[mav88]

>And then there’s the audience: massive, constant, mistaking exploitation for fandom. As Truman struggles to escape—the island, the show, and the life that has been imposed on him—he commandeers a boat. The producers create a storm. He falls off the vessel, struggling in the water, gasping for breath. He could die, before their eyes. The audience at the Truman Bar is rapt. “I got two to one he doesn’t make it,” someone shouts. “Hey, I want a piece of that!” yells another. The exchange is 25 years old. It hasn’t aged a bit.

This comment completely ignores the ending where is clear that EVERYBODY watching him is happy, nay, ecstatic, that he escaped. It's part of the reason why the ending is so uplifting. It turns out that his fandom across the globe with their How Does It End? t-shirts really were rooting for him all along, just like us in the audience.

[probably_wrong]

I see it differently: while I agree that the audience is on Truman's side, they only care about him as much as they would care about (say) whether Ross and Rachel end up together.

I take the final shot (two guys looking at the now-dead channel and saying "I wonder what else is on") as a sign that the audience will go back to their lives without even questioning what they just saw, with Truman being just another sacrifice in the altar of the TV gods.

[imbnwa]

Or perhaps despite our wish that our existential travail be officially registered somewhere by some big Other, one's life "as a movie", our "walking through that door" is ultimately our own and our own in such a way that won't be registered with some sort of social registration.

[mav88]

Oh I agree. The euphoria doesn't last. People need to get on with their lives. None of us have any personal connection to these people nor could we influence their lives even if we tried. It's TV. Switch off or change the channel.

[Pamar]

Ross and Rachel get together?!

Thanks for totally spoiling it for me :(...

[schwartzworld]

Jeez, wait til you find out who Darth Vader is related to

[dmitrygr]

I disagree, and i think so does the director, due to one very deliberately written line. "So, what else is on?" by the security guards at the end. They did not care about him, they moved on a second after

[bart_spoon]

You can be rooting for him but ultimately indulging in his exploitation all the same. Yeah, people want the happy ending, but they will be fine with a tragic one, so long as they are entertained.