In the ever-changing society that people live in, one is often constrained to act a certain way; however, those who are spontaneous are generally more able to succeed in terms of achieving goals and aspirations. Today, the conforming society that we live in seems to strive to prevent us from being free-spirited; it is as though whenever one wants to experiment, a brick wall stands in the way. However, the people who choose a new road, the ones who demolish the brick walls, are often more prosperous. The people who fight their way out of the forest of conformity and restriction find themselves in a field of success and accomplishment, their goals achieved and desires fulfilled. In the film, The Truman Show, Truman Burbank uses spontaneity to slowly weave his way out of the confinement that Christoff built around him. Through Truman’s sudden change of actions, reckless driving, and fake persona, director Peter Weir explores the idea of using spontaneity to achieve one’s goals.

Truman’s realization of irregularity in his world and the beginning of his acts of instinctiveness began his journey to find justice. As he set off on his regular morning commute, Truman’s radio in his car began to static up. After forcing it to work, the frequency changed to that of the cast member direction station; as a result, he was able to hear all of the instructions that coordinated his contrived world. As he realized something was wrong, Truman began to use spontaneity; he changed the order of his day by venturing into a different building instead of conventionally going to his daily desk job. Truman’s actions not only startled the crew, but also slowly revealed the lies that Christoff had built for him; when he stepped into the elevator, he saw the set behind the doors. While at this point, he was unaware of the fraud, Truman’s actions slowly indicated how the world he lived in was not real and how he could escape the lies. His goal by the end of the movie was to escape, but without his spontaneous actions in the beginning, his goals would’ve been rendered unachievable and impossible. It is with his spontaneity and the choosing of his own path that Truman began to understand what the world he thought he knew really was.

Truman’s continuation of insane actions, now dragging other characters with him, slowly revealed certain patterns and flaws in the dome. Furthermore, these actions were able to help him become more courageous and confident. After Truman’s slow realization of his world, he began to unwrap the strips of lies that Christoff built by exploiting patterns. For example, Truman took Meryl on a perilous drive, as Christoff piled traffic in front of him and created a nuclear accident scene. With these contingent actions, Truman did not only further expose Christoff’s lies, but he also conquered his fear of water by driving over the bridge. His impulsivity would later help him sail out of his contrived prison by eliminating the fear that was instilled in him. He achieved his goal by driving over a bridge fearlessly, and even though Meryl was not supposed to support him, she still remained proud of his progress. This action further exemplifies the idea that through actions involving spontaneity, goals can be achieved. With his second act of spontaneity, Truman began breaking a pattern: Christoff would restrict Truman every time he wanted to do something that was not in line with the show.

Truman’s prolific plan of playing Christoff’s game was a spontaneous action that no one in the audience expected. The randomness and creativity of this action was the final step in Truman’s escape. As Christoff constantly combatted Truman’s spontaneity, Truman began to formulate a new plan: He entered Christoff’s game and played by the rules, whilst not forgetting his original goal, which was to abscond his reality TV prison. For a certain period of time, he interacted and planned his day out as though nothing was really different; in fact, even an audience member would not have been able to tell the difference. Eventually, in the middle of the night, he broke the façade and snuck out of his room just as the crew’s doubts faded. This ingeniously insane idea illustrates just how spontaneous Truman became once freedom became imperative to him: at this point, Truman was an animal fighting for survival. His daring tactics of spontaneity and mock conformity led to his extrication and this itself supports the idea that spontaneity is the process by which goals are achieved. Without his fraud upon Christoff, he would’ve been powerless in his escape; it would not have been possible for him to reach freedom if he conformed to the rules.

In The Truman Show, director Peter Weir shows the idea of using spontaneity to achieve goals in Truman’s sporadic actions of changing the order and actions of his day, reckless driving, and fraudulent conformity. These actions all displayed spontaneity, and each contributed massively to Truman’s eventual and justified escape from his prison. Spontaneity was Truman’s key to the real world, and his actions paved his path to independence; it isn’t without his instinctive actions that Truman could’ve achieved his goals. The director of this movie used Truman’s actions of resistance to exaggerate the effects of spontaneity on the process of reaching aspirations. Spontaneity is the fuel that drives our actions every day; innovation and invention are products of this interesting action. The motif of spontaneity in The Truman Show is exemplified in Truman’s actions, and allows him to achieve all of his goals.