Truman Show Syndrome
Friday, August 08, 2008
Truman Show Syndrome
In movies, aliens are almost always hostile. We don't always get piano playing aliens like the ones in Close Encounter of the Third Kind, or aliens that look like an old sagging penis like the one in E.T.. More often than not, they are usually going to be invading Earth for no apparent reasons at all, but most of the time for cinematic purposes anyway. They blow up buildings and kill people because it sells movie tickets, people just love to see their hometowns be incinerated on the big screen. I can easily picture a kid jumping up and down in his seat because he saw his hometown being blown away by a wave of heat ray. However, the logic doesn't add up though - why would you travel thousands and thousands of light years just to destroy another species in the universe? Either you are incredibly smart or incredibly stupid, and I am sure there are stupid aliens out there who think that all the other planets revolve around theirs. Anyway, my friends and I were discussing this issue over at a forum once about alien invasion, and we started talking about three movies that we'd show them when they do arrive. My choices: E.T, Independence Day, and Superman. Why? The first choice reminds them that we are capable of being compassionate. The second choice reminds them that despite their firepower and advanced technology, we can still beat them with computer viruses. The third choice because, if all else fails, we still have Superman to kick ass. Of course, we have to also tell them that the third choice is a documentary instead of a movie.
In movies, aliens are almost always hostile. We don't always get piano playing aliens like the ones in Close Encounter of the Third Kind, or aliens that look like an old sagging penis like the one in E.T.. More often than not, they are usually going to be invading Earth for no apparent reasons at all, but most of the time for cinematic purposes anyway. They blow up buildings and kill people because it sells movie tickets, people just love to see their hometowns be incinerated on the big screen. I can easily picture a kid jumping up and down in his seat because he saw his hometown being blown away by a wave of heat ray. However, the logic doesn't add up though - why would you travel thousands and thousands of light years just to destroy another species in the universe? Either you are incredibly smart or incredibly stupid, and I am sure there are stupid aliens out there who think that all the other planets revolve around theirs. Anyway, my friends and I were discussing this issue over at a forum once about alien invasion, and we started talking about three movies that we'd show them when they do arrive. My choices: E.T, Independence Day, and Superman. Why? The first choice reminds them that we are capable of being compassionate. The second choice reminds them that despite their firepower and advanced technology, we can still beat them with computer viruses. The third choice because, if all else fails, we still have Superman to kick ass. Of course, we have to also tell them that the third choice is a documentary instead of a movie.
Imagine those movies being real, though, that'd be interesting. In fact, that is the basis of the Truman Show Syndrome, which is an actual syndrome and I am not making things up. Sufferers of this syndrome often thinks that they are the protagonist of a reality television series, and that everybody around them are just actors and there are hidden cameras in the posters, in their car radios, in their bathrooms and whatnot. The name, obviously, comes from the Jim Carrey film called The Truman Show, whereby he is also the protagonist of a reality television show, without him knowing it. Imagine some of the television shows out there being real, that'd be pretty interesting. If Lost is real, then there's a mysterious island that teleports, not to mention a giant human-eating black cloud and a bunch of polar bears on the island. If Battlestar Galactica is real, then we have to brace ourselves for total annihilation by the Cylons in the near future. Television shows aren't real (even if they are reality shows, okay?), and your real life certainly isn't a television show either. It really isn't, so stop trying to pretend that it is.
Everybody has a reality show now, and you are starting to wonder if these people have some sort of narcissism complexity. Nick Carter and his family has a show, Jessica Simpson has a show, Paula Abdul has a show, the Osbournes have a show, even Hulk Hogan's family has a show. Everybody has a show, when they are pretty much just a the same template over and over and over again, anyway. A bunch of rich people from America, living a lavishing life that they hardly deserve, and then throw in a few arguments and conflicts to make it seem like the Jerry Springer Show, since people love to see a bunch of people trying to tear at each other. If you are rich enough, you can get your own television show, that's not a problem. It doesn't even matter if your life is interesting, or if people want to know about your life at all. As long as you have the money, the studios will hire people to write a script about your life to make it seem interesting - it really isn't. I am not sure if people suffering from the Truman Show Syndrome really do have a mental problem, or if they just love themselves too much. Way too much.
Not everybody's lives can be translated into a television show, the ratings are going to plummet no matter how you script it. Some of our lives are just uneventful, mundane, and most of all - normal. Then there are some people who love to be in the center of attention, they want to be the protagonist in their own television show. Their friends, their families, and everybody else in their lives are just supporting actors and actresses, and once in a while you get guest stars too. You know, maybe Hulk Hogan would visit Nick Carter's house, and that'd be an episode with a guest star, it works the same way. These narcissistic people would visit each others' shows every once in a while, but never for too long. They want to be in the spotlight most of the time, they are what we call the "attention whores". It's true, we have people like this living around us all the time, and the amount of attention that they get can be, well, repulsively undeserving at times.
These shows are the kind of shows with the main character asking his supporting cast questions so that they'd look smart answering them. These are the people who pretend to listen to what you have to say, when they are just trying to pick out little contradictions and mistakes just to retort a few questions later - again, to make themselves look smart. These are the people who think that they have the best show on television, the acute state of Truman Show Syndrome. It isn't enough that they think that they are in a reality show, they think that their show is the best television show out there! This isn't Friends, we don't have a background story on all six actors in the show, we are not going to know about other people's lives in this show. It is always going to be about what the protagonist says, what he does, what he doesn't say and what he doesn't do. People are going to watch this show, like how there are so many other people watching some trashy shows out there. They just want to be in the in-crowd, they want to be a part of this great party. They surround themselves with narcissistic protagonist hoping that they'd be associated alongside them and be featured in more episodes in the future. That's the way it works in life as well, and it is downright sickening.
They say that no man is an island, well I say that every man can be a reality show. I think there are times when even normal people tend to tune out of those fancy shows and to tune in to our own. You know, switching from channel 20 to channel 12 on cable just to catch Discovery Channel instead of MTV, something like that. When you are back home, when you are taking off your clothes, when you are drying your hair in front of your mirror, you are tuning into your own show, your own reality show. We are not even craving for an audience at times, we cannot care less about the ratings. Of course, a television show about someone brushing her hair and smoking a cigarette is not really going to sell, but we are all following our scripts through life, with hidden cameras to guide our actions most of the time. Some scripts involve a lot of people and a lot of dialogues, while others simply involve a lot of their own narration because they are always deep in their own worlds, contemplating and debating with their own thoughts. Either way, we all give ourselves a bit of time to our own show, and it doesn't matter if anybody cares to watch at all.
Then there are times when I prefer to watch someone else's show, and not participate - there is a difference. I'd like to think that if I am needed, I listen. I don't need to be in front of the camera all the time, not even my own show. Sometimes, when somebody needs your presence, we all have to tune out of our own shows and to tune in to theirs, to see what is going on and to check up on them every once in a while. It is the whole notion of reciprocation in friendships, I feel, the way we tune in to each other instead of everything being revolved around just one single person. Just watch any reality show about a person or a family now, and you are going to find that these ignorant idiots are treating themselves as the center of the universe. I just feel that a one-side relationship is not going to work, it should never always be about us being the passive and gullible audience and you being the star and the protagonist. It should be a two-way thing, a give and take relationship, one where we take turns to tune in to each other. That is what people do, we look out for each other.
Sure, people who suffer from the Truman Show Syndrome do have nice episodes every once in a while. Fun parties, nice ladies, more fun parties and a lot of alcohol, people like to watch those things. But even those can get stale and boring at times, and you find yourself wanting to pull out from the alternate reality. Sometimes, it becomes more interesting to be listening, to be there, to validate, to reassure, and all that kind of friends stuff that comes along the way. It doesn't have to be about the skin-deep high life all the time, because it gets repetitive very easily and very quickly. If we are all going to treat friends as participating members of the show for an episode or two, then the end of the series is going to be a soulless and empty one. You cannot expect to treat friends as disposable human beings and then hope that they'd be there when your ratings are falling. You don't pay them peanuts and then expect them to make a comeback just to boost your market share, it's not going to happen that way. For all the fun and excitement now, it really is nothing if you are not going to give your audience the kind of attention that they deserve. People are not going to sympathize with you simply because you are suffering from the Truman Show Syndrome. Sooner or later, nobody is going to watch your reality show, and it is only a matter of time before people realize that there are better shows out there for them to watch. Just you wait. Just you wait.
This entry was posted
on Friday, August 08, 2008 at 12:00 AM.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
