The Truman Show can really make you think about how the media plays a role in every ones life. Media has become such a large empire that it hits on many aspects of our lives. For example, CNN and Fox News, two of the largest sources of news in America, have their own biases. So depending on which news channel you like to watch, you find yourself leaning towards a particular point of view ultimately shaping your decision. When it comes to everyday life in the news, the media likes to follow the dystopian view point. Through out the media, you always notice that the shows and news illustrates the bad and the ugly. Whether it be reality TV or comedy, their main focus is to show the drama that is happening in the world and less of the positive events that are occuring. “If you were to take two people and put each into a separate room and 'feed' them good or bad news, then that is what they will start to believe is 'normal' and not only believe it, but actually want more of it.”
The line between public and private has become blurred now days. This is especially evident in lives of celebrites. A particular celebrity can not show much as blink without catching some sort of media attention. Whether it is good or bad (mostly bad), a celebrity will get noticed. This mainly because people crave the drama that media produces about a person they either adore or dislike.
The lines between real life and performance have become so noticeable in reality TV shows that it hurts to watch sometimes. Such shows like Storage Wars that are completely scripted lose the realism in the show and any reason to continue to watch. Shows like Jersey Shore, are considered reality TV, even though it depicts a group people living a unrealeistic life style. Although these shows are considered reality TV, people love watching the drama that unfolds on the show.
The ethics of reality TV should be to clearly get stop writing scripts for their show. If the show cannot entertain on its own, than it does not deserve to be a show. Very much like what Christof said at the begining of the film, there is nothing fake about Truman. Some shows like Deadliest Catch or Ice Road Truckers depict real working men and women without scripts and with real struggels. Unscripted is the true definition of a reality TV show.
