The Truman Show

Details: Year – 1998; Running time – 103 minutes

 

Characters:

Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey):He is the main character of the movie. He is the star of a reality TV show run by Christof. His whole life happens in the studio. Every moment of his life has been recorded and broadcast to the audience.

Hannah Gill acting as Meryl Burbank (Laura Linney):She is Truman’s wife. Their relationship was planned and executed by the producers. Truman believes that Meryl doesn’t really love him.

Marlon (Noah Emmerich):He is supposed to be Truman’s best friend. When they are talking to one another, he tries to convince Truman that he should never leave the small town he lives in.

Sylvia acting as Lauren (Natascha McElhone):She is the one person who tried to tell Truman the truth. She fell in love with Truman and when she tried to tell him the truth, she was taken off the show.

Christof (Ed Harris):Christof created the Truman show.

Summary: Truman Burbank is stuck in his own TV show. He doesn’t know it, but his entire life has been broadcast on television. His relationships, work, and daily routine have been dictated by the show’s producers. He has never been able to establish his own “normal” life. The one person who tried to tell the truth was taken off of the show and Truman has been wanting to chase after her to Fiji ever since. The movie follows the path he takes to discover and escape his reality TV show life.

Things to remember

·      Product placement is what TV stations do to raise money. They place pictures of products or have characters speak about products to advertise and raise money for the shows.

·      A doppelganger is someone who looks exactly like another person. (sort of like twins, but they do not have to be related)

Hello friends! I just wanted to let you know that the movie club with start at the library at 4:30 PM tomorrow. Please come. We will be watching Remember the Titans. I just posted the study guide in case you are interested in reading about the movie beforehand. I hope to see you there. 

Remember the Titans

Characters:

Herman Boone (Denzel Washington): He is the head coach of the Titans. He was a coach in North Carolina but was passed over for a promotion because of his color. At first he does not want to take Yoast’s place as head coach but as he steps into the role, he realizes that his job is more than about just football.

Bill Yoast (Will Patton): He was the head coach of the TC Williams High School football team, but when the school board decided to integrate, he was pushed aside for Coach Boone to become the head coach. He was upset for most of the season and didn’t question bad referees or bad fans because he was waiting to be the leader of the team again.

Gerry Bertier (Ryan Hurst): He’s the captain of the “white” players. He dislikes Campbell at the beginning of the movie because he is scared. After he gets in a car accident which paralyzes him, he admits to Campbell (who is now his best friend) that he was hating the guy who would become his brother.

Big Julius Campbell (Wood Harris): He’s the leader of the “colored” players. At first he dislikes Bertier but the two were forced to be roommates and by the end of training camp, the two guys become best friends, like brothers.

Sheryl Yoast (Hayden Panettiere): She is Coach Yoast’s daughter. She’s a total tomboy and wants her father to get into the Virginia Football Hall of Fame more than anything. She does not like Coach Boone’s daughter because she is too “girly” but by the championship game, she at least has become used to the other girl.

Summary:

It’s 1971 in Alexandria, Virginia. The public schools are beginning to integrate and one of the school board’s decisions is to put a black coach in charge of the football team at TC Williams High School. Both black and white players and coaches are not excited about the idea. Coach Herman Boone steps into the head coach position and brings the team together to fight for racial integration, friendship, and a state championship title.

Big issues/themes of the movie:

·      Racial integration in 1970s America

·      Rioting – a problem at schools that were integrating during the 1960s and 1970s in America

Movie Summary:

Chris Gardner is a salesman struggling to pay the rent and his taxes. His girlfriend, Linda, leaves him and he is left to take care of their son, Christopher. Gardner is determined to survive and make his life better and lands an internship in a competitive stockbroker training program. The movie takes us through struggles of homelessness, single parenting, and making the rent in a fantastic story of a man’s quest to realize his American dream.

List of Characters:

·      Chris Gardner (Will Smith) – The film is about this character. He was in the Navy for a while. He has no higher education but was the top of his high school graduating class. He wants to become a stockbroker to have a better life, and he works through many difficulties to achieve that goal.

·      Christopher (Jaden Smith) – He is Gardner’s son. He goes to daycare, likes basketball, and goes with his father on many of his sales calls.

·      Linda (Thandie Newton) – Gardner’s girlfriend. Christopher’s mother. She leaves to New York when she gets fed up with their unstable living and economical situation in San Francisco, leaving Gardner alone to care for their son.

Setting:

The movie is set in San Francisco in 1981. Ronald Reagan was president of the United States at this time and America in an economic recession similar to the one they have been experiencing in the past three years.

Vocabulary:

·      Rubik’s Cube – The square cube toy that was very popular in the 1980s.

·      Filing an extension – This a term we use regarding our taxes. We fill out the paperwork to ask the government for more time to pay the money we owe in taxes.

·      IRS (Internal Revenue Service) – The organization that is responsible for collecting taxes from US citizens and workers.

·      Single parent – When one person is responsible for raising his/her child, that person is a single parent.

·      Homeless shelter – Homeless shelters are free places for people to sleep in America. They are often part of a religious organization and are most often located in big cities in America.

·      Social services – This is a government organization that takes care of family members. If a child is abused or not being taken care of properly, social services will often step in and remove the child from the living situation and place the child in a temporary home.

·      Cold calling – This is a sales term. It means the caller must make a telephone call to a person he or she does not already know and try to get the sale.

Key Issues & Themes:

·      Single parenting

·      Homelessness in America

·      Unemployment

·      “Making” the rent

·      Following your dreams

·      “The American Dream”

Questions to Consider:

·      If you were in Gardner’s situation, what would you do?

·      This story is relevant today in America because we are recovering from a recession. Are there such cases in Ukraine?

·      Does this story fit in with your current opinions and ideas about America and/or Americans? Why? Why not?