Philosophy 111
November 6,2013
“Love Him, Protect Him” “There is no more truth out there than in the world I created for you”-Ed Harris. In the film “The Truman Show”, Truman Burbank lives in a world, which is what he thinks reality; but however is not. Truman discovers in the film the epistemology of his surroundings, and how it could not be as real as he though it once was. The producers or shall we say the “fathers” behind the false consumption the show each wore tee shirts, stating “Love Him, Protect Him”. They saw themselves as Truman’s protectors from the real world that he was not aware of. I see Christnoff as a paternalist, he states, “ you were real, that’s why you were so good to watch”, to Truman at the end as he exits into the real world. Christnoff feels that he was protecting Truman from society, and he saw himself as his father. Christnoff goal was to protect and love Truman from entering the real world and to stop him from getting hurt ; but Truman fell in love that’s what brought his hard work and dedication to exit the “show” and enter what was real. “In my world you have nothing to fear”, in the quote Christnoff explains that he will never hurt Truman because he is his son. The outside audience watched “The Truman Show” as just entertainment not aware that he was not acting; he was really trying to leave the false world and enter reality. Truman was the main star of the show, and no longer wanted to be protected and loved by the actors. I found that Chirstnoff goal was not to let Truman figure out that it was all-fake. The meaning of “ Love Him, Protect Him” meant to never let him find out what was to real, to protect him from reality an to keep him; but also the “main star”. Comparison to the readings Washburn 2.2 (Libertarian or Paternalist), when we think about a paternalist we think about no freedom, restrictions, and no say. Christnoff and his other