Search a title or topic

Over 20 million podcasts, powered by 

Player FM logo
Artwork

Content provided by Tracie Guy-Decker & Emily Guy Birken, Tracie Guy-Decker, and Emily Guy Birken. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Tracie Guy-Decker & Emily Guy Birken, Tracie Guy-Decker, and Emily Guy Birken or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
Player FM - Podcast App
Go offline with the Player FM app!

The Truman Show: Deep Thoughts About Narcissism, Product Placement, and Parasocial Pop Culture

51:36
 
Share
 

Manage episode 508011812 series 3493147
Content provided by Tracie Guy-Decker & Emily Guy Birken, Tracie Guy-Decker, and Emily Guy Birken. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Tracie Guy-Decker & Emily Guy Birken, Tracie Guy-Decker, and Emily Guy Birken or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response.

And if I don't see you: Good afternoon, good evening, and good night!

Peter Weir's 1998 film The Truman Show, based on a screenplay by Andrew Niccol and starring Jim Carrey, was praised for its pop culture prescience because it came out just before the explosion of reality television. But as Emily argues on this episode, that cultural commentary misses the point. Reality TV may be the storytelling backdrop of The Truman Show, but the fantasy world that Ed Harris's Christof creates for Truman without his knowledge or consent gets to a deeper social and cultural issue than having cameras everywhere. This film offers a pop culture allegory for abusive control that calls itself love--to the point where many who have escaped from high control religions see themselves in Truman. (Also, product placement is never seamless!)

You may not be able to cue the sun, but you can cue up this episode!

Mentioned in this episode:

What The Truman Show Reveals About Its Characters

The Truman Show, Mormonism, and the Philosophy of Questioning

When Does Truman Figure It Out?

This episode was edited by Resonate Recordings.

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video versions, and early access to Deep Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

Find the Guy girls on social media:

instagram.com/guygirlsmedia

fb.com/dtasspodcast

We are Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our family as the Guy Girls.

We have super-serious day jobs. For the bona fides, visit our individual websites: tracieguydecker.com and emilyguybirken.com

We're hella smart and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love movies and tv, science fiction, comedy, and murder mysteries, good storytelling with lots of dramatic irony, and analyzing pop culture for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, and whatever else we find.

  continue reading

Chapters

1. The Disturbing Reality Behind The Truman Show (00:00:00)

2. Revisiting the Film: Plot Synopsis (00:09:50)

3. Attention to Detail and Masterful Filmmaking (00:25:42)

4. High-Control Religion and Abusive Relationships (00:28:40)

5. The Illusion of Control and Free Will (00:33:40)

6. Reality TV Comparison and Final Insights (00:42:47)

7. Key Takeaways and Next Episode Preview (00:51:05)

111 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 508011812 series 3493147
Content provided by Tracie Guy-Decker & Emily Guy Birken, Tracie Guy-Decker, and Emily Guy Birken. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Tracie Guy-Decker & Emily Guy Birken, Tracie Guy-Decker, and Emily Guy Birken or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Send us a message! Include how to reach you if you want a response.

And if I don't see you: Good afternoon, good evening, and good night!

Peter Weir's 1998 film The Truman Show, based on a screenplay by Andrew Niccol and starring Jim Carrey, was praised for its pop culture prescience because it came out just before the explosion of reality television. But as Emily argues on this episode, that cultural commentary misses the point. Reality TV may be the storytelling backdrop of The Truman Show, but the fantasy world that Ed Harris's Christof creates for Truman without his knowledge or consent gets to a deeper social and cultural issue than having cameras everywhere. This film offers a pop culture allegory for abusive control that calls itself love--to the point where many who have escaped from high control religions see themselves in Truman. (Also, product placement is never seamless!)

You may not be able to cue the sun, but you can cue up this episode!

Mentioned in this episode:

What The Truman Show Reveals About Its Characters

The Truman Show, Mormonism, and the Philosophy of Questioning

When Does Truman Figure It Out?

This episode was edited by Resonate Recordings.

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video versions, and early access to Deep Thou​​ghts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

Find the Guy girls on social media:

instagram.com/guygirlsmedia

fb.com/dtasspodcast

We are Tracie Guy-Decker and Emily Guy Birken, known to our family as the Guy Girls.

We have super-serious day jobs. For the bona fides, visit our individual websites: tracieguydecker.com and emilyguybirken.com

We're hella smart and completely unashamed of our overthinking prowess. We love movies and tv, science fiction, comedy, and murder mysteries, good storytelling with lots of dramatic irony, and analyzing pop culture for gender dynamics, psychology, sociology, and whatever else we find.

  continue reading

Chapters

1. The Disturbing Reality Behind The Truman Show (00:00:00)

2. Revisiting the Film: Plot Synopsis (00:09:50)

3. Attention to Detail and Masterful Filmmaking (00:25:42)

4. High-Control Religion and Abusive Relationships (00:28:40)

5. The Illusion of Control and Free Will (00:33:40)

6. Reality TV Comparison and Final Insights (00:42:47)

7. Key Takeaways and Next Episode Preview (00:51:05)

111 episodes

All episodes

×
 
Loading …

Welcome to Player FM!

Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. It's the best podcast app and works on Android, iPhone, and the web. Signup to sync subscriptions across devices.

 

Copyright 2025 | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | | Copyright
Listen to this show while you explore
Play