The Truman Show lights and shadows: an actualization of the metaphor of ligth

Abstract

Every work of art is a part of a tradition, and consequently, it is created under the influence of that tradition, either continuing it, transforming it or stiring it up. This paper aims to analyse the metaphor of light as an image of truth and wisdom, which is one of the main topic of the western philosophical and literary tradition, in order to see how it is developed in The Truman Show film. With this pourpose, first, I will analyse the way in which ancient Greeks (and mainly Plato), Christians and the Enlightenment understood this metaphor. Second, I will identify the different ways in which the metaphor of light appears throughout the film, so as to argue that this portraits of one of the most spread ideas in the western tradition, namely, the fight against ignorance and the quest for wisdom and truth.