An Analysis Of The Alienation Theme In The Truman Show

Peter Weir,a well-known Australian director,creates many excellent works,among which is The Truman Show.Truman,the protagonist,lives in an alienated society,suffering alienation from people around him.He doesn't take notice of this situation over three decades.Having experienced a series of incidents,he finds he lives in a designed world.Although life there is perfect,he still chooses to leave,managing to get rid of the alienation.Based on the alienation theory,the aim of this thesis is to reveal the alienation theme manifested in the film The Truman Show by analyzing Truman's alienation from other characters and alienation phenomena.Hopefully,the thesis will be a supplement to the study on The Truman Show.The thesis is made up of three parts,an introduction,a main body and a conclusion.The introduction introduces the literature review,the aim and the structure of the thesis.The first chapter is about Truman's alienation from Christof,the director of the Truman Show.Christof alienates himself as an imaginary God and alienates Truman as his remarkable creation.The second chapter analyzes Truman's alienated parentage,friendship and marriage.His parents,friend Marlon and wife Meryl treat him as a performing tool to finish the show.The third chapter is from the perspective of the spectators,watching the show in the film.Their emotions follow Truman's,they gradually lose themselves and alienate Truman as a consumer product.The fourth chapter explores Truman's resistance.With Sylvia's encouragement and instructions,Truman finally gets out of the alienated condition.The conclusion summarizes the main idea of the thesis,stating its significance as well as its limitations.