Cue The Sun.

The Truman Show
Released 5 June 1998
Directed by Peter Weir
Starring Jim Carrey
Run Time 103 mins

+Recently, I've been watching Jim Carrey movies. No, not those goofy ones like The Mask, Ace Ventura or Dumb and Dumber. I've been watching some of his more thought-provoking works, including Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind and The Truman Show. The movie which left me the most food for thought was The Truman Show and I shall share this wonderful movie here.


+The film is set mostly in a town wholly dedicated to a continually running television show. The town is actually encased in a gigantic dome, huge enought to be visible from space. Truman, the protaganist (Jim Carrey), is the only "real" person in the town-the rest are either film crew or actors. His life is broadcasted worldwide to billions of people, right from his birth. Well, he was an unwanted baby so his parents were fake as well. LOL.

Truman's life is broadcasted live to the whole world, 24/7.

+Being encased in a dome gave the show producers to control every single aspect of his life - including the weather, his love life, his job, his education, his childhood traumas, etc - and broadcast it to the world with at least 5000 cameras all around Truman. To prevent Truman from trying to escape and discover the truth underlying his artificial world, his father is "killed" in a staged boating incident so as to make Truman afraid of water. Isn't the idea of it just sick?

The Creator cues the music during an emotional scene.

+Soon, Truman discovers that his life is too perfect to be true. In the thirtieth year of Truman's life, various factors begin to make him aware of the unrealistic routine of his world. In one case, he was almost hit by a light falling out of a clear 'sky'. Later, he accidentally overhears a radio broadcast monitoring his driving.

"Cue the Sun."

+Truman begins his escape and the Creator conducts his "islandwide" search for him. Since it is night-time, the search proved to be futile even with his 5000 cameras and actors searching for him at full-force. In a desperate attempt to find Truman (even while streaming live), the Creator shouts," Cue the Sun." - and instantly turns night-time into day.

"Was anything Real?"

+Truman is finally found. He had sailed into the ocean to try to escape. Accidentally, he finds the edge of the constructed reality when his sail boat pierces the painted sky on the inner dome wall. Walking along the edge of the ocean, he discovers an exit door and opens it, leaving the "perfect world" for good.

"Truman, there's no more truth out there than in the world I created for you - the same lies and deceit. But in my world, you have nothing to fear."
-The Creator persuading Truman to stay

+Don't you feel that sometimes your world is also so set up for you, that you don't have any say in it? That everything you do is actually planned, that everything you do is so routine, that your life is too predictable to be true?

+What ever happened to spontaneity? Why can't we do whatever our heart desires? If I should want to quit school and go pursue a career in singing or drawing or modeling or acting, would I do it? Or would I choose the path that has been chosen for me, the path that I am expected to take? Just like Truman, I have been brainwashed into fearing the alternative path - if you ask me now, I would surely continue my studies instead. There are just too many what-ifs and risks to be considered. Either that, or I am just not a risk taker.

+That said, I would still hold on to my dreams of becoming a singer-songwriter someday.


+Also, isn't it scary that there are people influential enough in the world to "Cue the Sun"?