Theme in Being There and The Truman Show Progress is definitely one of the most positive and cheerful words we use. Yet progress, paradoxically, can lead, and quite often leads, to damage. As technology rapidly advances, we lose our identity and distance ourselves from our very nature. Television is the perfect example of this reckless progress. The more time we spend looking at it, the more we lose ourselves. Literature – regarding the human race and its activities – examines this aspect. Two lyrics, “Being There” and “The Truman Show” draw attention to this theme, make it their theme, and both do a splendid job of expressing it, with some differences of course. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Two completely different perspectives on the effects of television on us are presented. While “Being There” shows the plight of those affected, “The Truman Show” focuses on both sides: the affected people and the influential ones. We watch and see the creators of a TV show, why and how they manipulate people and rob them of their own lives and reality. We see the viewers and how far they are from their lives. And we read about how terrible the outcome would be if people were too involved in this process. In Truman Show, the protagonist -Truman- is unconsciously the star of a world-famous show, witnessed by millions of people. His entire life is staged and nothing he knows, does or even loves is real in any way. The entire city where he lives, his wife, his friends and even the most important events of his life are staged. He doesn't even realize it until he's 29 and things start to go wrong. (ESL) Whenever he questions reality, the crew fights to stop him from asking questions. For example, when he wants to explore the rest of the world, see new places and countries; in the newspaper we read “WHO NEEDS EUROPE?”. When he wants to buy a plane ticket, he is shown posters showing plane crashes. The audience loves the show. They watch it all the time and the show is, in a way, more real than their own lives. They even buy clothes or household items with Truman's photo on them. Unlike the TV shows we have in real life, The Truman Show goes on forever, there are no commercial breaks or gaps between episodes; it's on 24/7. Yet people try to watch as much as possible and even plan and live their lives accordingly. They sleep when Truman sleeps, they cry when Truman cries, they are happy when he is happy, and so on. Even though we are not shown all the details about how they live, we can easily guess that these people are not truly successful in life and spend less time thinking about their own lives than Truman's. Chance in Being there, on the other hand, is directly influenced, rather than being influential. Every single thing he knows about life is from TV, it's his actual reality. He doesn't even think about questioning it, just as we don't question what is presented to us on television. As Peter Finch beautifully stated in the movie “Network,” “Television is not the truth. It's a damn amusement park. (...) But people sit there day after day, night after night and start to think that the subway is the reality.” (Finch) It can easily be seen that Chance and the fans of The Truman Show are just like the people described by Peter Finch. Television isn't real, it simply can't be. However, this tube of invented reality.