If the following essay reads very “school regulated” like, that’s because this was written for a class. I’m choosing to post this simply because I was already a big fan of the movie and it’s one I haven’t had the chance of digging into on an analytical level. Full disclosure: there are going to be some film terms that you possibly haven’t seen or heard of, I’ll provide notes at the end. PS: I’m remembering a Dissolve discussion about The Truman Show, was it a Movie of the Day or something?

In the concluding moments of Peter Weir’s 1998 film, The Truman Show, the titular character’s rebellious actions lead him into an open world of uncertainty and anonymity of which his ginormous audience receives well. The final scene however is not a reflection of Truman’s actions now that he has saved himself from the trappings of the fictional Seahaven world, but of two working-class garage attendees who rejoice in the moment of Truman’s triumph only to abruptly grab the remote and change the channel to see, “what else is on”.

Thematically speaking, time is lost on everyone involved within the fabula of The Truman Show, indicated as such by the syuzhet’s layout of a rigorous television production completely revolved around one man’s entire life and the obsessive nature of those who watch the show. The structure of The Truman Show breaks down the essence of time lost through carefully placed enactments that match the simultaneous narrations of the audience, the production crew, and Truman; the illustration of duration and how that has affected the characters of the fabula; and through the invasive characterization of the camera which acts as the source of Truman’s paranoia and as the link between his life and his audience.

There is an embedded connection that the in-universe show holds with its audience. Not only has the success of “The Truman Show” inspired franchising and an obsessive cultural movement, as seen by the diners in the name-sake diner or the old women who have Truman’s iconography on their pillows, but it even sparks controversy among the viewing audience who only see the show as a calculated and painfully elaborate form of imprisonment. The driving force of this criticism is a former “actor” of the show, Sylvia, whom Truman is still enamored with long after her removal from the show -and his life-. The syuzhet breaks the temporal structure by referring to a flashback which details Sylvia and Truman’s brief relationship. This is an enactment that is heavily commented on by the audience, who are aware that despite the meticulous manipulation of the production, Truman still retains his own internal desires and emotions.

Sylvia acts as the audience’s conscious, fully aware of the bizarre circumstances Truman is under and how the reception of the show has invaded his privacy for so long without his knowledge. The fabula of the film, which is mostly rooted in the final week of the in-universe’s show, does constantly recount how the duration of the show has existed for thirty years. That makes her engagement with the show post-removal a means to monitor him and mourn for his normalcy, in that Truman has lived 30 years with people constantly watching him, now she has lost time to be with him as well as to spend time away from the television.

The other major corresponding character who was removed from Truman’s life is his “father”, another actor who is unceremoniously removed early in his life only to return later first as a means of warning him but then just another pawn in the show’s on-going narration. The lapse in time between the “father”’s reappearance and his time on the show acts as a more direct form of underlining how time has been lost emotionally for Truman and for those who escape the confined regulations of inhabiting the show.

The enactment of his “father”’s return here is key to indicating how the show manipulated Truman with fears of being near large bodies of waters -and dogs for that matter, to instill a sense of safety within the he confounds of the Seahaven studio lot so that he’ll never leave. There are instances of the “father”, Sylvia, and others trying to directly inform Truman of his situation throughout his life, told in a successive way by the show’s own commentary. The purpose of which fills in the ellipses of Truman’s personal fabula, reminding us how he has lost time through his enforced fears which leads to his episodic breakdown in the crux of the main narrative. The audience is clued into Truman’s internal turmoil not just with flashbacks of his traumatic experiences, but by the observation of the production crew behind the show.

The director of the series, Christof, beams at his boldness in archiving Truman’s life since he was born with every intention of exploiting each milestone Truman is expected to achieve, be that conception or his death. The breeziness of Christof’s logic is mirrored simultaneously in an interview, the turning point of the film’s syuzhet, where his interview is imposed with a picture-in-picture of Truman eating his cereal.

This is the highlighting moment of the film, showcasing the needless devotion to watching one person eat their breakfast as a reflection of how the entire premise of the show and the man-labor that goes into supporting is has been a time warp that affects everyone involved. The actors, the production crew, the team in the moon base, all have wasted their time and lives slavishly following around one man for thirty years, acting as though this is an acceptable means of their resources and time. Without the framing nature of the production of “The Truman Show”, this film could be viewed as a bland narration of one man completely losing his mind, but to have the production be so necessary to the succession of the film means to expand on the fabula duration in a effectively shocking way.

As part of the production, it is mentioned how there are thousands of cameras used within the parameters of the show’s studio, to capture every possible moment of Truman’s life. The cameras themselves are as much of a characterization of television manipulation as Meryl’s constant pandering to product placement. The camera always insists on framing Truman dead center, as though it is a first-person perspective, engaging the audience as directly as possible with the star still within the context of viewer-to-television interaction. The cameras are bugged throughout every object and person he encounters, which become characters themselves as the syuzhet progresses and Truman becomes aware of his being watched.

His comprehension of the patterns and ritualistic behaviors that the show has set for him is captured on video, creating suspense among the audience as to when he will fully catch on to what is happening. Their obsession with his obsession of finding these synchroncities within his life becomes a self-eating snake of losing all sense of time and meaning. While he means to adventure away from Seahaven, he realizes that he is caught in a rigorous time loop that revolves around him, and the only way to escape is to break the consistencies. The audience themselves are removed enough from the situation in that they are now more engaged with the breaking of the pattern, suffering from losing time in their own personal lives.

The frequency of how Truman is manipulated not to leave Seahaven becomes an illustration of the time spent with Truman within the syuzhet sees him morph from his hapless and obedient behavior to radically paranoid and convinced at how everything is calibrated to his moods, desires, and actions. This is clearly shown in his fear of water, growing from being able to go near it, to submitting to his fear of driving over the bridge, and finally culminating in actually getting on the sailboat to be free of his entrapment. This is the most active Truman is in the film and the further he pushes his boundaries the greater sense of time he has wasted not leaving sooner becomes immediate. If he doesn’t confront his fear of the water, he will lose time to escape.

The overlapping of Truman’s main storyline in conjunction with the producers and the audience becomes quicker-paced once the interview scene with Christof happens, but the audience themselves enact a sense of frequency and familiarity as they watch the show internally combust. The sensationalism of “The Truman Show”’s premise allows for its audience to escape what they conceive as everyday-boredom in order to participate in someone’s televised and visually appealing version of everyday-boredom. While Truman fights to escape from his constrictive life, the audience cheers him on, forgetting the priorities of their own lives (seen with the two women in the kitchen ignoring the cries of a toddler behind them while they watch TV).

The simulation of Truman’s life makes time go by slower it seems, to which the audience is never removed from their interactions with him, making them unaware of how much time they’ve lost by watching the show. This is in stark contrast with Truman desiring time for himself, the extent of which he is unaware, in that he has lost his entire lifetime to the fictional world created for him. Sylvia has submitted to the obsession because she sees this as a tragedy, while the audience and the producers are oblivious to how their lives are also still in progress and that they cannot actually live forever vicariously through Truman despite the efforts to do so.

As a commentary on the then rising interest in “reality-television” in the late nineties, The Truman Show invites the viewers into this fabula as a means of things to come. While not out to make a grand statement on how life is precious, it instead uses the insecurities and anachronisms of television pleasantries to comment on routine and comfort. The audience is conditioned to be part of Truman’s life, who is conditioned to live in his manufactured world, as though time is limitless and fruitful. Truman becomes aware of the stasis of his life, the audience themselves never concludes that their time has been wasted. The loss of Truman’s time spent in Seahaven is just another program, and there’s always something else on to deviate their attention and time towards.

• Fabula: The story (including details that are not actually seen in the film, i.e. Backstory).
• Syuzhet: The plot, the sequence of events that happen within the span of the film’s running time.
• Ellipses: Events that happen in the story that are not seen but move the syuzhet forward but not the fabula (i.e. Someone running late to work but only seeing them leaving the house and then running into the office w/o the middle stuff).