyDeleteI think the main themes in the movie basically to be honest about everything and like Anna said, there is no such thing as a perfect world.
ReplyDeleteMy first theme is no such thing as a perfect world. Romans 3:10 says "None is righteous, no, not one." We can't expect all the characters to be perfect all the time. As awful as it may sound, if the characters never sinned or never slipped up the movie would be very boring. In the movie nothing would happen to make the plot move along. I have heard of these places called Utopias where people would gather together and try to make a perfect world. Every time those Utopias failed proving that there is no such thing as a perfect world. Romans 3:23 says "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
My second theme is to be honest about everything. Ephesians 4:25 (CEV) says "We are part of the same body. Stop lying and start telling each other the truth." I know from experience that if someone tells you the truth, even if the truth is hurtful, I know they are a more trustworthy person than someone who is always lying to you. Being honest can sometimes get you in trouble, but if it can hurt someone else you should always tell the truth. I think Christof lying to Truman was hurtful to Truman, because is life was entirely controlled by Christof who is sinful and makes mistakes.
H Hickel, are you saying that it is okay to have actors go into a movie knowing that they are going to be sinning in front of whole world just to entertain people?
DeleteI agree with you H.Hickel. There is no such thing as a perfect world,And if a movie where to never cuss it would get boring. What would we be on this earth for if we never sinned? I think the fact that we can sin and we even know what that is, is a good thing. In my past experiences i found it easier to have a small temptation rather than none because if you have no temptation to cuss it will be so easy to but if you learn how to live with that possibility of hearing it you will learn how to have strength not to. That goes for all sin, I believe
DeleteIsaiah 64:6
Delete" For we have all become like those that are unclean and all our righteous deeds are like polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf and our inquiries, like the wind take us away."
No, Chloe that's not what I'm saying. First of all everything they do is planned and second, there would be no plot line if there was no sin.
DeleteI think that the main theme of the Truman Show is to not think of others as entertainment or as lesser beings. Throughout the whole show, Truman is being lied to, deceived, and laughed at by the people outside of the Show. The Show conveys the meaning of human life, and decisions. Truman is "Reality TV." Most people think of him as just a funny character in a show he knows nothing about. He's just another form of entertainment. The movie conveys this as bad, because in the end, Christof is humiliated in front of the whole world.
ReplyDeleteI also think their is another main them in "The Truman Show." I think it is that everything in life has a purpose. Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." This verse supports the theme because it talks about how God always has a plan. When your down and feel alone and think there's no way God meant for this happen. Your wrong, because God always has one and everything that happens in your life and in Truman's life happened for a reason. We may never know what that reason is but we do know there is one.
ReplyDeleteOne of my themes was exactly what Evan had said. The other theme I had thought of was that Idolatry. Every single person in that town was there for one reason and one reason only: to glorify Truman, so the whole world could glorify Truman for their entertainment. In 1 Corinthians 10:14 it so simply says, “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” We are made to worship God and only God. God is supposed to be the main focus in our lives, despite all of the entertainment options (The Truman Show that they watch within the movies) these days. I don’t think that the movie ever really stated whether or not Idolatry was present but they did in fact show the theme that Evan mentioned.
ReplyDelete^ Also, throughout the entire movie little bits of truth was exposed. Which in fact does show that the truth always comes out, which clearly states so in Proverbs 19:9
ReplyDeleteI think that an abstract theme of the movie was how we should become aware of our surroundings and then try to do the best with them. Truman has to figure out what is going on on the island and if it is false, how to get off the island.Truman begins as and ignorant person who believes the only way to fit in and live a normal life is to go along with the way everyone is telling him to go. However, as the movie progresses, he "grows up" and realizes the world is fake. In the end, he grows up to be a "True-man."
ReplyDeleteI think that a theme for this movie is being punished for lying. In the end of the movie Truman stopped the show and Christof was no longer in charge of him. Christof was no longer able to complete his show because Truman had left him. A bible verse for this would be Proverbs 19:9 (which has already been mentioned before) says, “A false witness will not go unpunished and he who breathes out lies will perish.” This applies to the theme because Christof was punished for his sins, or lying to Truman.
ReplyDeleteI thought of one of the themes as more of a lesson. The message/lesson that came across to me was that if you do something for your own selfish worth its not only going to "bite you in the butt" but also it may hurt others. This message/lesson was projected throughout the whole movie. Christof originally adopted Truman into the show so that he could use him as almost a "money maker." Then at the end it shows that he really was "bit in the butt" because Truman left and he no longer had a show, therefor he no longer had a buissiness. Christof lied to Truman and he made up a world that wasnt true. He was controlling Truman like a robot. In the end he got the justice that he deserved after not only lying to Truman and making up his like, but also the fact that he stole half of Trumans life from him.
ReplyDeleteS. Johnson, I agree with you. Adding on to what you said, I think that Christof got justice in many different ways. Not only did he get justice from losing his show, he got justice by feeling extremely guilty over everything that he realized he did to Truman's life. In the end when he talked to Truman, I think he was not only wanting Truman back to continue the show, but to save himself from the guilt that people will make him feel after people find out Truman knows he's in a fake world.
DeleteI think that another main theme besides lying was idolatry and what it does to you. Christof was the creator of The Truman Show. At first it was just his job. It later became an obsession. He was willing to kill Truman to keep the show from failing. The movie condemned this and showed the consequences. The show ended up failing, and Christof’s career was ruined. God said in Exodus that we should have no other gods before Him. In this movie Christof definitely made The Truman Show his god.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you are saying in the fact that the truman show was Cristof's idol. However you said that cristof's career was ruined because of this, but I do not know if I fully agree with you. What do popular directors of shows do when one fails. They make another one. Aside from the fact that christoff is old he still has a career. However I understand that the truman show is his idol. My main question would be how was Cristof's sin brought to justice. I am saying it was not
ReplyDeleteI think a theme of this book they may not be a main theme or have been intentional is go and explore. If you can explore the world then you can leave your fake safe little average house, not that truman's life is average, and make a new one. kind of like a mission trip. The problem biblically with this is Truman is more free when he is not under jurisdiction, when “God” is not there. Another theme that ties in with this is do not give up on your dreams. Truman wanted to explore all throughout his early life and when his dad died that changed. The more I think of the Themes of truman show and specifically the ending the more I feel it is unbiblical.
ReplyDeleteI think that the main point/theme of the Truman show can be directly quoted to a Bible verse. John 8:32 says, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." This verse played out perfectly in this movie. Truman's whole life was a lie, and this majorly affects his life. He finally knows the truth, and this is extremely emotional for him, but this set him free. He gets to start over in the real world and live a real life. Ironically, the truth physically sets him free, because he finds the exit when he hits the end of the set.
ReplyDeleteThe major theme or idea is that if you lie, you will have a consequence. The theme was lying. I believe scripture would not agree with lying also. Proverbs 19:9 A false witness will not go unpunished ,and he who breathes out lies will perish. The whole chapter was talking about how fools will lie and cheat just to get on top ,but if they don’t repent their sins they will “perish”. Perish means complete ruin or destruction.
ReplyDelete