The 1998 film, The Truman Show, is an modern day example of transcendentalism. The film follows Truman Burbank, (played by Jim Carrey) a man unaware that his entire life is being broadcast on television for the world to see. His world, the people involved, and his life are all fake, creating a false reality based on entertainment. Parallels between the Truman Show and the works of Emerson and Thoreau support similar transcendentalist traits, which include intuition and self reliance.
The fake world suppresses and discourages Truman from doing what he wants. Thus, he is forced to conform to the society created for him and is stuck in a meaningless routine. Truman wants to live an exciting, fuller life and begins questioning the one he is in. Truman and Thoreau share the wish to "suck out all the marrow of life" (Thoreau.204). As a act of suspicion, Truman goes on a spontaneous joyride and experiments with repeated events and their timing. Truman exclaims, "Somebody help me! I'm being spontaneous!" Here, he goes against the scheduled show by acting upon his own decision and intuition. He also discusses traveling to new places, while his wife quickly negates him from the idea of leaving. She is pressured to help keep Truman in a predictable, repeated rut. These are prime examples of how Truman wants to break away from his boring life and explore on his own intuition. In the end of the movie, when Truman leaves, he leaves on his own intuition, despite other's opinions and demands.
The movie also demonstrates self reliance since Truman breaks away from the bubble he's been stuck in (the bubble is the studio where the show is filmed in). He has no control over what to believe and what not to believe. Christof, the creator of the show, explains, "I've given Truman the chance to lead a normal life, your life, the life out there, that is the sick place." Christof is limiting Truman's life and self reliance through his control of the false reality. This supports Emerson's idea that ,"Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater" ( Emerson. 184) Similar to the society defined by Emerson, Christoph wants Truman to stay in safe bubble where is secure and has surrendered his liberty.
Both society and Christoph restrict others from independence. The Creator, the show, and the bubble are metaphors for societal pressures and restrictions. The outside world is a metaphor for breaking away and transcending from those pressures in a wholer, more natural life.
During the movie, Truman's suspicions lead him to explore that everything was a setup for mere entertainment. In the end, he walks off the set to venture for his own journey, think for himself and do what he wants. He becomes self reliant and embraces his individuality. Truman becomes a transcendentalist when he rises above the limitations of his false reality and joins the "real" world.
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