Marlon, played by Noah Emmerich, is Truman’s best friend in the movie. Although he maintains a close relationship with Truman, he is actually extremely disloyal and dishonest. Throughout the movie, Marlon goes along with every idea of the Truman show, whether it is morally good or bad. His dedication to the show often supersedes his faithfulness to his friend. He constantly finds himself lying to his so-called best friend, Truman, for the sake of the show. For example, Christof, the director of the show, is repeatedly in Marlon’s ear feeding him a script of what to say. In addition, Marlon, along with many other of Truman’s loved ones, leads a fake life to hide reality from him. He even convinces Truman to stay in Seahaven, despite knowing his desire to leave. Throughout the movie, Truman constantly confides in his friend about his unhappiness, but Marlon sacrifices his companion’s feelings for the good of the show. Marlon’s betrayal to his best friend depicts how much this show’s success really means to him.

This movie illustrates how reality can be perceived through several perspectives. Truman’s life was viewed from his standpoint, his loved ones’ perspectives, the show’s crews’ perspectives, and the audience’s perspective. This movie is also a good example of Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza’s theory of imagination and reason. Marlon is so infested into the movie that he sometimes forgets what is really going on. His imaginative life, living in The Truman Show, is now his own reality because it takes up all his mind power and strength. Marlon and Truman are best friends in the show but no one will ever know what Marlon’s reasoning was to put his best friend through this in the first place.

lies

Chelsey Howarth