The Truman Show, Plato and Longinus

This is a clip of the end-scene of the film The Truman Show, starring actor Jim Carrey who lives out 30 years of his life on a television show, not knowing that he is living in a fake world set-up by the producer of this show. This movie can be closely related to Plato's Allegory of The Cave, in the sense that Truman is trapped in a false sense of reality. Once he has gained the knowledge of his surroundings, what will he do?The ending of this film helps us to conclude that people do want to know the truth, regardless of what it may be. Of course, this is a happy ending as Truman does gain his freedom and chooses to leave. According to Plato, we accept our realities as we see them. So, for Truman, he has accepted that the life he lived, which didn't seem to manifest much pain, was a reality of life.  This is an easy analysis of Plato's work....

We can also look at Longinus and the sublime in the context of art. For instance, the entire movie builds up to this particular moment where the sky lights up and a voice from above speaks to Truman. Longinus doesn't believe that art is perfect and that there is one instance of subliminal beauty that makes up the piece of art. In the case of The Truman Show and this clip; the one subliminal moment is the conversation between Truman and Christof (the producer). It is the one instance where Truman takes things in to his own hands and walks out. The question raised about reality and what is good, the producer tries to persuade Truman in to believing that although the set wasn't real, Truman is and that life outside the set is no different. According to Longinus, persuasion is not needed but rather ecstacy, which is provided by Truman when he gives his well-known statement and walks out.

We don't really know what happens to Truman after the show but it wouldn't matter. The sublime moment has occured and Truman has come to terms with what he regards as reality.