# Could a thing like the Truman Show ever exsist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 14, 2001, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-thing-like-the-truman-show-ever-exsist/68818 "2001-06-14T16:03:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NHL7890](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c4cdca/32.png) [@NHL7890](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NHL7890)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2001, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-thing-like-the-truman-show-ever-exsist/68818/1 "2001-06-14T16:03:14Z")
Hey, I was watching that movie “Truman Show” the other day and it got me thinking. Would it be possible to have such a thing like they did. Not telling him he was on camera and having him aired on television for his whole life. Wouldn’t it violate his rights as an American citizen? Thanks -NHL ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2001, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-thing-like-the-truman-show-ever-exsist/68818/2 "2001-06-14T17:05:36Z")
Christof and I were discussing this last night and we decided to cut off our subject’s access to the SMDB for this purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2001, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-thing-like-the-truman-show-ever-exsist/68818/3 "2001-06-14T17:46:00Z")
Nope. All the cameras…stuck in a giant arena… You are still the victim of losses of privacy and losses of liberty, even when you don’t realize these rights are been taken from you. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2001, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-thing-like-the-truman-show-ever-exsist/68818/4 "2001-06-14T20:07:51Z")
The rights of privacy and liberty afforded to U.S. citizens are rights that protect you from the government. If you recall, Truman was adopted by the corporation as an infant. From a legal standpoint (at least from the movie’s point of view) he was its legal ward as a child, and he no more had lost his “rights” than a baby being photographed by his/her parents. Once Truman reached adulthood he could have made a good case for kidnapping or wrongful imprisonment against Christof, once he discovered what was happening. However, you recall that once he found the door, Christof told him he was free to leave. If you’d rather explore this in a real-world context, would anyone like to take a stab at B.F. Skinner locking his daughter in a crate as a psychological experiment? ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2001, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-thing-like-the-truman-show-ever-exsist/68818/5 "2001-06-15T01:20:32Z")
I doubt it would be allowed. You couldn’t do something like that to a baby purely for entertainment purposes, and as a social/psychological experiment, it would be highly unethical. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2001, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-thing-like-the-truman-show-ever-exsist/68818/6 "2001-06-15T05:00:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kunilou \* > \*\*If you’d rather explore this in a real-world context, would anyone like to take a stab at B.F. Skinner locking his daughter in a crate as a psychological experiment? \*\* [http://www.snopes2.com/spoons/fracture/skinner.htm](http://www.snopes2.com/spoons/fracture/skinner.htm) ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2001, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-thing-like-the-truman-show-ever-exsist/68818/7 "2001-06-15T09:57:05Z")
> [@](#): > > I doubt it would be allowed. You couldn’t do something like that to a baby purely for entertainment purposes, and as a social/psychological experiment, it would be highly unethical. Yes, but Hollywood would love it, and everyone knows that Hollywood reigns supreme. I think one of the unvoiced points of the movie is that if people are entertained by something, no matter how horrible it may be, they’ll allow it. ---
**Author:** ![Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c67d28/32.png) [@Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weird_AL_Einstein)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2001, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-thing-like-the-truman-show-ever-exsist/68818/8 "2001-06-15T13:33:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > I doubt it would be allowed. > > \ > > Yes, but Hollywood would love it, and everyone knows that Hollywood reigns supreme. > \*\* As John McLaughlin would say, **WRONG**! In America at least, if anyone reigns supreme, it’s the _trial lawyers_. Any large corporation trying to do what that one did in the _Truman Show_ would be sued into oblivion.