Two films from 1998, The Truman Show and Pleasantville, provide a possible basis for theological discussion. They introduce questions of illusion and reality, control and freedom, viewing and being viewed. These two products of the media world themselves ask how much our own interpretations of reality are influenced by our culture's modern media. Have Americans developed an obsessive interest in watching without being known (voyeurism)? Do the films portray society's worst fears about God? What aspects of human freedom and what aspects of God are left out? Effectively raising the questions, the films require richer resources to provide answers regarding the character of God and the power of human freedom.
Mercadante, Linda A.
"The God Behind the Screen: Pleasantville and The Truman Show,"
Journal of Religion & Film: Vol. 5:
2, Article 8.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol5/iss2/8