Question 3 - 5. “There is no more truth out there than in this created world.” This quote was said by the shows director just before Truman left the dome. What point do you think he was trying to make?
The director is trying to say that in our reality, or what we believe is reality, people lie, cheat and put up illusions as much as a world in which the entire population is actors. Everyone is always putting on a face, pretending to be someone they are not. He wants to explain to Truman, that there is no escape from lies and deciet. No one is completely honest and truthful and that is something that is true in every reality we are presented with. Honesty itself is an illusion, how can someone be truly honest without even knowing themselves what they really think. Often people fool their own minds to think one way, when the truth is, deep down they feel another way about something. Sometimes the person doesn't even realise themselves that what they say is a lie. Not to mention, we only know thinks shallowly, we do not truly know everything we say is true. We believe it is true, but if you say to someone, "I met this beautiful lady the other day." That person may seem beautiful to you, but maybe to others she is not. Or, "Tom is not a liar" perhaps you do not believe that person is a liar, but they may be. Lies are everywhere, and that is just the way the world is, so is a world filled with actors, told to follow certain roles, really all that different from a world where everyone is putting on a different face?
Sunday, November 22, 2009
The Truman Show Q2
Question 2 - 3. “We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented”
Bearing in mind this quote from the film, what does this film teach us about perception? Consider our discussions surrounding the concept of illusion.
This film clearly shows that we accept the reality that we are told is true. Our only way to really learn and understand is by what others teach us of our reality, meaning that if we are told the world is square, unless we find out for some other reason it is round, we will believe it is square. Much as we believe that currently there are no other planets with life in our solar system as we are told that, from other scientists. How do we know this? Our reality may be something quite different. We often believe in certain religions, as we are told them from our parents and families. Because we are raised to believe that this is what reality is, that is often how we end up believing ourselves. We do not know whether or not the world really is how it is taught in classrooms, or whether what we see around us is all there is, but because that is what we are told to believe, we are less inclined to question it. Humans are naturally social creatures, we travel in packs, and carry the herd mentality. A popular saying is "if all your friends were to jump off a cliff, would you follow them?". Now we know that we should not follow them, in that particular example, but what if it was, everyone in the world believes that that cliff is solid ground, therefore they all jump off it, if you are told to believe that that is solid ground, would you not go there too? If you truly believed that there was no cliff and you were safe, you would not hesitate to go past it. That is what is meant by that quote. We believe what we are told, and what we can see, although it would be difficult to not believe in everything we were told and saw. Then we would not know what to believe at all.
Bearing in mind this quote from the film, what does this film teach us about perception? Consider our discussions surrounding the concept of illusion.
This film clearly shows that we accept the reality that we are told is true. Our only way to really learn and understand is by what others teach us of our reality, meaning that if we are told the world is square, unless we find out for some other reason it is round, we will believe it is square. Much as we believe that currently there are no other planets with life in our solar system as we are told that, from other scientists. How do we know this? Our reality may be something quite different. We often believe in certain religions, as we are told them from our parents and families. Because we are raised to believe that this is what reality is, that is often how we end up believing ourselves. We do not know whether or not the world really is how it is taught in classrooms, or whether what we see around us is all there is, but because that is what we are told to believe, we are less inclined to question it. Humans are naturally social creatures, we travel in packs, and carry the herd mentality. A popular saying is "if all your friends were to jump off a cliff, would you follow them?". Now we know that we should not follow them, in that particular example, but what if it was, everyone in the world believes that that cliff is solid ground, therefore they all jump off it, if you are told to believe that that is solid ground, would you not go there too? If you truly believed that there was no cliff and you were safe, you would not hesitate to go past it. That is what is meant by that quote. We believe what we are told, and what we can see, although it would be difficult to not believe in everything we were told and saw. Then we would not know what to believe at all.
The Truman Show Q1
'The Truman Show' is about a man who's entire life is really a controlled television show, and he just doesn't know it. His world is a set and everyone around him, including his wife and best friend, is an actor. Nothing is real and he has no idea, until...
Question 1 - 2. Give three examples from the film where Truman’s perception of reality is deliberately manipulated.
1) When Truman starts to fall for the rouge actress and she begins to stir up the director's plans of a romance with a pre-planned actress as well as gives Truman hints on the falsity of his world, she is constantly whisked away to remove the threat, first by being taken away during a dance, and the second time being removed on the beach by her 'father' who says she is mentally ill. The producers of the Truman Show want to be able to continue to make Truman not question his surroundings, which means that anyone who does not fit into his perception of the world, must be removed before he realises the truth. They get rid of the actress in order to prevent Truman from realizing the truth of his reality.
2) The second time is when Truman starts to try to leave his world, so at first he goes to a travel agency, and they tell him there are no flights available for months. Then he goes to the bus station and the bus breaks down as soon as he goes on. Finally he gets fed up with everything and tries to escape by car, with his panicking wife in shotgun. Cars move in the way, his wife constantly tries to deter him and a nuclear plant apparently leaks at the end of the road. Truman ends up running into a forest but the police officers stop him and make him unconscious. Eventually his wife tells him that he is getting mentally ill, and the police officers were just trying to make him safe. In reality, the producers just want to prevent Truman from attempting to leave his world, in order to maintain the illusion of his reality.
3) The third time Truman's perception is deliberately manipulated is when his 'father' dies in the sea. A natural explorer, Truman insists his father takes him out into the water on a sailboat. A storm hits, which was already prepared, and his father drifts off, seeming dead to Truman. That leaves Truman with a fear of open water, which leads to further containing him in his prison of reality, as he lives on an island. He is too scared to pass the water, so he ends up being trapped by the limits of the island. The producers also bring his father back, saying he never died, in order to distract Truman from his recent string of escapes. This ends up backfiring, as Truman sees loses his fear of water, therefore allowing him to end up escaping on boat. The whole concept of his fathers death was just an invention to prevent Truman from leaving his reality, using his own fears to ground him to his world.
Question 1 - 2. Give three examples from the film where Truman’s perception of reality is deliberately manipulated.
1) When Truman starts to fall for the rouge actress and she begins to stir up the director's plans of a romance with a pre-planned actress as well as gives Truman hints on the falsity of his world, she is constantly whisked away to remove the threat, first by being taken away during a dance, and the second time being removed on the beach by her 'father' who says she is mentally ill. The producers of the Truman Show want to be able to continue to make Truman not question his surroundings, which means that anyone who does not fit into his perception of the world, must be removed before he realises the truth. They get rid of the actress in order to prevent Truman from realizing the truth of his reality.
2) The second time is when Truman starts to try to leave his world, so at first he goes to a travel agency, and they tell him there are no flights available for months. Then he goes to the bus station and the bus breaks down as soon as he goes on. Finally he gets fed up with everything and tries to escape by car, with his panicking wife in shotgun. Cars move in the way, his wife constantly tries to deter him and a nuclear plant apparently leaks at the end of the road. Truman ends up running into a forest but the police officers stop him and make him unconscious. Eventually his wife tells him that he is getting mentally ill, and the police officers were just trying to make him safe. In reality, the producers just want to prevent Truman from attempting to leave his world, in order to maintain the illusion of his reality.
3) The third time Truman's perception is deliberately manipulated is when his 'father' dies in the sea. A natural explorer, Truman insists his father takes him out into the water on a sailboat. A storm hits, which was already prepared, and his father drifts off, seeming dead to Truman. That leaves Truman with a fear of open water, which leads to further containing him in his prison of reality, as he lives on an island. He is too scared to pass the water, so he ends up being trapped by the limits of the island. The producers also bring his father back, saying he never died, in order to distract Truman from his recent string of escapes. This ends up backfiring, as Truman sees loses his fear of water, therefore allowing him to end up escaping on boat. The whole concept of his fathers death was just an invention to prevent Truman from leaving his reality, using his own fears to ground him to his world.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Alternate Reality Movies
Movies often touch on alternate reality and conspiracy theories to intrigue the audience, a good example of this is "Stranger than Fiction" starring Will Ferrell.
This movie is about a man who lives a boring life, as an accountant, who is meticulous and always follows a routine, and then starts hearing a strange narrative omnipotent voice speaking as he does actions. The voice says that he will die soon, so he hurries and gets the help of a narrative expert and ends up realising that his entire life has been dictated and written by an author who always kills off her main characters at the end of the book. His whole life is at the mercy of a lady who writes trageties. He finds the author and convinces her to re-write the ending, which saves his life and allows him to be with the girl he loves, who he only met due to the narrator's influence.
This movie just shows how our reality is a fragile thing, and can often be changed. If someone was in control of your life, it could be ended on a whim or the best things in the world could happen to you for no reason whatsoever. This can be worrying as who really wants to think that their life balances under the control of someone they cannot influence or speak to, although in this movie, it was possible for the character to escape from the author and write his own path.
This movie is about a man who lives a boring life, as an accountant, who is meticulous and always follows a routine, and then starts hearing a strange narrative omnipotent voice speaking as he does actions. The voice says that he will die soon, so he hurries and gets the help of a narrative expert and ends up realising that his entire life has been dictated and written by an author who always kills off her main characters at the end of the book. His whole life is at the mercy of a lady who writes trageties. He finds the author and convinces her to re-write the ending, which saves his life and allows him to be with the girl he loves, who he only met due to the narrator's influence.
This movie just shows how our reality is a fragile thing, and can often be changed. If someone was in control of your life, it could be ended on a whim or the best things in the world could happen to you for no reason whatsoever. This can be worrying as who really wants to think that their life balances under the control of someone they cannot influence or speak to, although in this movie, it was possible for the character to escape from the author and write his own path.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
It's Reality, Or Is It?
My gosh these really cryptic questions are giving me a headache but nonetheless, what is reality for specific groups of people, why do they believe that is the real way things are and why is it so different? TOK is one of those classes where all you ever get is more and more questions, and never get a straight answer, or at least, not an answer you can be satisfied with, so I will try to explain as much as I can from an unbiased third party about the beliefs of some particular 'cultures'. Of course, if I misrepresent them, please by all means leave a comment for me to revise a statement, as I cannot truly know the belief systems of a 'society' which I am not a part of and therefore cannot give a proper perspective on the matter. But I will try...
Drugs -
What is the purpose of taking mind-altering and reality-changing drugs? Some people believe that doing such things can give them a heightened sense of reality or an escape from reality. Is what you see in a drug-haze what is really happening, or is it instead a distortion of your senses which changes your perspective so all you really see is the mind's altered look on things that you partially imagine as well as see. Although I have never taken drugs myself, I have been told that hallucinogenics can give strange visions and make reality into something totally different. Does that mean that those visions are the real deal? I guess no one really knows...
Spiritualism -
Beliefs such as karma, deja vu, in some cases reincarnation, and other such beliefs sometimes connected to religions, could be the reality, we just haven't realized it yet. How do you know that karma really doesn't exist? You really can never know whether something you cannot see, hear, smell, touch, taste, or feel can really be there. But some people do believe in such things, which is a different reality from what scientists and some religious leaders believe.
Esotericism -
The belief in spirits, ghosts, and mystical powers that can be transferred into objects may seem far-fetched to a level-headed realist, but there are those that believe that there is a lot more in the world than what we can just see and mystical forces are working all around us. Another unprovable belief (for the most part) but still a possibility as our senses limit how much we can actually notice and process in the world. Too much is slipping between the cracks of our minuscule knowledge.
Those are just three main relative beliefs but there are many more, each provided a different perspective on reality, mostly based on something we cannot use our senses to interact with. It really shows that if there was more in the world than what we can actually sense, we would remain oblivious. Who knows, perhaps something totally different than the illusion of reality we constantly grasp is hiding in the blanks we cannot look at. We may miss something really important if we focus on just what we can sense. But if we spend too much time looking for another reality which we cannot access with our human senses, we will just waste time that we should be living, if living is real at all. ;) Blows your mind doesn't it???
Drugs -
What is the purpose of taking mind-altering and reality-changing drugs? Some people believe that doing such things can give them a heightened sense of reality or an escape from reality. Is what you see in a drug-haze what is really happening, or is it instead a distortion of your senses which changes your perspective so all you really see is the mind's altered look on things that you partially imagine as well as see. Although I have never taken drugs myself, I have been told that hallucinogenics can give strange visions and make reality into something totally different. Does that mean that those visions are the real deal? I guess no one really knows...
Spiritualism -
Beliefs such as karma, deja vu, in some cases reincarnation, and other such beliefs sometimes connected to religions, could be the reality, we just haven't realized it yet. How do you know that karma really doesn't exist? You really can never know whether something you cannot see, hear, smell, touch, taste, or feel can really be there. But some people do believe in such things, which is a different reality from what scientists and some religious leaders believe.
Esotericism -
The belief in spirits, ghosts, and mystical powers that can be transferred into objects may seem far-fetched to a level-headed realist, but there are those that believe that there is a lot more in the world than what we can just see and mystical forces are working all around us. Another unprovable belief (for the most part) but still a possibility as our senses limit how much we can actually notice and process in the world. Too much is slipping between the cracks of our minuscule knowledge.
Those are just three main relative beliefs but there are many more, each provided a different perspective on reality, mostly based on something we cannot use our senses to interact with. It really shows that if there was more in the world than what we can actually sense, we would remain oblivious. Who knows, perhaps something totally different than the illusion of reality we constantly grasp is hiding in the blanks we cannot look at. We may miss something really important if we focus on just what we can sense. But if we spend too much time looking for another reality which we cannot access with our human senses, we will just waste time that we should be living, if living is real at all. ;) Blows your mind doesn't it???
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