In his second meditation, Descartes raises the question of whether or not our senses can be trusted. He talks about searching for truth and discarding that which cannot be proven. These ideas make him question his own existence, but he comes to believe that if he is able to think, he must exist. One major idea in this meditation is the difference between thinking/understanding and imagining/sensing. Descartes realizes that he cannot trust his senses because the world is ever changing. He can only trust knowledge because knowledge can surpass the limits our imaginations. The fact that Descartes can think about the world around him confirms his existence for him.
In The Truman Show, Truman Burbank has unknowingly spent thirty years of his life on a set as a star of his own television show. Sometimes Truman begins to question those around him, but he is always shut down, so that he won’t suspect anything. He once asked his friend, “Don’t you ever get antsy?” to which his friend replied, “No, where is there to go?” Everyone in his life is an illusion to keep him satisfied. He is not allowed to be with his true love, Lauren, because she wants to tell him the truth, so he is constantly surrounded by actors that guide him into doing what they want him to do. When Christof, the show’s director is being interviewed, he says, “We accept the reality of the world with which we’re presented.” When Lauren questions him, Christof says that Truman is free to leave at any time, but would only be able to do so if he were very determined. Throughout the course of the film, Truman becomes increasingly cynical over the nature of his reality and begins to question everything around him. He learns, like Descartes did, that he cannot trust his senses, as everyone has lied to him his entire life. He must use his knowledge to understand the world around him. When he finally becomes determined enough, he is able to escape and go into the real world.
How do we know that everything around us is not an illusion as well? Truman had decided what his reality was, and if he didn’t discover the truth, he could have gone on like that forever. Truman, though he is able to live on his own now, will always be skeptical. Even if we distinguish the differences between reality and illusion, can we ever fully trust what is happening around us?
Descartes knowledge and questioning gives the reader the advice to question life in yourself and investigate the world as we know it and don't rely on others to always tell the truth. Their "truth" might be a deception and they might even believe it themselves.
ReplyDeleteHoo boy, this film messes with your head! When I was little, and saw shows where they pranked people and revealed it was a hidden set up and that they were on TV, I was HORRIFIED. I had always believed that TV was in studio, separate from life, and that the two didn't ever meet. I remember that when they revealed to the women she was on Candid Camera, she started crying from relief or something, but I started crying in fear. My parents of course, being pranksters themselves, thought this was hilarious and told me that the police had a secret camera installed in the piano, and that if I did anything I wasn't supposed to, they could call 911 and have them send the feed to the TV screen. I didn't enter that room for a year after that.
ReplyDeleteAlthough now I know better, the improvements in technology have made my parents' joke ever closer to reality. Cameras the size of needles, wireless feeds, the infinite budgets of the entertainment district. One day there may very well be a Truman Show, and we could be the unlucky stars.