Libra and The Truman Show: Challenge the Narrative?
DISCLAIMER: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS. PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE TRUMAN SHOW
Friday night, as I was browsing Netflix on my couch with my cats trying to think of ways not to do my homework, I stumbled across the movie The Truman Show. I had seen it before but decided to watch it again. Upon my second watch, I noticed some strange similarities between it and the plot of Libra, as well as some differences...
For those who have forgotten, the The Truman Show is about a man named Truman whose entire life is televised without his knowledge, and everyone around him is an actor on the show. The show takes place inside a large dome in a town called Seahaven. The movie begins with a portrait of Truman's everyday life, getting up in the morning and heading to work, and we see the viewers of the show watch and react to his quirks.
In some odd sense, The Truman Show and Libra attack similar themes. The Truman Show mainly deals with Truman's struggle to understand the reality of the world around him and escape it, while in Libra, Branch grapples with the reality of the JFK assassination. Both Branch and Truman struggle to understand reality the more they learn about it - we see Branch wondering about the significance of Jack Ruby's mother's dental records, and similarly we see Truman become more skeptical of the behavior of those around him when he does unexpected or spontaneous things (at one point he claps really loud inside a grocery store and none of the other patrons take any notice of him). The more these characters learn, the less they understand. In both Libra and The Truman Show, there is a theme of an authority which is withholding some amount of historical truth - for example, conspiracy theorists argue that the government's report that Oswald was a lone gunman is untrue and withholds a lot of information. Libra gives those conspiracies some merit. Similarly, in The Truman Show, the corporation withholds the reality of the entire outside world from Truman. In short, one becomes extremely paranoid after reading/watching either one.
Despite the common themes they attack, The Truman Show and Libra make really different points about the nature of perception and reality. One big difference is their tone, and also the implication in The Truman Show that there is an inherently true narrative. Truman's iconic exit at the end of The Truman Show leaves the audience feeling extremely hopeful and satisfied - Truman has finally escaped the system controlling his perception of reality, and he is finally free to find out the truth. On the other hand, so far, Libra is terrifying. Libra suggests that not only is the truth extremely complicated and involves secret organizations and operations to incite international conflict, trying to learn about the truth will essentially lead you nowhere. There is no "right" narrative to escape to - finding it would require the consideration of countless factors including (apparently) Oswald's pubic hair. The whole point of The Truman Show is to challenge the narrative of reality. As the Creator says, Truman takes so long to escape because all people "accept the reality of the world with which we are presented", so when Truman finally says "In case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night" and steps out the door into the outside world, the viewer is overjoyed. Branch gets no such satisfaction. Libra seems to be making the point that it's almost safer to accept the presented reality. Branch fails where Truman succeeds. Truman transcends the narrative he is presented and learns the truth. All Branch learns is that the truth is more complicated than any one person can know. Truman is trapped by his perceived reality, while Branch is trapped by his attempts to understand reality.
There are various other similarities including the presence of a protagonist who wants to do the one thing he is told he can't do (become an explorer/achieve historical significance) and even the interesting theme of creating a person "out of paper". Truman's entire world is made of paper, and he is the only real thing in it. His viewers praise him for that. What do you guys think that might mean? How else do you see similarities or differences between the Truman Show and Libra interacting with the overall themes or assertions of those works?
Thanks for an awesome semester of truly mind-bending discussion.
Friday night, as I was browsing Netflix on my couch with my cats trying to think of ways not to do my homework, I stumbled across the movie The Truman Show. I had seen it before but decided to watch it again. Upon my second watch, I noticed some strange similarities between it and the plot of Libra, as well as some differences...
For those who have forgotten, the The Truman Show is about a man named Truman whose entire life is televised without his knowledge, and everyone around him is an actor on the show. The show takes place inside a large dome in a town called Seahaven. The movie begins with a portrait of Truman's everyday life, getting up in the morning and heading to work, and we see the viewers of the show watch and react to his quirks.
In some odd sense, The Truman Show and Libra attack similar themes. The Truman Show mainly deals with Truman's struggle to understand the reality of the world around him and escape it, while in Libra, Branch grapples with the reality of the JFK assassination. Both Branch and Truman struggle to understand reality the more they learn about it - we see Branch wondering about the significance of Jack Ruby's mother's dental records, and similarly we see Truman become more skeptical of the behavior of those around him when he does unexpected or spontaneous things (at one point he claps really loud inside a grocery store and none of the other patrons take any notice of him). The more these characters learn, the less they understand. In both Libra and The Truman Show, there is a theme of an authority which is withholding some amount of historical truth - for example, conspiracy theorists argue that the government's report that Oswald was a lone gunman is untrue and withholds a lot of information. Libra gives those conspiracies some merit. Similarly, in The Truman Show, the corporation withholds the reality of the entire outside world from Truman. In short, one becomes extremely paranoid after reading/watching either one.
Despite the common themes they attack, The Truman Show and Libra make really different points about the nature of perception and reality. One big difference is their tone, and also the implication in The Truman Show that there is an inherently true narrative. Truman's iconic exit at the end of The Truman Show leaves the audience feeling extremely hopeful and satisfied - Truman has finally escaped the system controlling his perception of reality, and he is finally free to find out the truth. On the other hand, so far, Libra is terrifying. Libra suggests that not only is the truth extremely complicated and involves secret organizations and operations to incite international conflict, trying to learn about the truth will essentially lead you nowhere. There is no "right" narrative to escape to - finding it would require the consideration of countless factors including (apparently) Oswald's pubic hair. The whole point of The Truman Show is to challenge the narrative of reality. As the Creator says, Truman takes so long to escape because all people "accept the reality of the world with which we are presented", so when Truman finally says "In case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night" and steps out the door into the outside world, the viewer is overjoyed. Branch gets no such satisfaction. Libra seems to be making the point that it's almost safer to accept the presented reality. Branch fails where Truman succeeds. Truman transcends the narrative he is presented and learns the truth. All Branch learns is that the truth is more complicated than any one person can know. Truman is trapped by his perceived reality, while Branch is trapped by his attempts to understand reality.
There are various other similarities including the presence of a protagonist who wants to do the one thing he is told he can't do (become an explorer/achieve historical significance) and even the interesting theme of creating a person "out of paper". Truman's entire world is made of paper, and he is the only real thing in it. His viewers praise him for that. What do you guys think that might mean? How else do you see similarities or differences between the Truman Show and Libra interacting with the overall themes or assertions of those works?
Thanks for an awesome semester of truly mind-bending discussion.
This is really awesome. I really like that you compared the Truman Show to Libra because I love that movie. The Truman Show sort of ends with a possibility that Truman might know and learn what he was missing out on, and Libra does the opposite. Truman and Lee are sort of opposites, like you said in the last paragraph. I think for both Truman and Lee, though, they both realize that their lives aren't exactly what they thought when they see the world seeming to revolve around them (Truman stopping the car from hitting him, etc. and Lee seeing the news).
ReplyDeleteI’ll admit, I’ve never seen The Truman Show, but your comments about making a person out of paper were interesting. It made me think of Win’s original idea to create a paper trail, and craft a paper person to be the shooter. It’s interesting how in our society, people really are defined by the paper associated with them – their birth certificates, licenses, receipts, and so on. Crafting a whole new person is almost easy and formulaic – just fill out some forms, forge some documents, and boom, it’s like there was a person that existed and did all of those things. Win's idea seems like kind of the inverse of The Truman Show – whereas Truman is real in a world of paper, Win’s paper person is the only fake thing in a real world.
ReplyDeleteThis is a cool comparison! I really like your point about how The Truman Show implies the existence of an objectively true reality, while Libra does just the opposite. Unlike Branch, when Truman decides to seek the truth, he's led to this objective truth while Branch simply spirals out of control, falling further and further down a rabbit hole that has no end. I also think the inverse journey of Truman and Lee. Lee, an unremarkable person, spends the entire novel trying to build some kind of reputation, to step out of history and into memory, while Truman needs to do the opposite: step out of notability and into obscurity. It's an interesting thought!
ReplyDeleteThis is so cool Xanthe! I've only seen part of The Truman Show, but from what I remember, and what you've described it feels like you're pretty spot on with your comparison. I really like your point about Truman being able to escape, and in doing so he finds the "right" reality, the "right" narrative, and the "right" answer to all his questions. In contrast, throughout Libra and even at the end, Branch is just faced with more and more questions, and readers don't leave feeling satisfied the way they do after watching The Truman Show. I also think t hey both offer interesting commentaries on the nature of reality and to what extent it can be manipulated or manufactured. In The Truman Show, it's almost like reality can be manipulated to trick someone into living it a certain way, and it's pretty scary. With Libra, the idea of the paper trail is that history can be set up, or manufactured to appear a certain way, and the consequences of that are pretty wild.
ReplyDelete