Question: There seems to be a major plot hole in this film. A big deal is made about dissuading Truman from leaving the town. If he was raised and educated in the studio, surely they could have simply taught him that there was nowhere to run to, that the town where he lived was all that existed. Is the answer to this ever explained in the film?
Zane Campbell
12th Nov 2004
The Truman Show (1998)
Answer: Also, Seahaven isn't very big. All those manufactured goods and foods have to come from somewhere.
Answer: Truman is a natural explorer, the only way you could convince him of this would be to say he is living on a colony on another planet, which would make for a much different show. Truman is also an explorer, so unless he believes that going out will kill him, he's not going to be dissuaded.
Answer: Even though Truman cannot leave the town because it would ruin the show, they're still trying to emulate a (somewhat idealized) average American life and community. Truman is taught the same things as everyone else in school, buys products from all over the world and presumably meets people from many different places, even though he cannot go there. Clearly, he is also well aware that the Earth is round and that Fiji is on the opposite end. It's possible that they considered coming up with a reason for why Truman physically cannot leave, but in a promotional video for the movie, it is the revealed that the show started in a single room and that the set was constructed gradually during Truman's childhood. With this in mind, it would have been difficult to retroactively explain to Truman why he cannot leave after never mentioning it during his youth.
That's the point though - why teach him the earth is round, why teach him Fiji exists? They must have realised this would be a problem, but they took no steps to compensate for it.
Because, as stated in previous answers, the entire point was to have him live in an idealized, but still real, version of the real world. If they'd created a false reality for him where things were altered (i.e. the Earth not being round, etc.) the show wouldn't be so popular. Part of the appeal of the show, as shown in the viewers' reactions) was watching to see if Truman would figure it out.
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Answer: Doing this will immediately take out the realism from the show. The reason so many viewers watch Truman daily is because he is living a "normal" life in a "normal" world. Doing anything out of the ordinary will dilute this feeling of realism so they try to persuade him not to leave instead of telling him there is no where to go.
Zane Campbell