Authors note: When we were watching the movie, my main thought was how unfair and inhumane it was that they were making his life a TV show. It also scared me that he didn't even know what was happening to him.
As children we are taught to follow certain rules. 'Don't talk to strangers.' and 'Don't cross the street alone.' are examples of non-negotiable rules. At school it is required for us to 'use our inside voices' and 'walk in a straight line' at all times while inside the building. Each teacher has a list of rules that hang in their room proudly to remind students of what not to do. School starts at a young age and slowly drills these rules into us. In third grade, they push harder for us to learn these rules saying that fourth grade is much worse in their punishments for not following rules. When we reached sixth grade, we were constantly reminded of the difficulty in middle school. Finally as eighth graders, teachers are always telling us of how difficult high school will be. After high school there will be the trouble of college. Our school says they are preparing us for "College Readiness" with our learning targets. They say they want to prepare us for the real world, yet they keep us so protected at school. Just as it is in the movie, our school is constantly making sure that everything is happening in the right place and the right time. We think that school is a reality; the teachers teach us about all that is going on in the current world. But is school reality? I was thinking that school is a lot like this movie because everything is so protected to be made perfect. School seems to be teaching us what they want us to know, though, just as the producer is doing with Truman's life.
That was an interesting post. When I saw the movie, I would have never related that to school, but that does make a lot of sense. In school, they are so focused on keeping us safe, and sheltering us from anything that will challenge us. You did a good job explaining that, and I agree with you completely.
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