Some days when you don't want to start on some new show and you don't want to watch something without knowing the ending, you'd go back to shows or movies that you have loved as a child.
Yesterday was one such day. I went on to watch Jim Carrey's "The Truman Show". When I watched it as a younger person, I liked it for Jim's acting and the entire storyline seemed outrageous and yet heartbreaking. How can one person's life be in front of camera all the time and how can one be living a lie !
Present age, in 2024, when I watched this, I saw it in a different light. With social media being rampant, with everyone having access to cameras on their phone to instantly capture a video, no one can escape being a "Truman". Any instance of your life can be captured by someone and you could end up being ridiculed or hailed a superstar overnight. The superstardom can fall overnight too, but the ridicule remains long after it subsides too.
We also live a life where product placements happen in any content we consume online, whether we know it or not, it is there and it greatly influences how we spend and what we do. Infact, it goes one step further to influence our thought process too. What is good and what is not? Like Truman was told all the time that traveling and exploring other places outside of his town was dangerous, we are also subconsciously fed ideas and ideals that we might not have thought of on our own. Now, like Truman, we need to choose our truth and we need to stick by it. It will not be easy, everyone will make you believe you are delusional, everyone will try to find out that you have a problem, it is in your head.
Again, like Truman, we are also left with a thought - you don't have a camera in my head. Maybe that would come out soon as well. Imagine all your thoughts being visible to everyone around you. Would that make us better or would it make us more evil? Well, I need to head to a meeting, so....
" Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night."
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