When we confront our fears in real life they are no longer fears inside our head and we destroy them. However, that is easier said than done! It is usually a lengthy process with fits and starts.
One of the best examples of this is the 1998 movie, The Truman Show.
The amazing thing is that for much of the movie he is along in dealing with his fears. He doesn’t have an advantage of a counselor in the process.
Truman is caught inside a 24 hour-a-day comedy-melodrama in which he is the star. The idyllic island town where he grew up and lives is an immersive stage set enclosed in a giant dome (shown in part at the top of the page) with a ceiling that creates the illusion of a sky. Wind, rain, night, the moon, the stars, even the sun is a high-tech special effect. With some 5000 cameras placed around the city, Truman’s life is followed 24 hours a day, seven days a week — a nonstop telethon of reality programming for a public hungry for pathos and vicarious emotion. All of humanity watches as he goes through the stages of life and finds himself in realistic situations that are actually scripted and improvised, to give the show some of the dramatic density that separates entertainment from mundane life.
There is a god-like director that controls Truman’s televised world. His name is Christof. His name is also significant. He’s more like anti-Christ however, making it impossible for Truman to know the truth and have a normal life.
Truman falls in love in a library (symbol of the knowledge of good and evil). They kiss on the beach with the pounding surf in the background (foreshadowing what lies ahead). She is a bit player on the show and is quickly written out. She is banished from the show. Truman is told she moved away across the sea. Truman is now determined to leave Seahaven -the illusionary human-made Paradise. What is Paradise without Eve? Without love?
Seahaven is surrounded by water. This keeps Truman contained. Noting Truman’s early love of boating, Christof staged a boating accident in which a violent chaotic "storm" swept Truman’s "dad" off to sea. In reality, of course, the storm was generated by technology and the "father" was an actor pretending to die because he had been written out of the script. This created a crisis of fear of the sea in the mind of Truman. The sea = chaos, separation and death.
Eventually, the crew and cast make mistakes that cause the illusion to break down. He begins to understand his world is a fraud. He becomes paranoid, doubting what he sees. He now begins to do what all paranoids do — he worries he is being watched and tries to verify that his fears are well-founded. When he walks into a building not on his normal route, in an effort to see what is inside, he spies a backstage area for the actors beyond what are supposed to be elevator doors
Truman now makes a number of unsuccessful efforts to escape and is returned to his stages home. He pretends to adjust back into his life, then uses the old "dummy covered by a blanket with the snoring tape recorder" trick to steal out in the middle of the night.
Truman in his truth seeking attempts to cross a bridge. He is prevented by some cleverly staged events by Christof. Little does anyone guess that Truman would face his greatest fear and escape in a boat, which he does.
He is knocked out by the storm and lies with his arms outstretched as though he died. The ropes around him form the sign of the cross on his chest, emphasizing his crucified-like body posture. He has confronted his chaos monster. The sea is calm and he comes to. The sun is shining, the darkness is gone. He continues to sail until he unexpectedly crashes into the end of the world (the back wall of the gigantic sound studio in which he lives). He gets out of the boat and walks on the ledge, as if walking on water to a set of stairs leading up into the sky to the very door of heaven, or so it would seem. He conquers his evil.