Philosophical Theme: Buber

In The Truman Show, there was a theme of relationships.  For the director and the people in Truman’s world, all the relationships lie on the I-it side of the spectrum.  For Truman, on the other hand, he was living his normal life, so some of his relationships lay on the I-you side of the spectrum.  This theme lies at the bottom of the whole premise.  The difference between the relationships is what makes this world fake to those viewing it, but real to Truman.

The most obvious relationships to analyze or those of the extras.  The extras are just standing by.  They don’t see Truman as a person, they see him as a character of a television show intended to entertain the viewers.  This was evident in the characters of Meryl and Marlon.  They constantly lie to him because the audience wants to see how he reacts to them.  If they had really seen him as a full person, they would not have toyed with him in the way that they did.  In one case, that of Sylvia, Truman did seem to have a personal connection.  The reason he was so infatuated with this person was that she was able to see him as a person (I-you relationship) just as he saw in her.  The short relationship he had with her was real; everyone else saw him as an object.  The real relationship these two had is what drives Truman to find more of them, and ultimately to leave SeaHaven.

One of the most interesting cases to examine the relationship is that of the director, Christoff.  He was the mind behind the show controlling every aspect of Truman’s life.  Whenever any problem arose he was there to fix it, and he orchestrated all of Truman’s major life events.  He centered the whole show around trying to be able to see Truman as a complete human being, but what he didn’t realize is that he was unable to see Truman as a person.  Though he was able to control everything Truman encountered, he wasn’t able to control Truman’s mind.  The fear of water that he had fostered turned out not to be enough to keep him on the island.  Christoff was only able to see Truman as a compilation of responses as opposed to a true human being.  The climax of this relationship occurred when Truman was trying to escape his world by boat, and Christoff created a violent storm to attempt to stop Truman. This storm, though, was a hazard to Truman’s health.  However, Truman lived and Christoff tried to persuade Truman to stay in the dome by claiming that his life there was better than the outside world, but Truman didn’t want that.  He wanted to have real relationships with others both good and bad as opposed to the one way relationships he had in his life up until this point.

Lastly, Truman’s relationships through Buber are very interesting.  Under the dome he was a very nice person who tried to see everyone as their full persons.  However, they all sort of lacked a spark for him.  That spark was a returned true care for the other person.  The one person he had that spark with was Sylvia, and this relationship is what drove Truman to find out the truth about SeaHaven.  Thus, Buber’s I-you and I-it relationships are what drove The Truman Show to its climax.

Jack Skaggs

Character Analysis: Meryl Burbank

Meryl Burbank, Truman Burbank’s wife, played an important role in The Truman Show.  She started the movie as being Truman’s totally normal wife, but as the story progresses, she created the doubt that led to Truman’s ultimate discovery that his whole life he had been living a lie.  The problems arose from the fact that she was an actress trying to play the role of a real wife to Truman.  Her name was actually Hannah Gill, but, while in character, she was supposed to have a baby with Truman.  She also did things like blatantly advertise products for the show right in front of Truman which helped fuel his doubt.

While Meryl was pushing Truman towards the breaking point, she was also being pushed to her breaking point.  Meryl occasionally committed acts that made it seem like Truman was being controlled.  For instance, when Truman talked about leaving SeaHaven for Fiji, she immediately began to subtly discourage the idea.  She also randomly talked to the audience about products, and since Truman had no idea who she was talking to, it seemed fishy to Truman.  Ultimately, when Truman saw she had her fingers crossed in their wedding picture (implying the marriage was null), he hit the breaking point and began to test her to see if everything he knew was real.

Truman’s tests began when Meryl came home to find Truman sitting in his car.  He proceeded to predict everyone that was walking around their block in order and noted that it is curious that the same people would just go around the block continuously.  Truman then recklessly drove around SeaHaven attempting to get off the island with Meryl as she tried to talk him down.  The pressure began to build with Meryl as she couldn’t stand Truman and felt that her life was beginning to be at risk.  Her pressure came to a head when Truman took out the knife and continued to act wildly.  As he approached her, the fear grew, and when he touched her she shouted out, “Do Something.”  At this point, Marlon came in to help her out, which confirmed for Truman that he was indeed living a lie.

Meryl through this whole time was in a tough place.  She was living a lie as much as Truman because she had to be Truman’s wife in all facets.  Unfortunately for her, she knew it was all fake.  Buber can diagnose the overarching problem between her and Truman.  Meryl sees Truman from an I-it relationship standpoint, whereas Truman sees her with an I-you relationship.  What this means is that, for Meryl, Truman was just a way to get a paycheck.  She couldn’t see him as a person because she knew that everything and everyone he came into contact with was “controlled.”  In a world that was controlled, she had to deal with the one variable.  She also had to love someone who, in her mind, wasn’t real.  She had to carry out orders that would make her fake.  For instance, she was supposed to have a baby with Truman.  Why would she want to have a baby with someone she didn’t love?  The answer is she really didn’t, and her being taken off the show was helpful in that she is liberated from living the lie.  Her whole life, she was living in a world of I-It relationships.  It would be hard to live through a large portion of your life, and not be able to be attached to anything because you know it isn’t real.

Meryl’s character is eventually dismissed because she can’t handle the continued pressure of living a lie.  She was as shackled in that dome as Truman was.  She couldn’t start a life of her own when she was making a fake one with Truman.  After she left, we wonder whether the paycheck was worth it to live that long in Truman’s world, but we ultimately don’t know.

Jack Skaggs