Chapter 2015: 2015 Delving Into Metaphors
As a work with profound meaning, "The Truman Show" is a comedy movie, but its deep meaning is a rare masterpiece in the past ten years. This feature produced by the "Chicago Tribune" actually led to a deeper discussion, which is also unexpected.
As we all know, "The Truman Show" actually has three layers of traps. The first layer is the movie itself. The reality show variety show starring Truman-Burbank has attracted countless viewers all over the world; the second layer It is the audience sitting in the movie theater. Everyone has countless memories and thoughts about the story, including many topics such as freedom to death, entertainment to death, change and fear; the third layer is the hidden worry behind the story: whether we It is also "Truman", whether the trajectory of our life is also controlled by an unknown "God"; whether we are like poor Truman, thinking that we are in control of our destiny, but we don't know that we are just another kind of Gordon Biology is just a clown who teases and entertains after dinner.
So far, discussions about these three layers of traps have been raging, making everyone amazed at "The Truman Show" and talking about this movie endlessly. The high enthusiasm reminds people of "Star Wars" horizontal The years after Kong was born.
However, some people now say that there is actually a fourth trap in "Truman's World". There are inherent contradictions that are generally ignored by people.
In the movie, the ubiquitous cameras truly show Truman's world, representing staring, peeping and control. A huge, invisible external force has completely put personal privacy under surveillance. Existence does not serve man himself, but becomes the object of external control.
In real life, this can actually be understood as the control and regulation of social institutions. For example, schools, such as the military, such as companies, monitoring, norms, rules, etc., are everywhere. People need to use various methods such as ID cards, credit cards, and monitors to put the information of ordinary residents under the control system. This kind of discipline exists in every corner of the society invisibly. Through propaganda, education, training and other methods, people use strict moral norms to restrain their minds—of course, the premise of freedom is to abide by laws and regulations, which are social norms.
However, the tragedy of Truman is not that he cannot leave Paradise Island, but that under the guidance of the program group, he restrains himself, loses the impulse to go out, and loses the courage to change. Just like the intriguing words in the movie, "Because people accept the reality", the movie borrows Meryl's words to express this kind of self-restraint, "We have to pay for the house, we have to pay for the car, how can we say go Just leave?” These shackles are given to us by society, but they are also given to us by ourselves—this kind of spiritual shackles is the most terrifying when we lose the cowardice and compromise that yearn for freedom.
In fact, Paradise Island in the movie can be seen as a satire of the conservative values advocated by the American conservative party. This value emphasizes traditional values, family values, and firmly opposes corruption. Pregnancy, homosexuality, multiculturalism, since Reagan took office, this kind of thinking has become the mainstream society in the United States.
The elegant housewife in the villa always has her hair unruly, patiently prepares delicious dinners, and waits for her husband and children to return forever; the kind neighbors always greet her husband warmly when he sees his husband returning home with a briefcase, Always friendly and gentle talking about irrelevant news; even lawn mowers, kitchen utensils, coffee, cars have been regulated, it seems that the middle class is regulated to use these brands, "Truman's world is a kind of life way, a model life, a life of real happiness."
This in itself is one of the purposes of the program group creating the reality show "The Truman Show", which is to promote a model life to the audience.
However, as revealed in the movie, this kind of life is actually just a model show. Behind the glamorous house and the stylized greetings are hopeless hypocrisy, depravity and despair. This model drama also continues the conservative party's pursuit of religious beliefs, in which the main characters all allude to the characters in the Bible.
Christopher is like "Jesus-Christ", Paradise Island is the Garden of Eden, Meryl, Marlon and other actors are the embodiment of devout believers, and Truman is the only outlier in the whole society.
Truman roared to the sky in the storm, "If you want to stop me, you have to kill me", this passionate scene reminds people of Ramses who dared to challenge the authority of God in "Exodus" Pharaoh; Sylvia's plot of telling the truth to Truman on the beach completely corresponds to the story of the snake and Eve in the Garden of Eden - the snake said to Adam, "Eat the fruit of the tree of good and evil and you will discern good and evil like gods ", and God lied to people, saying that if you eat it, you will die-because God wants Truman to stay on Paradise Island forever.
In the Bible story, Adam and Eve, who ate the fruit of good and evil, were cursed by God. Pursuing the truth and pursuing self-improvement is a crime. The rules of good and evil in the Garden of Eden are different from those in the mortal world. Lying is a virtue, and pursuing the truth is a crime. Because God hopes that people will never understand good and evil, right and wrong, and shame—one of the basic teachings of Christianity: People must completely rely on God and not rely on their own abilities. They must believe in God in everything they do, and God will guide them. their way.
It is understandable to humans who are still in a state of confusion, but it is completely absurd to humans who have already experienced the enlightenment movement. This is the beginning of the conflict between "spiritual homeland" and "free will".
As we all know, with the development of science and technology and society, the meaning of religion has weakened a lot compared with the peak period of the Middle Ages, but religion is still a kind of culture, and due to historical reasons, it has already penetrated into the bone marrow of national culture of various countries and has become a modern One of the cornerstones of civilization. The influence of "Bible" stories has subtly settled in people's subconscious mind, unconsciously affecting people's thinking and regulating people's behavior; at the same time, it is accompanied by desire. With the ever-expanding expectations, rapid social changes, and the collapse of the traditional value system, more and more people realize that they need a spiritual sustenance, a spiritual home, so more and more people convert to religion again, and their faith begins to flourish again.
In the movie "The Truman Show", the conservative party created such an ideal paradise island, which is serene and joyful, sunny, happy, peaceful and quiet, so that Meryl, Malone and others can immerse themselves in such an ideal paradise island. In life, I gradually lost myself, just like Truman, gradually began to lose my free will, born in sorrow and died in peace. This black fairy tale expresses strong concerns about this situation: Where does people re-discover religion and pursue the meaning of faith to the soul?
Human beings pursue truth, but are judged by God; human beings pursue freedom, but are destroyed by God. There are countless such examples in history, and Truman is just the simplest example in contemporary society. Compared with Giordano Bruno who was burned alive, he is already much happier.
The movie takes that worry out in a dark fairytale way, pushing such a story to the extreme, showing the dire consequences to the fullest, and then denying it. This is an important supplement to the profound connotation of "The Truman Show".
Another positive aspect of "Truman's World" is the final result of Truman. He not only regained his freedom and embarked on his own life; Everyone else has since been freed from being manipulated.
It is true that, as Christopher said, "The outside world is as false as the world I gave you, with the same lies and frauds, but in my world, you don't have to be afraid of anything", but the problem is that choosing false The beauty of the real, or the dirty of the real?
On the face of it, this is a Hamletian question: to be, or to die? But in fact, this is a false proposition: because in the story of the movie, even if Truman chooses to stay, he has no way to stay after learning the truth. The only truth of this variety show has become If it is false, then the program will become a joke.
Therefore, "Truman's World" is doomed to collapse, and the control as dense as a spider's web cannot imprison a heart that yearns for freedom after all. Just like what Truman said: Even if five thousand cameras are installed, one camera cannot be installed in the mind; therefore, the movie does not give other options, only the only answer: go out.
Truman broke the confinement of Paradise Island and successfully walked out of the Garden of Eden. In the "Bible" story, the next thing could not be more clear: human beings were born. Of course, after Truman leaves Paradise Island, what he needs to face is a wild world. For Truman, his choice has a strong metaphor, and its underlying core is "an insignificant but prophetic individual liberation." The possibility of free will for all mankind" exists.
Through a joke that is almost full of sarcasm, "The Truman Show" directly pushes God to the judgment seat. In the confrontation, the human nature yearning for freedom still had the last laugh.
Although "The Truman Show" is ultimately an entertaining comedy movie, this movie has successfully surpassed the entertainment effect of popular movies and entered into a more serious creative field, becoming the perfect carrier of a cautionary fable. Apart from tears, the storm of thought in people's minds is the most powerful force.
The "Chicago Tribune" wrote in the subtitle of this feature, "The audience in the movie is cheering for Truman to leave Paradise Island. Does this have any inspiration for us?"