Truman’s Matrix; Manufactured Reality

Several years ago we put together the similarities of The Truman Show and The Matrix, hence the name of this podcast. But it seems that we aren’t the only ones that have compared the two films. In his thesis “[What Is Manufactured Reality?:Parallels Between The Truman Show and The Matrix]:“, Jonathan Gomez presented some great points.

The Truman Show predicted the way social media and reality TV would come to dominate our lives. The tagline of the show is “An entire human life recorded on an intricate network of hidden cameras and broadcast live and unedited, 24 hours a day.” This story about a man who doesn’t know his life is filmed and broadcast live to a large audience foreshadowed our present landscape of oversharing. Truman says that “it feels like the whole world revolves around me somehow.”

Those of us who have embraced social media are encouraged to act like the entire world revolves around us. It’s true that sometimes reality can be overwhelming and it creates an escape. The Truman Show actually sends the message that we should fight against the impulse to reduce our lives to hyper-controlled, artificial narratives.

The film exposes how turning real life into entertainment can dehumanize people and reminds us that privacy is a valuable, even essential component of an authentic life. Today social media allows each of us to star in our own personal Truman Show. Through social media, many people now live like Truman by choice, making almost every aspect of their private existence public knowledge. But The Truman Show points to central questions that we need to be asking ourselves in this climate: what’s lost when you no longer have privacy?

In The Truman Show, there is no difference between public and private life. And if you live life with others always watching, it is almost impossible to live authentically — how can you even know if you’re being authentically yourself when others are watching?

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One can say, how do you know you’re not living in the matrix right now? Everybody gets it because people know “The Matrix”. “The Matrix” is just a brilliant depiction of the idea that the universe we’re in could be simulated, very reminiscent of some ancient questions posed by the philosopher, René Descartes. Descartes said, “How do you know that an evil demon isn’t fooling you into thinking the world around you is real by feeding you sensations,” when in fact none of it is real. “The Matrix” is just using digital technology to take that 400 year-old idea of Descartes and to turn it into something we can all viscerally appreciate.

The Matrix is arguably one of the most influential movies ever made.

Thomas Anderson is a computer programer by day, and operates as a hacker under the alias “Neo” in his off time. He discovers the truth about the world he’s living in when he becomes aware of “The Matrix.” While searching for a man named Morpheus, he meets another hacker named Trinity, who takes Neo to Morpheus. Morpheus vaguely describes the Matrix as this all-encompassing prison, as the world that has been pulled over Neo’s eyes, blinding him from the truth. He also admits that no one can be told what the Matrix is: “you have to see it for yourself,” he states.

Morpheus offers Neo a choice: a blue pill and a red pill. If he chooses the blue pill, he remains in his everyday life and believes whatever he wants to believe. But if he chooses the red pill, he’ll set foot in the real world and find out what the Matrix truly is. “All I’m offering is the truth,” says Morpheus. And so, Neo takes the red pill and tumbles down the rabbit hole. The Matrix is considered a philosophical film that contains many existing philosophical and religious themes, like prophecy, love, truth, karma, the nature of reality, and living in a simulation.

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There seems to be a particular close connection between The Matrix and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. In this allegory, presented in Plato’s Republic, Socrates describes a group of people chained to a wall within a cave their whole lives. The only reality they know of is the mere shadows projected on the wall in front of them, and they believe these are real entities. Then, one of the prisoners is freed. He leaves the cave and gets to experience the real world outside, but when he returns to the cave to enlighten the other prisoners with the truth, he faces resistance. Exploring the following question: do we, as human beings, actually want the truth?

Most of us would probably answer yes. But when comparing The Truman Show and The Matrix in relation to Plato’s Allegory, we discover that the human relationship with truth is not that simple. Sometimes, we welcome the truth. While other times, we hide from it, temporarily suspend it, reject it, and even wish to forget the truth if we had that option. One of the most striking examples is the character Cypher.

Both Plato’s work and The Matrix show people’s disdain for a truth that threatens their reality. We tend to attach to the familiar, the comfortable, the meaningful, and are sometimes willing to defend it with our lives. So, again, do we want the truth?

The answer seems to be that it depends. We tend to handle the facts selectively, as the truth appears in many different forms, with different magnitudes. Truth can uplift us; it can leave us indifferent but can also make us depressed and miserable. For example, in Plato’s allegory, learning the truth has virtually no downsides. The only downside is the hostility by those in the cave. But aside from that, it’s pretty evident that Plato’s truth leads to something better and would uplift almost anyone. But in the Truman Show and The Matrix, the truth is less enjoyable. However, the effect that truth has on us doesn’t necessarily depend on the truth itself; it also depends on the person receiving it. In the case of Neo and Morpheus, the state of the world provided them with meaning and legitimized the battle they were fighting as liberators of humanity, which is quite an incredible goal to have in life. On the other hand, Cypher pokes fun at that goal, which shows his cynicism and lack of meaning he found in his existence. People tend to adopt surrogate truths to cover up a painful reality, which in the end is what Truman does.

By contrast, others love painful realities, but these are often instrumental to their already dark worldview. People from both camps also tend to ignore facts that oppose how they want to see the world. In many if not most cases, they share their worldviews with like-minded people. Sharing a certain truth, regardless of whether it’s true, has benefits. Again, look at religious groups, political movements, and even the flat-earth society. Being part of such groups can provide people with purpose and social connections. We can see how the belief in “The One” binds Morpheus and his people together. The downside is that adopting opposing views as a member (even if they were true) could lead to other members ostracizing you. And here’s where the dark side of suspension of disbelief comes in. Some, if not many, are willing to turn a blind eye to the truth not just for innocent enjoyment but also out of convenience. For example, someone keeps subscribing to a false belief against one’s better judgment, just to belong or out of fear of being ostracized.

All in all, people seem pretty opportunistic when it comes to the truth. We want ‘a’ truth, not necessarily ‘the’ truth. We want ‘a’ reality, not necessarily ‘the’ reality. But the truth and the lie often have something in common: they both appear as stories. So, could it be that we fundamentally don’t want the truth, but a story: a story to believe in, identify with, share with others, dwell on, and (perhaps most importantly) to provide us with a sense of meaning and belonging.

Jonathan J. Gomez, in his thesis What Is Manufactured Reality?