There are people in this world who have uncovered the invincible summer inside of them. And it seems like no matter what the world throws at them, they always find peace and love from within. To me, Truman from The Truman Show is one of them.
In the final scenes of the movie, Truman, having realized the truth of his fabricated world, attempts to escape. He overcomes his trauma of the sea and ties himself to the boat to battle the storm.
“Is that the best you can do? You’re gonna have to kill me!”.
The raging storm throws Truman overboard, yet he prevails. The storm quiets. Truman reaches the edge of his world, and Christof, the mastermind behind the manufacturing of Truman’s life, speaks to him.
Christof
“Listen Truman, there is no more truth out there than in the world I created for you.
The same lies, the same deceit. But in my world, you have nothing to fear.
I know you better than you know yourself.”
Truman
“You never had a camera in my head!”
Christof
“It’s okay, Truman. I understand. I have been watching you your whole life.
I was watching when you were born. I was watching when you took your first step. I watched you on your first day of school. The episode when you lost your first tooth.
You can’t leave, Truman. You belong here, with me.
Talk to me. Say something.
Say something god damn it! You’re on television! You’re live to the whole world!”
Truman is given a chance to respond. To finally speak his mind on the lies pushed onto him his entire life. What he says in the next few seconds will be broadcasted to the world.
One can only imagine a small fraction of the resentment, self-doubt, sadness, disbelief and rage swelling up inside of Truman after finding out the fakeness of the entirety of his experiences, connections, trauma and memories, the betrayal of every single person he knows and doesn’t know in the world. In a sense, it was not just Chrisof and the actors in the TV show who lied to Truman. The entire world had abandoned him, and found amusement out of his ignorance. The world wronged Truman. He has every right to breakdown completely, to curse and rage against the world.
But Truman turns around, with that familiar smile we’ve seen throughout the movie that is burned into my mind. Ever so bright. Ever so hopeful. He says:
“In case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening and good night.”
When I was watching this scene, the quote from Albert Camus came to mind.
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”
In this moment, the invincible summer Truman has inside of him shined through. He lets go of all of his ego, free of self-definitions. In the face of ultimate betrayal and deceit, profound clarity, inner-peace and strength triumphed, as Truman takes a bow, acknowleding every person and moments passed, and lets go of them.
“We” are indeed a product of our environment, and all of Truman’s character and growth did come from all the scripted interactions and fabricated one-sided relationships he has formed since birth. But that does not make Truman himself any less real or genuine. His spirit of positivity and kindness will always be real. He is truly himself. Separated from his ego, inseparable from the truth.
As Eckhart Tolle describes [1], it is the ego that is defined by the form, by our past memories and trauma. But our true selves are not. They reflect the oneness with all life, that is ourselves. Uncovering the invincible summer that exists within us is uncovering the fundamental awareness, the perceptive attention behind all our emotions, thoughts and expectations conditioned by the past. Truman knows that. He sees his ego and Christof’s ego and in that process thereby lets go of all the things that has happened and the people that have lied to him. That is why he could in that very moment, chose peace over reactivity and righteousness, and love over hate and revenge.
He chose happiness.
The Truman Show will forever be one of my favourite movies of all time, because Truman will always remind me that I too have that invincible summer inside of me, that I too can fight against and escape the small world I was trapped in and find peace, that I am not defined by my past experiences and trauma. I am not any of my feelings or thoughts, I am the alert awareness behind them. I am what I choose to become. To be like Truman is to forgive it all as it comes back to me [2].
And in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening and good night.
Notes
[1] Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose.
[2] Ethel Cain, Sun Bleached Flies, Preacher’s Daughter.