As someone who deconstructed my faith, I actually can see this as a “leaving Eden/religion”. I don’t feel like I was ever presented with any other options and everyone around me was an echo chamber. Looking back I can see things clearly, as I’m sure Truman thought every day after he got out.
Dominion by Tom Holland is a great book that I think really helps summarise this idea that, even as an atheist your morals etc are still shaped by the history of Christianity. So it’s interesting to think of the morals of a piece of media in that context as well
@@hilbert54they are. Christianity as with all religions likes to take the credit for morality. Though some parts of morality are christian. Lazyness or taking it easy being seen as a negative trait or monogamy being moral while non-monogamy as immoral are religious ideas not based on harm
@@boserboser6870 With respect I don't think laziness or monogamy are moral issues. Regardless, I'm sure people found good reason to be productive millennia before christianity and as for polygamy, that is a moral issue only if their is deception involved. It is the deception that is an issue.
@hilbert54 thats the point they arnt. And 100s of years ago we did more meaningfull harder work but in lower density. Also resting through winter, work loads that in the modern world would be seen as lax by some Christians (committed ones, not passive one) make everyones sex life their buildings and condemn sex out of marrage etc. And often dont care about consent since christians lobby against marital rape laws
7:35 The biggest problem in comparing Adam and Eve’s story to The Truman Show is that the Garden of Eden isn’t a false world. Everything in it is completely real and true. Another big difference is that Truman chooses to leave, Adam and Eve are forced to leave
I always saw the film as a critique of man trying to play god. Which yes, inherently includes elements that critique the concept of an all-powerful god, and of course is filled with biblical symbolism and imagery, directly comparing Kristoff to God and Truman to Adam/Jesus. But it isn't meant to be a direct allusion or retelling of Adam's story, or Jesus's, nor a direct critique of the bible or religion. As you say, the humanist story of both Kristoff and Truman and all the other characters are what make the film so interesting.
Ok, hear me out on this one. Just a theory and maybe too weird and meta for anyone's liking: The religious imagery is more about the real world. Not the one in the movie, the real world that you and I are in. It's specifically about the way times were changing in hollywood and mass media. Look at the clothes and architecture- very 50's and 60's themed. This movie came out (and takes place) in 1998. Yes, they represent the safety of the bygone age- but that safety included heterosexual marriage, gender roles, and the importance of morality and reputation. All things people used to say were impossible without knowing god, things that used to be so present on TV but aren't anymore. Gone is the prim and clean studio where Lucy and Ricky slept in separate beds to shield the audience. We walked off the set, just like Truman. Media's not so much about the good christian boy winning in the end- things are more complex and realistic. I don't see this as the main point of the movie obviously! Not every theme is THE theme.
I always thought Christof made more sense as an allegory for Lucifer. It's basically a 1 man trial run of his plan where everyone goes to earth, gets saved regardless of what they did, and Lucifer gets all the glory.
I'm Christian and let me first say i love being a christian and i also love this film, so for me, i am not going to come to the conclusion that Christof = God in the truest sense. Yes, Christof sees himself as God but the difference God made actual physical reality whereas Christof made a artificial one. Also, God and Adam do meet face to face, Adam is very aware of who God is and has a good relationship with Him. Eve is also not an actress unlike Meryl. Also, God' command to be fruitful and multiply comes before the incident with the serpant, meaning, it was not God's intention for Adam to stay in the physical space of Eden, but rather venture into the world whilst maintining his and Eve's innocence and working relationship with God. So this is why, i see christof as someone trying to fill a role he cant possibly fill as a fallen man. Hes the villain and Sylvia is the hero. This is one of my favorite films i am enjoying your analysis a lot!
I actually did a college presentation on metafiction, where I contrasted Christof’s god complex with the very real but unintentional power of Karen Eiffel from ‘Stranger Than Fiction.’ Even with unlimited resources, cleverness, and the strange parasocial bond he has with Truman, Christof can’t make his world real. At least not real enough to keep Truman happy. Instead of Eden, we saw the film set as Plato’s Cave: once Truman had a glimpse of the outside world in Sylvia, he’s never satisfied with the “shadow puppets” in the cave again. He can’t be.
I agree that all of the parallels between Christof and God are real and deliberate... on Christof's part. All of the parallels were purposely orchestrated by Christof, because that's how he sees himself. It's all part of his characterization.
Thanks Christopher for these videos on The Truman Show. I've been really enjoying thinking of this film and your videos have been a helpful analysis. In this episode I think you're missing the big point about Christof - He's not a God figure, he's the anti-God figure, the Antichrist. His name gives it away - Christ - OFF, He's an off-Christ, or an anti-Christ. He's obsessed with power and control. Christ came to set us free from sin, not bind us. Jesus says that if you've seen me you've seen the Father so Jesus can't be the great liberator while God the Father is an overbearing control freak. Then there's Truman - The True MAN - he is the Christ figure. You're right about the cruciform scene on the boat but you missed how he walks on water and ascends the stairway to heaven in perfect biblical imagery. Also his boat is the Santa Maria - The Holy Mary. The Virgin Mary is the boat because she brings Christ into the world at his birth, the Ark of the New Covenant. The boat can also be symbolically interpreted as the Church - the Bark of Peter. He straps himself to this boat and it's because he did so he is 'resurrected' from death as the boat rights itself. I don't know if all of this is explicitly included by the movie creators but it seems too much to be coincidence.
Don't know if my opinion is worth much here as I haven't actually seen the movie properly, but this makes a lot of sense to me. The names lining up with it especially makes it feel all the more delibeate, though coincidences this perfect do sometimes happen, so it's hard to say with certainty. Amusingly, just about the only thing that doesn't sound right isn't about the movie at all, as the idea of Jesus being the Great Liberator in spite of God being an overbearing control freak is straight-up canon to the Bible. But a lot of people miss that fact, so if the people making the movie missed it as well, they could certainly have gone with that interpretation. Or otherwise went with it because so many people think the other way about it. Or else it's all one big coincidence and we're both trying too hard. Who's to say? :D Either way, fun theory. They don't have to be correct to be enjoyable, and for all I know, it very well _could_ be correct.
@@riluna3695 You do realize that Jesus is God, and God is Jesus. However, he is not The Father, even though The Father is God, nor is he The Holy Spirit, even though The Holy Spirit is also God. Therefore, as the three persons are one God, in the end, they all want the same thing.
@@dnm3732 Sounds so simple when you say it like that. And yeah, I'm aware of the Trinity. The only thing it manages to do in this instance is make the contradictions between what God says and what Jesus says even more problematic. Two people who disagree with each other is just a normal, everyday occurrence. One person who is eternal and unchanging and yet frequently flip-flops between opposing ideas of what he wants humanity at large to do...that's called a plot hole. And you don't even have to get as far as specifying God's actions vs Jesus's actions in order to reach that point. You can find plot holes just fine between God and God, and between Jesus and Jesus. They're kinda all over that book. Which just makes perfect sense when you consider that it isn't one big series penned by a single author, but a bunch of fan works by all different authors combined into one anthology. Of course it's gonna have plot holes. Reality can never have plot holes, but biographies with fictional elements added on definitely can.
People are over thinking it. Christoph isn't God he's a false God tampering in the domain of controlling someone's life in a way he shouldn't. That's why leaving is obviously good.
I'm very surprised you did not bring up the parallels to nihilism present throughout the film, particularly the final scene. Nihilism is all about rejecting inherent meaning (particularly those imposed by religon, but also by society at large) and embracing individuality and deciding your values yourself. Truman's arc throughout the film is essentially this. He pushes back against what everyone around him tells him to do, and tries desperately to escape and explore the world. What really made me realize the ties to nihilism was the final scene. There's a rather famous line from Friedrich Nietzsche about staring into the abyss. In the final scene, the door to the outside world leads to pitch black; an abyss. The creator, obviously taking the role of God, speaks to him, and tells him that his place in this world is to entertain others. As he speaks to Truman, Truman for the most part just keeps facing the doorway, staring into the abyss. This is the scene where Truman speaks directly to the creator and conclusively rejects his world, instead embracing individuality and nihilism. P.S. I also found it funny that you mentioned the Matrix, as that film is ENTIRELY about Nihilism.
From an exmormon's perspective, this movie is definitely seen as being critical of religious indoctrination. The Truman Show, Pleasantville, that scene in Toy Story when Buzz realizes he really is just a toy after all, Tangled, Wish, The Prince of Egypt, The Village - Seeing these movies (and more) are almost a right of passage in the deconstruction process, a way to help us process the life we once perceived as reality. Plato's Cave Allegory. Thanks for the analysis!
I think this feels strained for you rather than the blatant point because you’re looking it at it through the Nicean Christian view of God, the Serpent, and Eden - when the film is in fact beat for beat an Ophitic or Valentinian Gnostic narrative. Hence the serpent (Sylvia) being wisdom (Sophia) and an emissary of truth, and the creator being a prison warden trying to keep humanity blind (I.e. the Demiurge). [which in turn invites discussion of whether he’s also a warden on the minds of the masses with reality tv being an opiate he feeds them, and thus Truman isn’t just liberating himself but his viewers]
I think Truman's a mix of multiple biblical figures. Adam, for reasons you've gone over, Noah or maybe Jonah on the boat, and then I can't believe you didn't mention him literally walking on water, and then ascending before he leaves the Dome- that was way clearer Jesus symbolism than anything else.
I find religion fascinating, I find fiction fascinating - and peoples interpretation of allegories fascinating. As a spiritual person, I find I'm in a stage of my life we regard as "disillusionment", where we question life and reality - and where I can dabble in various religions and beliefs. But because I'm also an aspiring author, it brings home some creative opportunities to challenge ones world view. In the case of the Truman Show - yeah, its allegory is very simple in essence - but when you consider the progression he goes through, his relationship with God and their interpretation of the Devil, I find its a scenario of "what would christianity look in a modern perspective?" Stuff like this and the Doctor Who episode, "The Impossible Planet", (which I've mentioned on the discord server,) show an intriguing expansion and mystery to these allegories in modern Western media - in comparison to what it would be depicted in in Shakespeare, for example.
If I were to look at The Truman Show through the lens of Christianity, it definitely has some mixed metaphors there. Though you initially assume the roles of Eve and Satan are meant to be ascribed to Meryl and Sylvia, it makes more sense for Marlon to be Eve, and Christoff as Satan. Especially when you consider the conversation between Marlon and Truman just before Truman attempts to escape. In that one conversation, Marlon is being guided by Christoff to lead Truman astray, akin to how Eve was manipulated by Satan and ultimately caused Adam to fall with her. I feel this reading works better given how close Truman and Marlon were, and how Christoff is little more than a false god attempting to manipulate and control Truman's entire life. Another thing about mapping the story of Genesis onto the Truman Show is that I prefer to interpret the story of Adam and Eve as a tale about growing up and needing to become independent from our parental figures. Adam and Eve start out as children who are ignorant, naive, and entirely reliant on the guidance and protection of God (also known as the Heavenly FATHER). When they partake of the fruit from the tree of knowledge, I consider this to be a sort of metaphor for adolescence, as they gain a greater awareness of their situation and their physical bodies, going so far as to make their first truly independent action. Aka, crafting clothes to cover themselves. From here, certain interpretations of the story I've been told attempt to make the claim that Adam and Eve had become like unto God after eating the fruit and that it was also necessary for the purposes of enabling the pair to be able to have children. Aka, once they are cast out of Eden, the pair are proper adults who can live completely independently and bring new life into the world.
10:10 I disagree with this point firmly- you make the argument that because all media is in some way affected by the Bible, that the Truman Show's allegory to religious concepts is just another facet of this affection. I disagree, and I think that the Truman show has really interesting things to say about religion. I'm an atheist myself, as are you, and I think that the Truman Show is best experienced not in the ways it is similar to the Garden of Eden, but rather in the ways it opposes the Garden of Eden as a story. I don't think that the story is saying that "hey, Christianity sucks and the Garden of Eden is a lie", mostly because an executive would never sign off on that. I think that the movie is instead offering a different story with different morals, yes with purposeful similarities to the Garden of Eden, but with a different outlook. It's supposed to show that the idea of a false world, presented in the Garden of Eden as a utopia, can also be bad; can also be immoral; can also be a dystopia. The choice to make such obviously Christian ties is to deliberately say, "hey, this movie isn't necessarily ABOUT Christianity, but the morals of this movie are intended to be consumed ALONGSIDE the morals taught by the Bible." That or the producers thought, "hey, this movie idea is kinda religious, should we add some religious symbolism without any thought for further expanding on the plotpoint?"
I was gonna mention the Matrix, but then you said it. You asked in another video if this could be made today, but I feel like the Matrix idea could be made even better today than Truman. Every year that passes I seriously wonder if everything could be a simulation.
religion and the truman show are both based on nature and human dynamics, both will overlap touching the same situations, but might explain them with different models
Also here's a summarized passage from the Bible that relates to the ending of Truman Show. "Don't be lukewarm. When you drink me do so cold or hot. Don't waver in-between" The Bible itself is encouraging you to leave it alone. When Truman reaches the door.... He's congratulated by "God" that he's finally leaving. If you never read the Bible I highly encourage it because it's essentially the origins of Moral Atheism but Atheist refuse to believe the Bible can be extrapolate as a story with meaning but instead conflate as spiritual and pagan propaganda. The Bible literally asks of you to no follow God if that's your wish. Which has so many implications.
10:10 I respectfully disagree with this as does the other guy. Obviously, TTS has significantly more or elevated religious allegory than other media. If it didn't, then why are there so many articles on this theme? Why are you podcasting on it? Certainly there's more to TTS in terms of overtly-biblical parallels than there are to Iron Man, Bluey, or Pirates of the Caribbean. Also, I don't agree with the Eden scenario for the reason that Seahaven (I think that's the name) is all a lie. Eden, to Adam, was the perfect world which he was permitted to freely explore and subdue. It was an idyllic gift from God. Seahaven, while apparently perfect, is Truman's prison. I see this conversely that Seahaven could be (just to provoke to thought), the corrupt state of Truman's heart: his sin, as the Bible suggests. Kristof is the Devil coaxing him to stay in that lie which truly robbed Truman of his potential to express, explore, and create on his own free will. Kristof, the father of lies, then would serve to be the father of Truman and claim he is T's "Creator". The Bible and the Christian faith suggest that no one is righteous and all are born in a state of darkened deception from which we are freed only by the power of God to lift that darkness through Jesus Christ. When a person is illuminated by God and their heart is softened, so is a shroud lifted. Then comes the call to leave the old life behind. As Truman did. So, in my opinion to provoke to thought and as an expression to consider, Seahaven is the sinful, depraved state/pre-Hell; Kristof is the Devil/Father of Lies, and Truman's realization and conclusion to leave, is the process of conversion.
The demiurge? If you haven't yet, you should read about Gnosticism. It's an ancient sect who placed the Hebrew god as the fake god (demiurge) trying to keep humans enslaved. Lucifer is then an incarnation of Wisdom freeing humans from their prison. Their faithful thought that through the wisdom they were given, they should find out how to better approach the real god and escape the imperfect universe the demiurge created.
Christof is a WANNABE God. He would like to be one, but he's only a human. Instead of loving his "children", he loves only himself, unlike God. That's why towards the end of the movie, everything goes off the rails, in a completely different way than in Genesis ("Adam" leaving "Eden" on his own will, "Eve" staying in the "Eden" etc). Christof is such a bad substitute for a God, that it's better for Truman to leave his "paradise"
This is the second video I've seen in your series. Do you think its possible that this is actually a gnostic film, hence why it would be celebrating Trumans leaving Kristoffs world? After all, the soundstage is a material recreation, made in kristoffs image, akin to the material realm being the demiurge's mockery of plemora. Truman would be the light trapped in material. It wouldnt be so much that he is Yeshua Christos, but rather that Adam in this world was able to awaken Christ conciousness. This was done through, as you said, Truman seeking his own personal enlightenment, and the help of "Lillith" if you will.. Sylvia sounds phoentically similiar to Sophia, but Sylvia means woman of forest, not neccessary wisdom. That being said, Saint Sylvia is the patron saint of pregnant women, which is reminiscent of how Sophia Emanated the Demiurge.
The Truman Show is extremely popular among a lot of people who were raised religious and left their religion later in life. I certainly identify with it. Most people who leave religions find little things wrong and ignore them. That seems to be what Truman is doing. As I got older, I kept finding more and more things. I ran experiments like Truman did when he stopped traffic. The signs that I kept finding grew stronger and stronger until I reached a breaking point. Also like Truman, I started planning my escape route before I admitted to myself that I needed an escape route.
Any religious metaphor that replaces God with a human is going to suffer because while it is said He made us in His image, He is not human. That's one of the problems I as a non-religious person have with Christianity. They make Adam and Eve and also Adam and God examples to follow, saying you shouldn't question the patriarchal figure (your father, husband, pastor, whoever), but I grew up with an extremely fallible father and question everything.
Interesting that you didnt mention how christof’s name is literally “christ-off” like the opposite of christ, or implying he is the opposite of christ. Not religious myself but i have seen that perspective before, alluding to a more “false god- antichrist” interpretation of christof’s character. Actually, if you go that route, you could make an argument that this is similar to some gnostic beliefs, where the “god” of our world is not the true god, and lauren /does/ represent the snake, but in gnostic faiths the snake represents ‘sophia’ (knowledge) of the true world of “the one” (god) that exists outside of the material world the fake god made for us (truman) to live in.
Truman is physically leaving the firmament into the black nothingness beyond to find the realm of truth and light, literally in the sense that the light he’s known his whole life was artificial and he has never seen the sun before
Wait, could trumen be jesus? How old is trumen? Google says 30 -which is like jesus. if read the gospels we neeed to remember Yeshua's story is many times meditation and fasting n adam to jesus makes sense as thats his bloodline
Truman isnt Jesus, he's you. And you are what Jesus is, the body of God manifest and crucified in the cross. The cross of the body. Your life is a show for you and everyone else because we are all part of the one god and that's how god experiences things. He seperate himself and then lives through the experience of seperation and the rejoining of the seperation.
The psalm totally makes sense. Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?... If he leaves the show he still exists in the world of the corporation. There's no escaping that
Nope. Truman is Job, from the hidden Chapter One until the literal storm at the end. But to see that, you have to shake off the notion that Job is primarily about faith. Job spends most of the text completely undoing all of the pious apologia ever. Don't read it as a Christian, just open it up and read it, period. This is why Truman doesn't work as Adam. He's not Adam. It's the wrong metaphor. It's not Eden. You're tuned into the wrong channel. He's Job. He's not Jesus, he's not Ezekial, he's not Gitchee Manitou. You ask, but is the movie critical of religion? HELL YES. THE BOOK OF JOB ABSOLUTELY SKEWERS SIMPLISTIC PIETY. Simple religious faith can survive a lot, but not the Book of Job. How then does Job survive it and how then does Job's faith survive it? BECAUSE IT'S NOT SIMPLISTIC. Get outside your box. You're an atheist? OK, but you speak in totally Christian terms. I don't think your atheism is outside of the Christian architecture. This may be why you don't see what I'm talking about. I'm betting you don't see it whatsoever.
Playlist: ruclips.net/video/f_mi4LY_WOw/видео.html
As someone who deconstructed my faith, I actually can see this as a “leaving Eden/religion”. I don’t feel like I was ever presented with any other options and everyone around me was an echo chamber. Looking back I can see things clearly, as I’m sure Truman thought every day after he got out.
Dominion by Tom Holland is a great book that I think really helps summarise this idea that, even as an atheist your morals etc are still shaped by the history of Christianity. So it’s interesting to think of the morals of a piece of media in that context as well
That sounds interesting! I'll have to check it out.
Surely christianity and the bible are shaped by human morals etc.
@@hilbert54they are. Christianity as with all religions likes to take the credit for morality.
Though some parts of morality are christian. Lazyness or taking it easy being seen as a negative trait or monogamy being moral while non-monogamy as immoral are religious ideas not based on harm
@@boserboser6870 With respect I don't think laziness or monogamy are moral issues. Regardless, I'm sure people found good reason to be productive millennia before christianity and as for polygamy, that is a moral issue only if their is deception involved. It is the deception that is an issue.
@hilbert54 thats the point they arnt. And 100s of years ago we did more meaningfull harder work but in lower density. Also resting through winter, work loads that in the modern world would be seen as lax by some
Christians (committed ones, not passive one) make everyones sex life their buildings and condemn sex out of marrage etc. And often dont care about consent since christians lobby against marital rape laws
7:35 The biggest problem in comparing Adam and Eve’s story to The Truman Show is that the Garden of Eden isn’t a false world. Everything in it is completely real and true. Another big difference is that Truman chooses to leave, Adam and Eve are forced to leave
I always saw the film as a critique of man trying to play god. Which yes, inherently includes elements that critique the concept of an all-powerful god, and of course is filled with biblical symbolism and imagery, directly comparing Kristoff to God and Truman to Adam/Jesus. But it isn't meant to be a direct allusion or retelling of Adam's story, or Jesus's, nor a direct critique of the bible or religion. As you say, the humanist story of both Kristoff and Truman and all the other characters are what make the film so interesting.
Ok, hear me out on this one. Just a theory and maybe too weird and meta for anyone's liking:
The religious imagery is more about the real world. Not the one in the movie, the real world that you and I are in. It's specifically about the way times were changing in hollywood and mass media.
Look at the clothes and architecture- very 50's and 60's themed. This movie came out (and takes place) in 1998. Yes, they represent the safety of the bygone age- but that safety included heterosexual marriage, gender roles, and the importance of morality and reputation. All things people used to say were impossible without knowing god, things that used to be so present on TV but aren't anymore.
Gone is the prim and clean studio where Lucy and Ricky slept in separate beds to shield the audience. We walked off the set, just like Truman. Media's not so much about the good christian boy winning in the end- things are more complex and realistic.
I don't see this as the main point of the movie obviously! Not every theme is THE theme.
I like how you included this. As a Catholic myself I know religion can be a complicated thing to understand.
I always thought Christof made more sense as an allegory for Lucifer. It's basically a 1 man trial run of his plan where everyone goes to earth, gets saved regardless of what they did, and Lucifer gets all the glory.
I'm Christian and let me first say i love being a christian and i also love this film, so for me, i am not going to come to the conclusion that Christof = God in the truest sense. Yes, Christof sees himself as God but the difference God made actual physical reality whereas Christof made a artificial one. Also, God and Adam do meet face to face, Adam is very aware of who God is and has a good relationship with Him. Eve is also not an actress unlike Meryl. Also, God' command to be fruitful and multiply comes before the incident with the serpant, meaning, it was not God's intention for Adam to stay in the physical space of Eden, but rather venture into the world whilst maintining his and Eve's innocence and working relationship with God. So this is why, i see christof as someone trying to fill a role he cant possibly fill as a fallen man. Hes the villain and Sylvia is the hero.
This is one of my favorite films i am enjoying your analysis a lot!
You took this way too literally
I actually did a college presentation on metafiction, where I contrasted Christof’s god complex with the very real but unintentional power of Karen Eiffel from ‘Stranger Than Fiction.’ Even with unlimited resources, cleverness, and the strange parasocial bond he has with Truman, Christof can’t make his world real. At least not real enough to keep Truman happy. Instead of Eden, we saw the film set as Plato’s Cave: once Truman had a glimpse of the outside world in Sylvia, he’s never satisfied with the “shadow puppets” in the cave again. He can’t be.
I agree that all of the parallels between Christof and God are real and deliberate... on Christof's part. All of the parallels were purposely orchestrated by Christof, because that's how he sees himself. It's all part of his characterization.
The implication at the start of the movie is that the parents sold Trumans Soul.
Thanks Christopher for these videos on The Truman Show. I've been really enjoying thinking of this film and your videos have been a helpful analysis.
In this episode I think you're missing the big point about Christof - He's not a God figure, he's the anti-God figure, the Antichrist. His name gives it away - Christ - OFF, He's an off-Christ, or an anti-Christ. He's obsessed with power and control. Christ came to set us free from sin, not bind us. Jesus says that if you've seen me you've seen the Father so Jesus can't be the great liberator while God the Father is an overbearing control freak.
Then there's Truman - The True MAN - he is the Christ figure. You're right about the cruciform scene on the boat but you missed how he walks on water and ascends the stairway to heaven in perfect biblical imagery. Also his boat is the Santa Maria - The Holy Mary. The Virgin Mary is the boat because she brings Christ into the world at his birth, the Ark of the New Covenant. The boat can also be symbolically interpreted as the Church - the Bark of Peter. He straps himself to this boat and it's because he did so he is 'resurrected' from death as the boat rights itself. I don't know if all of this is explicitly included by the movie creators but it seems too much to be coincidence.
Don't know if my opinion is worth much here as I haven't actually seen the movie properly, but this makes a lot of sense to me. The names lining up with it especially makes it feel all the more delibeate, though coincidences this perfect do sometimes happen, so it's hard to say with certainty.
Amusingly, just about the only thing that doesn't sound right isn't about the movie at all, as the idea of Jesus being the Great Liberator in spite of God being an overbearing control freak is straight-up canon to the Bible. But a lot of people miss that fact, so if the people making the movie missed it as well, they could certainly have gone with that interpretation. Or otherwise went with it because so many people think the other way about it. Or else it's all one big coincidence and we're both trying too hard. Who's to say? :D
Either way, fun theory. They don't have to be correct to be enjoyable, and for all I know, it very well _could_ be correct.
@@riluna3695 You do realize that Jesus is God, and God is Jesus. However, he is not The Father, even though The Father is God, nor is he The Holy Spirit, even though The Holy Spirit is also God. Therefore, as the three persons are one God, in the end, they all want the same thing.
@@dnm3732 Sounds so simple when you say it like that. And yeah, I'm aware of the Trinity. The only thing it manages to do in this instance is make the contradictions between what God says and what Jesus says even more problematic.
Two people who disagree with each other is just a normal, everyday occurrence. One person who is eternal and unchanging and yet frequently flip-flops between opposing ideas of what he wants humanity at large to do...that's called a plot hole. And you don't even have to get as far as specifying God's actions vs Jesus's actions in order to reach that point. You can find plot holes just fine between God and God, and between Jesus and Jesus. They're kinda all over that book.
Which just makes perfect sense when you consider that it isn't one big series penned by a single author, but a bunch of fan works by all different authors combined into one anthology. Of course it's gonna have plot holes. Reality can never have plot holes, but biographies with fictional elements added on definitely can.
@@riluna3695 Yeah sorry but I get what you are saying because God has never contradicted himself
I actually JUST watched this film for the first time a month or so ago! Nice to watch this with it so fresh in my mind :3
Eastern Orthodoxy is GOATED
I now want to see a religions tier list
People are over thinking it.
Christoph isn't God he's a false God tampering in the domain of controlling someone's life in a way he shouldn't. That's why leaving is obviously good.
I'm very surprised you did not bring up the parallels to nihilism present throughout the film, particularly the final scene. Nihilism is all about rejecting inherent meaning (particularly those imposed by religon, but also by society at large) and embracing individuality and deciding your values yourself. Truman's arc throughout the film is essentially this. He pushes back against what everyone around him tells him to do, and tries desperately to escape and explore the world.
What really made me realize the ties to nihilism was the final scene. There's a rather famous line from Friedrich Nietzsche about staring into the abyss. In the final scene, the door to the outside world leads to pitch black; an abyss. The creator, obviously taking the role of God, speaks to him, and tells him that his place in this world is to entertain others. As he speaks to Truman, Truman for the most part just keeps facing the doorway, staring into the abyss. This is the scene where Truman speaks directly to the creator and conclusively rejects his world, instead embracing individuality and nihilism.
P.S. I also found it funny that you mentioned the Matrix, as that film is ENTIRELY about Nihilism.
From an exmormon's perspective, this movie is definitely seen as being critical of religious indoctrination.
The Truman Show, Pleasantville, that scene in Toy Story when Buzz realizes he really is just a toy after all, Tangled, Wish, The Prince of Egypt, The Village - Seeing these movies (and more) are almost a right of passage in the deconstruction process, a way to help us process the life we once perceived as reality. Plato's Cave Allegory.
Thanks for the analysis!
I think this feels strained for you rather than the blatant point because you’re looking it at it through the Nicean Christian view of God, the Serpent, and Eden - when the film is in fact beat for beat an Ophitic or Valentinian Gnostic narrative.
Hence the serpent (Sylvia) being wisdom (Sophia) and an emissary of truth, and the creator being a prison warden trying to keep humanity blind (I.e. the Demiurge).
[which in turn invites discussion of whether he’s also a warden on the minds of the masses with reality tv being an opiate he feeds them, and thus Truman isn’t just liberating himself but his viewers]
8:59 curious to know if you’ll catch the Santa Maria reference
im surprised you didnt make the parelell between sylvia and lillith, the first wife of adam who was cast aside for imperfection if im not mistaken
She is noncanon fanfiction created by illiterate fools
These are great! Looking forward to the next episode!
I couldnt agree more
I think Truman's a mix of multiple biblical figures. Adam, for reasons you've gone over, Noah or maybe Jonah on the boat, and then I can't believe you didn't mention him literally walking on water, and then ascending before he leaves the Dome- that was way clearer Jesus symbolism than anything else.
And I don't believe the film's specifically giving a message on whether religion is good or bad, it's just using it all as additional context.
I find religion fascinating, I find fiction fascinating - and peoples interpretation of allegories fascinating.
As a spiritual person, I find I'm in a stage of my life we regard as "disillusionment", where we question life and reality - and where I can dabble in various religions and beliefs.
But because I'm also an aspiring author, it brings home some creative opportunities to challenge ones world view. In the case of the Truman Show - yeah, its allegory is very simple in essence - but when you consider the progression he goes through, his relationship with God and their interpretation of the Devil, I find its a scenario of "what would christianity look in a modern perspective?"
Stuff like this and the Doctor Who episode, "The Impossible Planet", (which I've mentioned on the discord server,) show an intriguing expansion and mystery to these allegories in modern Western media - in comparison to what it would be depicted in in Shakespeare, for example.
If I were to look at The Truman Show through the lens of Christianity, it definitely has some mixed metaphors there. Though you initially assume the roles of Eve and Satan are meant to be ascribed to Meryl and Sylvia, it makes more sense for Marlon to be Eve, and Christoff as Satan. Especially when you consider the conversation between Marlon and Truman just before Truman attempts to escape. In that one conversation, Marlon is being guided by Christoff to lead Truman astray, akin to how Eve was manipulated by Satan and ultimately caused Adam to fall with her. I feel this reading works better given how close Truman and Marlon were, and how Christoff is little more than a false god attempting to manipulate and control Truman's entire life.
Another thing about mapping the story of Genesis onto the Truman Show is that I prefer to interpret the story of Adam and Eve as a tale about growing up and needing to become independent from our parental figures. Adam and Eve start out as children who are ignorant, naive, and entirely reliant on the guidance and protection of God (also known as the Heavenly FATHER). When they partake of the fruit from the tree of knowledge, I consider this to be a sort of metaphor for adolescence, as they gain a greater awareness of their situation and their physical bodies, going so far as to make their first truly independent action. Aka, crafting clothes to cover themselves. From here, certain interpretations of the story I've been told attempt to make the claim that Adam and Eve had become like unto God after eating the fruit and that it was also necessary for the purposes of enabling the pair to be able to have children. Aka, once they are cast out of Eden, the pair are proper adults who can live completely independently and bring new life into the world.
10:10 I disagree with this point firmly- you make the argument that because all media is in some way affected by the Bible, that the Truman Show's allegory to religious concepts is just another facet of this affection. I disagree, and I think that the Truman show has really interesting things to say about religion.
I'm an atheist myself, as are you, and I think that the Truman Show is best experienced not in the ways it is similar to the Garden of Eden, but rather in the ways it opposes the Garden of Eden as a story. I don't think that the story is saying that "hey, Christianity sucks and the Garden of Eden is a lie", mostly because an executive would never sign off on that. I think that the movie is instead offering a different story with different morals, yes with purposeful similarities to the Garden of Eden, but with a different outlook. It's supposed to show that the idea of a false world, presented in the Garden of Eden as a utopia, can also be bad; can also be immoral; can also be a dystopia.
The choice to make such obviously Christian ties is to deliberately say, "hey, this movie isn't necessarily ABOUT Christianity, but the morals of this movie are intended to be consumed ALONGSIDE the morals taught by the Bible."
That or the producers thought, "hey, this movie idea is kinda religious, should we add some religious symbolism without any thought for further expanding on the plotpoint?"
That sounds a lot like you're agreeing with him, only saying things in a slightly different way.
I was gonna mention the Matrix, but then you said it.
You asked in another video if this could be made today, but I feel like the Matrix idea could be made even better today than Truman. Every year that passes I seriously wonder if everything could be a simulation.
religion and the truman show are both based on nature and human dynamics, both will overlap touching the same situations, but might explain them with different models
Also here's a summarized passage from the Bible that relates to the ending of Truman Show. "Don't be lukewarm. When you drink me do so cold or hot. Don't waver in-between" The Bible itself is encouraging you to leave it alone. When Truman reaches the door.... He's congratulated by "God" that he's finally leaving. If you never read the Bible I highly encourage it because it's essentially the origins of Moral Atheism but Atheist refuse to believe the Bible can be extrapolate as a story with meaning but instead conflate as spiritual and pagan propaganda. The Bible literally asks of you to no follow God if that's your wish. Which has so many implications.
10:10 I respectfully disagree with this as does the other guy. Obviously, TTS has significantly more or elevated religious allegory than other media. If it didn't, then why are there so many articles on this theme? Why are you podcasting on it? Certainly there's more to TTS in terms of overtly-biblical parallels than there are to Iron Man, Bluey, or Pirates of the Caribbean.
Also, I don't agree with the Eden scenario for the reason that Seahaven (I think that's the name) is all a lie. Eden, to Adam, was the perfect world which he was permitted to freely explore and subdue. It was an idyllic gift from God. Seahaven, while apparently perfect, is Truman's prison. I see this conversely that Seahaven could be (just to provoke to thought), the corrupt state of Truman's heart: his sin, as the Bible suggests. Kristof is the Devil coaxing him to stay in that lie which truly robbed Truman of his potential to express, explore, and create on his own free will. Kristof, the father of lies, then would serve to be the father of Truman and claim he is T's "Creator".
The Bible and the Christian faith suggest that no one is righteous and all are born in a state of darkened deception from which we are freed only by the power of God to lift that darkness through Jesus Christ. When a person is illuminated by God and their heart is softened, so is a shroud lifted. Then comes the call to leave the old life behind. As Truman did. So, in my opinion to provoke to thought and as an expression to consider, Seahaven is the sinful, depraved state/pre-Hell; Kristof is the Devil/Father of Lies, and Truman's realization and conclusion to leave, is the process of conversion.
It's the Buddha story
Atheism, the crazy belief that entropy somehow works in reverse when it comes to life but always breaks down every other natural system. Okkkkkkk.
What are your thoughts about Sylvia being Lilith, because for me that makes the Adam comparisons work pretty good.
I think it's the opposite. Christof isn't God, he's the Devil keeping Truman in an illusion world.
The demiurge?
If you haven't yet, you should read about Gnosticism. It's an ancient sect who placed the Hebrew god as the fake god (demiurge) trying to keep humans enslaved. Lucifer is then an incarnation of Wisdom freeing humans from their prison. Their faithful thought that through the wisdom they were given, they should find out how to better approach the real god and escape the imperfect universe the demiurge created.
Wouldn't that make him the Demiurge from Gnosticism?
@tobyharris4777 I dunno
I was sure I left a lengthy comment on this one talking about the demiurge. TLDR I think viewing it through that lens makes a lot more sense
@@TheGreyPie censorship 😔 a bunch of my comments get deleted too.
Christof is a WANNABE God. He would like to be one, but he's only a human. Instead of loving his "children", he loves only himself, unlike God. That's why towards the end of the movie, everything goes off the rails, in a completely different way than in Genesis ("Adam" leaving "Eden" on his own will, "Eve" staying in the "Eden" etc). Christof is such a bad substitute for a God, that it's better for Truman to leave his "paradise"
This is the second video I've seen in your series.
Do you think its possible that this is actually a gnostic film, hence why it would be celebrating Trumans leaving Kristoffs world? After all, the soundstage is a material recreation, made in kristoffs image, akin to the material realm being the demiurge's mockery of plemora. Truman would be the light trapped in material. It wouldnt be so much that he is Yeshua Christos, but rather that Adam in this world was able to awaken Christ conciousness. This was done through, as you said, Truman seeking his own personal enlightenment, and the help of "Lillith" if you will..
Sylvia sounds phoentically similiar to Sophia, but Sylvia means woman of forest, not neccessary wisdom. That being said, Saint Sylvia is the patron saint of pregnant women, which is reminiscent of how Sophia Emanated the Demiurge.
The Truman Show is extremely popular among a lot of people who were raised religious and left their religion later in life. I certainly identify with it. Most people who leave religions find little things wrong and ignore them. That seems to be what Truman is doing. As I got older, I kept finding more and more things. I ran experiments like Truman did when he stopped traffic. The signs that I kept finding grew stronger and stronger until I reached a breaking point. Also like Truman, I started planning my escape route before I admitted to myself that I needed an escape route.
Pff he didn't make the movie because he was eight, the excuses of this generation 😒
Any religious metaphor that replaces God with a human is going to suffer because while it is said He made us in His image, He is not human. That's one of the problems I as a non-religious person have with Christianity. They make Adam and Eve and also Adam and God examples to follow, saying you shouldn't question the patriarchal figure (your father, husband, pastor, whoever), but I grew up with an extremely fallible father and question everything.
I believe The Bible says that you should follow them unless they do or tell you to do something that goes against The Word of God
@@dnm3732 And I grew up with a living example of why that's a bad idea, hence my skepticism
@@jacob99503 unless they contradict God
Interesting that you didnt mention how christof’s name is literally “christ-off” like the opposite of christ, or implying he is the opposite of christ. Not religious myself but i have seen that perspective before, alluding to a more “false god- antichrist” interpretation of christof’s character.
Actually, if you go that route, you could make an argument that this is similar to some gnostic beliefs, where the “god” of our world is not the true god, and lauren /does/ represent the snake, but in gnostic faiths the snake represents ‘sophia’ (knowledge) of the true world of “the one” (god) that exists outside of the material world the fake god made for us (truman) to live in.
Truman is physically leaving the firmament into the black nothingness beyond to find the realm of truth and light, literally in the sense that the light he’s known his whole life was artificial and he has never seen the sun before
Or he could be the Anti-Christ
Wait, could trumen be jesus? How old is trumen? Google says 30 -which is like jesus. if read the gospels we neeed to remember Yeshua's story is many times meditation and fasting n adam to jesus makes sense as thats his bloodline
Truman isnt Jesus, he's you. And you are what Jesus is, the body of God manifest and crucified in the cross. The cross of the body.
Your life is a show for you and everyone else because we are all part of the one god and that's how god experiences things. He seperate himself and then lives through the experience of seperation and the rejoining of the seperation.
BTW, Christopher? Christ...
It's gnostic
The Satan, the snake, told Adam the truth, the way or if the evil gods material world. Maybe that's why she's red like Satan
The psalm totally makes sense.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?...
If he leaves the show he still exists in the world of the corporation. There's no escaping that
It's not anti religious... dude. Wish I could've take with you before you made this
You know what everyone really loves? An atheist when they start talking about religion.
Nope. Truman is Job, from the hidden Chapter One until the literal storm at the end. But to see that, you have to shake off the notion that Job is primarily about faith. Job spends most of the text completely undoing all of the pious apologia ever. Don't read it as a Christian, just open it up and read it, period.
This is why Truman doesn't work as Adam. He's not Adam. It's the wrong metaphor. It's not Eden. You're tuned into the wrong channel. He's Job. He's not Jesus, he's not Ezekial, he's not Gitchee Manitou.
You ask, but is the movie critical of religion?
HELL YES. THE BOOK OF JOB ABSOLUTELY SKEWERS SIMPLISTIC PIETY. Simple religious faith can survive a lot, but not the Book of Job. How then does Job survive it and how then does Job's faith survive it? BECAUSE IT'S NOT SIMPLISTIC.
Get outside your box. You're an atheist? OK, but you speak in totally Christian terms. I don't think your atheism is outside of the Christian architecture. This may be why you don't see what I'm talking about. I'm betting you don't see it whatsoever.