The ‘Truman’ Agenda

My film short, “Peter,” in which an unknowing businessman is manipulated by a documentary filmmaker and his actors, was cited in 1993 by The Times. It was not as slick as “The Truman Show,” but it did deal with issues that “Truman” ignored.

Privacy and media manipulation, which are at the heart of Paul Brownfield’s article (“Are We ‘Truman’?,” June 16), are not really in “The Truman Show.” At the core of “Truman” is the classic Hollywood theme of a man struggling against society. The issues that arise in the depiction of that struggle are barely discussed. If they were, it would have been a very different film, more interesting and less popular.

JOHN SPARANO

Valley Village