`TRUMAN SHOW' BARES INSULAR NATURE OF OUR CULTURE.

Byline: Arno Keks LOCAL VIEW

AMERICAN culture. Is there such a thing? It certainly isn't a term that's frequently in use. People don't often talk about immersing themselves in American culture. If anything, it's the American Dream that's referred to more regularly. So maybe it's in pursuing the American Dream that American culture unfolds.

There's a moment in ``The Truman Show'' that has the American Dream written all over it. It's a shot looking up at Truman with his gorgeous white home towering above him in the background. Here's someone who has achieved the American Dream, the image announces boldly. Here's someone who knows happiness.

The uniqueness of ``The Truman Show'' lies in its determination to get to the bottom of that image. Most movies would use a similar image to hook viewers into watching mindless entertainment, whereas ``The Truman Show'' devotes itself to undressing it. What kind of culture, if any, has produced this radiant picture of confidence and fulfillment? Is there any truth at all to such a seductive piece of propaganda? These are questions ``The Truman Show'' dares to ask, and then doesn't shy away from answering them.

The first clue appears in a front-page headline on a newspaper that someone else is holding while Truman buys a magazine. ``Who needs Europe?'' the headline practically smirks. It's a question that sums up the whole movie. Who needs the outside world?

In that sense, releasing ``The Truman Show'' to coincide with the start of the World Cup, whether accidental or planned, couldn't have been better timing. For the world indeed is congregating at this time in Europe - France, to be exact - to celebrate the biggest event on the planet, and the attitude in this country is, as it always has been, ``Who needs Europe?''

The brilliance of ``The Truman Show'' is that it doesn't stop here. Not only does it expose this mentality, it delves into the makings of its existence. In order to have a culture in which people are complacently indifferent to the world at large, those same people must be convinced that they already inhabit the world at large. Central to the brainwashing of Truman is a television show that convinces him that anything of value in the world can be found in his own back yard. It's his favorite show.

So, if American culture can't appreciate a truly international event like the World Cup, all it has to do is invent a counterfeit one like the World Series. It doesn't matter that it's a purely domestic contest. If people are told enough times that it's a world event, they'll buy it.

The disturbing part of ``The Truman Show'' is that it forces people to ask themselves how confining their own perimeters are. Are they really thinking for themselves, or are they simply living out a charade that's been cooked up in someone else's imagination? This could lead to an almost tragic realization if it were Truman himself who is leading the artificial life. But it's not Truman. It's everyone else who knows better.

Truman still harbors a very real passion to visit Fiji someday. Everyone else is trapped by their own sorry contentment. Truman's wife admits that there's no real separation between her private and public lives. ``The Truman Show'' is her lifestyle, period. Why would she want to leave such a good thing anyway? The economy is booming on ``The Truman Show.'' The ratings are excellent. Truth is overrated.

Sound familiar?