Discuss, analyse and compare in detail THE TRUMAN SHOW and PLEASANTVILLE. What issues are their fantasy narratives raising about individuals, society television and cinema? Give your view about the resolution about each film.
             Through observing the worlds that The Truman Show and Pleasantville present us with, issues raised about individuals, society, television and cinema all overlap and affect each other. Ultimately these two films differ in their overall concept and portrayal of the human condition.
             One of the ways in which we can start to observe similarities and differences between these two films is by addressing how the central characters serve their function to the narrative. The Truman Show presents us with an individual, Truman Burbank, who is the subject of a make believe world in which everyone in it, and everyone watching it are aware of but him. Pleasantville does the exact opposite. It's two main protagonists, David and Jennifer, are the only ones who are wise to the world in which all the other characters of Pleasantville are living in.
             Truman believes that he is just another inhabitant of the town Seahaven. The world around him is one in which all seems to be well and good. All the people Truman meets from his home to travelling to his office are bright and friendly, and he is back to them. The appearance of the town is of the idyllic 50's America, houses with picket fences, lush green lawns. Seahaven is a colourful place in its appearance and ultimate pleasant nature of all who live there. Of course this is all an orchestration. The only thing that is real is Truman himself. The society and world he lives in is all one big lie in order to control and exploit the star of this show.
             This idea of society being orchestrated and completely false could lead us on to contemplate whether maybe Truman as an individual represents us as individuals in the westernised world. That maybe we are continuously subj...