<http://artsandfaith.com/index.php?/topic/2973-the-truman-show/>
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"In the felix culpa PLEASANTVILLE thread I mentioned Adele Reinhartz's chapter on that film, in her book Scripture On The Silver Screen.  Today I noticed that her opening chapter considers the book of Genesis and the film THE TRUMAN SHOW.  Not only was I fascinated to see her treatment of another film with garden of Eden resonances, I was tickled to find her citing our very own PTC...  Viewed through the lens of the creation stories in Genesis, the film might be seen as a reenactment or, more accurately, a subversion of the expulsion from the garden.  Truman, far from being expelled from paradise, can hardly wait to leave it. This desire flies in the face of Christof's insistence on the superiority, indeed, the perfection, of the world he created in comparison to the \"real\"world outside.  If Truman had to leave Seahaven in order to develop and mature, so perhaps the primordial human beings also had to leave the protection and the perfection of the garden in order to lead a fully human existence.  In both cases, departure from the ideal world is an expression, or perhaps a consequence, of the quintessentially human characteristic of free will.  Truman can only be thruly human, a \"true man,\" by getting out from under Christof's (and Meryl's) thumb, and thereby exercising his natural human curiosity, making his own decisions, and opening himself up to the risk of making mistakes.  In a similar manner, Adam and Eve can only get on with the essential business of living - family and work - by living out the consequences that God imposes on them after their act of disobedience.  This use of the second Genesis narrative may seem at odds with the wide-spread Christian reading that views the story as an account of the sin and \"fall\" of humankind.  According to this reading, the story is intended to show that the propensity to sin and disobedience entered humankind when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit.  Hence the expulsion from the garden is to be viewed as tragedy, the consequences of which affect humanity to this very day.  The interpretation offered by THE TRUMAN SHOW is a much more positive, life-affirming account that perhaps deliberately reverseds this negative assessment....  The principal differences between the film and the Genesis account, on any interpretation, are the roles of the Creator and his relationship with humankind both within the garden and outside it.  Christof's interest is not so much in humanity as a whole but in Truman specifically.  On the other hand, his attachment to Truman does not beneift the man but rather satisfies Christof's own needs....  The contrasts between the God of Genesis and the Christof of THE TRUMAN SHOW have led some reviewers to see an anti-Christian, perhaps even a gnostic, message in this film.  Peter Chattaway suggests that \"like the demiurge, who trapped divine spirit within the material universe according to Gnostic myth, Christof and his co-conspirators have sealed Truman within an artificial world because, through him, they hope to experience the perfect life, albeit vicariously\" (BC Christian News). Perhaps, but a more transparent motivation seems to be entertainment and profit.  Elsewhere, Chattaway suggests that Christof, a \"rip-off\" of Christ, may be a metaphor for false God (BC Report 9, No. 44, 1998).  Christof is evil, as is the world that he has created.  But there is little evidence within the film to support this conclusion.  The film is neither pro- nor anti-Christian.  Rather, the Genesis imagery encourages viewers to reflect on themes that are fundamental to the human experience in the late twentieth century, including the role of the media and the shaping of individual identity.  pp 20-22    \n"
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