Fan Behavior
October 16, 2023 | Hannah Turner BK ‘23+1
I just rewatched The Truman Show. Jim Carrey plays Truman Burbank, a man whose entire life has been broadcasted as a television show. An enormous dome is built over a town populated by actors…and Truman. He has no clue that he is in this dome starring in this television show. He doesn’t realize he is trapped. He is a character on screen, but no one around him sees the depth of his true self. I began to wonder why this movie was created, and why was it so successful–earning $264 million worldwide? [1] Our undying obsession with reality television came to mind. Yet, the institution of reality television has morphed into more daily accessible mediums: YouTube vlogs, Tik Toks, and Instagram reels. There is a demand for “Day in the Life” and “Morning Routine” videos; we watch people go thrifting, decorate their dorms, and apartment hunt. The rise of social media has broken the monopoly of cable television. With just a cheap smartphone and a stable Internet connection, we create our own show. We put ourselves in a dome where we are the main character and our life is consumed by people across the world. We strive to be like Truman, forgetting that he was trapped.
When we engage in this character creation we are trying to fulfill our desire to be known in a flawed way.
Our lives may not be one big television show, but they are limited. We are all embodied beings–limited in knowledge and by location. Our bodies grow old, get sick, and decay; we can only befriend so many people in one lifetime. But limitedness is a blessing, not a weakness. Our limitedness, instead, helps us to be less overwhelmed and more present. If you saw my Google Calendar was full of overlapping meetings and I told you I was determined to be at all of them, you’d be concerned. What could I possibly contribute?
So, why do we still try to defy this reality in our unending search to be perceived—or on another level, known?
To answer this, Christ followers would look deeper into the question. They would remember that our embodied reality is not just about limitedness. It is about our createdness. The Christian God is the uncaused cause, the only uncreated being. This omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Creator saw value in creating humankind in His image.
Like anything that was created we yearn to be known.
Art is viewed in museums. Music is played on radio stations. Films play in theaters. And humans center art, music, and videos around themselves so that they can be known, too. It is important for us to be seen and known to have an existence outside of ourselves. We were also created to be social. Even God, the uncreated being, is in the community of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Does our image-obsessed, social-media-driven society know us in that deep, metaphysical, supernatural way that the Creator knows His work? The way an artist knows his masterpiece and an author knows his story?
When we misdirect our lives around something that cannot fulfill this inherent desire to be known, we become unsatisfied. This lack of satisfaction will always remain as we are enticed by the reward jealousy promises: becoming the “main character”. We upload images that follow our internal brand guidelines. We wear clothing or makeup to highlight our beauty and hide our flaws. We announce our new jobs and partners and locations like we are debuting a new season of a television show.
But we are not characters in a show.
We are not meant to be constantly acting. When we do act like we are characters in a show we commoditize our lives. We don’t receive monetary gain, but we do get a social reward. I’m not sure if it is conscious, but I think the “doing it all for the ‘gram” narrative has become the posture of our hearts. And so we remain trapped.
Is freedom even possible? Well, Truman was able to find freedom when he discerned what was reality. He had a longing for something more than his routine life in the man-made dome. And so he journeyed, confronting his biggest fears, to get a better grasp on that reality. I have found that reality in our uncreated Creator. He knows us completely–every hair on our heads and every thought in our minds. And He knows and understands the temptation to be trapped, but He became embodied to free us. His embodied life was not a quest for social approval, but He lived it perfectly free from the trap of misdirected fulfillment. Some influencers have more followers than Jesus did in His lifetime, but will they still be significant in 2,000 years?
Like Truman, we can search diligently for reality: life in pursuit of a God who fully knows us. The example of Jesus shows us how to embrace this reality and our need to be known instead of stifling it. It starts with directing our desires around God–the only one who can fulfill them. Our limitedness becomes bountiful. Like the young Virgin Mary, we can cherish the news of God coming into our life and breaking the chains of our limitations in Him. [2]
Our heart posture changes and instead of commoditizing our lives, we can seek to value them.
References:
Luke 2: 18-19