The perception of reality is created by experiences and events individuals have had a chance to live through and reflected from. Human nature goes through the process of evolution after an individual is born into a world that is mysterious to them at first. As year pass by, their surroundings become more familiar and reflection on past mistakes and successes benefits their unique point of view. Beliefs and values slowly begin to develop as the individual starts to interact with more people.   In The Truman Show, Truman Burbank is set up to live in a utopian society where everything is controlled by outside forces. Creators of the film work to base the movie’s plot around the idea of idealism vs. reality while they attempt to show the flaws of a perfect society. In order to do this, Truman is manipulated both physically and emotionally to follow a script that he is unaware even exists. Peter Weir, the director of The Truman Show, illustrates the idea of experiences having an impact on the way we view the world to the audience. This is accomplished through the use of friends and family to influence life values, observing everyday life patterns, and emotionally manipulating Truman into following a planned reality.

Those we feel closest to leave a great impact on the values and beliefs we carry throughout our lives. In The Truman Show, director Peter Weir uses Truman’s friends and family to manipulate his perception of reality while also influencing the way he views his ideal society by emotionally deceiving Truman and his desires. Before his father is reintroduced back into the show, Truman’s best friend, Marlon takes advantage of Truman’s kindness to convince Truman of his loyalty towards their friendship. He toys with Truman’s emotions and makes him feel guilty in order to make him believe what the producers want him to believe. This is shown most clearly in the line when Marlon says, “And the last thing I would ever do is lie to you, Truman”. In this quote, Marlon convinces Truman that he means everything to him and would always be there for him when no one else is. This changes Truman’s beliefs that everything in his life is turning into a lie and that he can no longer trust anyone. This quote, in the producer’s eyes, was believed to set the original plot of the show back on track which was the original life of Truman Burbank. Truman, being the naïve individual he is at this point of the show, believes what Marlon is saying. He trusts Marlon to be someone that will tell him the truth due to experiences that the two friends had gone through in their childhood. After learning the true intentions of his close family and friends, people that Truman believed he could once trust provided him with different experiences that changed his view on reality to believe that he could no longer trust anyone.  These carefully planned out lies slowly begin to unravel when Truman notices the change in his everyday routines.

A change in everyday life patterns leads Truman to believe that he is being watched and the world revolves around him. Events throughout the movie such as a studio light falling from the sky and Truman’s father reappearing in the street sparks a doubt about Truman’s reality. In the beginning of the movie, Truman goes through his daily routine which is when he is at the very peak of his innocence. Towards the end of the movie, Truman goes through the exact same routine but notices the repetition in his activities. From that point on, he knows more than the creators of the show and his view on reality is entirely flipped around. Truman’s journey from innocence to power was cleverly placed in the line, “In case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening and good night”. The irony exemplified in this quote about Truman’s daily routine is later unraveled at the end of the movie when the phrase is said once again; however, the audience now understands the true meaning behind it. Using Truman’s expressions and actions, people associated with the show, now understand how Truman views his reality. This quote is used to mock the creators of the show by demonstrating to them that the tables have now turned and Truman is in control of the show. Having a set schedule and route for Truman’s day provided creators with the power to control his every move.  However, this strong use of control back fired for the show when Truman used it to conceal his tracks of escaping.  This technique was used to show the process of Truman transferring from being completely innocent to learning more about his reality than the producers of the show. Certain events and experiences took place in his life which provided him with enough knowledge to understand that his reality was not the one that had been created for him. Truman’s newfound intelligence provided him with the skills to observe the patterns in his daily life routines allowing him to understand his life’s reality better. When the cast of the show begins to notice Truman’s new knowledge, they try their best to manipulate his beliefs in order to align his reality with the one the created for him. Manipulating Truman’s surroundings lead him to a fake reality and a controlled interaction between different people.

To keep the show on track, creator of the show, Christof emotionally manipulates Truman into believing that his reality is the one presented to him and that he has no power to change it. As a young child, Truman had the desire to go exploring and to see the world. His dream was shot down by one of Christof’s workers and he was told that there was nothing left for him to explore. Due to the constant put down of his desires and his father’s tragic death, Truman’s need to explore died down to fear. Truman has the desire to go to Fiji and find the girl he has been in love with since high school, but this dream is never accomplished due to the fact that he has a deadly fear of water. This fear of water was created after Truman’s life was tampered with and his father was stolen away from him.  Christof uses Truman’s fear to convince him into staying in the reality he was presented. Christof’s beliefs about Truman’s reality is clearly stated in the line, “We accept the reality which we are presented.” Christof acts as a father figure to Truman by taking care of his every need as long as Truman stays with him. He believes he is doing the best for the star of the show by giving him everything that Christof did not have the chance to have and keeping him away from the problems of the real world. This leads back to the idea of experiences shaping our reality by providing us with a character who believes the real world is corrupt due to different experiences he had to go through. Christof manipulates Truman’s reality by putting him in different situations that leads back to the creator’s original plans. Truman believes that the manipulations are a part of his everyday life and does not question the effect they leave on his daily routine. Manipulating Truman’s emotions and reactions to certain scenarios allows for more control by the creators which in turn leads to a happier audience.

Throughout The Truman Show, director Peter Weir, uses friends and family, the organization of daily routines and emotional manipulation to control the reality Truman is set in. The writer of the movie places Truman in different environments to manipulate the way he perceives the world around him. These different scenarios not only shape Truman’s surroundings but also how he wishes to view his utopian world as well.  Characters such as Christof and Marlon support the manipulation of reality and the enforced ideal society. Examples from the movie illustrate how one’s life experiences can influence both their reality and their dream society.