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Tyler Hines

Professor Adam Burkey

ENGL 2089

14 February 2020

Tense Reflection

Imagine that you live in a world where everything is designed around you. Every person,

every action, every event, revolves around what you do. After years of living in this world

without question, how would you react if the walls of this illusion started to crumble? This

thought, explored in Peter Weir’s The Truman Show (1998), can possibly lead to many

outcomes, and the one showcased in this film is particularly negative. As the movie progresses

and Truman sees more of his world’s lies, he becomes more and more tense in his situation. The

tension created by this false reality gradually increases throughout the movie and it can be

directly related back to Truman’s reflection on the community he’s in. The connection between

these two concepts prompted me to ask this question: how does metaknowledge itself cause

tension and conflict among Discourses and how does The Truman Show portray a possible

outcome of this relationship? In this essay, I will explore the correlation between the two

concepts and argue that metaknowledge is capable of creating tension in Discourses on its own

through the examples and situations the film presents.

In order to argue my case and connect these concepts to the source, one must understand

the film that this answer is derived from. The Truman Show is a story about a man, Truman, who

lives in a world where he is the only real aspect. Throughout the movie, Truman, living in this

worldwide reality TV show, gradually becomes more aware of his manmade illusion. Truman
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witnesses instances of fractures in this town like an unfinished set, convenient events happening

revolving around him, a spotlight falling from the sky, and more. As these occur, Truman grows

more mad about the false world around him and starts to act on these feelings. This results in the

breakdown of Truman’s life, bringing about a drive to escape his town, an argument between

him and his wife concluding in her breaking character, and the eventual realization of the truth

where he literally breaks the reality he is in and finally leaves the world created for him by

Christof, the creator of the show, by getting over his fear of water and sailing to the edge of the

world.

The film itself isn’t all you need to understand in order to comprehend my argument,

however. The concepts from James Paul Gee discussed in my thesis question is the core of how

to answer it. To start off, a Discourse, as detailed by Gee, is any group that you are in that has a

certain way of acting or behaving. According to Gee, these are “ways of being in the world; they

are forms of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities,”

(484). These groups end up influencing your overall behavior throughout your life, and the first,

most influential Discourse you participate in, usually your family, is considered your primary

Discourse. Any other Discourse you are involved in is called a secondary Discourse. These can

range anywhere from your paid job or career to just your group of friends. If you’ve ever been in

a friend group and found yourself thinking about the reasons why you’re with them and what

you’re doing with them, you are utilizing Gee’s term, metaknowledge. Metaknowledge is the act

of thinking and reflecting on the Discourse you are in and how you act in it. Metaknowledge can

include every form of reflection and it can happen at any moment you’re involved in that

Discourse. Finally, all Discourses run the risk of creating Discourse tension or conflict with other

Discourses. This term, Discourse conflict, is the tension created between two or more Discourses
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when either the Discourses conflict or your actions in those Discourses conflict. For example,

when your job starts to take up too much time in your life that it restricts your ability to hang out

with your friends, spend time with your family, or stay successful in school, that conflict created

is Discourse conflict.

These concepts present themselves quite often throughout The Truman Show, almost

always through Truman’s actions and the circumstances of his world. A bit into the film, Truman

is shown reminiscing over his crush, Sylvia, an extra who he had met during his college years.

Because of the nature of the TV show however, this relationship was prematurely ended by the

director forcing his future wife, Meryl, as his love interest. When Sylvia was taken away from

Truman, she revealed the fake reality he was in, which prompted Truman’s doubts about the

world around him. This metaknowledge, caused by Sylvia’s interaction and seeing his

supposedly deceased father, created confusion between what Truman thought was real and what

was actually real. From that moment, he started to question the people and the places around

him, creating tension between his everyday Discourses and his thoughts. As Truman discovers

more of the lies in the set he’s on, he begins to act more irrationally, starting as small as visiting

places he wouldn’t normally go to, but eventually leading him to drive him and Meryl away from

town and through several constructed obstacles for Truman. These actions, caused by Truman’s

reflection on his situation, were extremely out of Truman’s character and stressed his friends and

family, creating even more tension between them and Truman.

As a result of these actions, Meryl is shown clearly upset at Truman. During their

argument however, Meryl remembers that her role on the show is to be an actress, which in turn

makes her decide to promote a type of coffee for viewers. Her metaknowledge of her career and

her job influenced her actions, but as Truman responds negatively, tension builds up in their
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relationship. As they are arguing, Truman uses a set of kitchen tools to trap Meryl which makes

her fear for her life to the point where she yells for help from an outside source. During this

encounter, Meryl’s knowledge of what Truman’s world actually is slips into her Discourse with

Truman and creates more conflict between them. Finally, after this event, Truman does what no

one ever expected him to do: sail. As a result of all of the strange occurrences that Truman

experiences throughout the movie, he finally reflects and plans out an escape that involves him

conquering his fear of water and sailing to the edge of the set. The metaknowledge established

throughout the film led Truman to take risks he normally wouldn’t take and create conflict and

tension between the Discourses he has been a part of.

The Truman Show provides us with a great example of what metaknowledge can lead to.

As Truman reflects on his life and his purpose in the world he is in, the tension in his life

between all of his friends and family grows. Metaknowledge has the capabilities to provide

negative experiences through the realization of things between the Discourses, like how Truman

loses Meryl and tension on his Discourses and life, but it can also lead to self-discovery and just

discovery in general. Truman, through the metaknowledge established throughout the story,

slowly realizes the world he’s in and decides to react to it. Despite losing his wife, Truman

discovers who he needs to be in order to escape his cage of a town. Although the film teaches us

that metaknowledge can lead to bad events, avoiding it would probably be more harmful than

utilizing it. One of the lessons The Truman Show shows us is that we should be aware of the

metaknowledge in our lives and how we can use it to our advantage. Enlightenment is the true

knowledge we should strive for, and metaknowledge, if used properly, has the ability to bring us

just that.
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Works Cited

Gee, James Paul. "Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction." Writing about Writing: A

College Reader, 1st ed., edited by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Bedford/St.

Martins, Boston, 2011, pp. 481-495.

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The Truman Show. Directed by Peter Weir, performances by Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, and

Noah

Emmerich, Paramount Pictures, 1998.