A society that has such a short attention span and only sees the world through the sound byte is the one shown in the film Being There. Peter Sellers uses this film as a way for us to view our society from a different perspective; the perspective of the simple minded "Chance the gardener". Even thought Peter Sellers was only the actor, he is responsible for translating what could have been a lifeless, dull character into a seemingly clever and deep individual. Chance is a half-witted gardener who has spent his entire life apart from the rest of the world tending the plants of an aging millionaire. After the death of the "old man" and the closing of the house that has been Chance's world, he is forced out into an alien society that he has only viewed from the safety of television. He is so unprepared for this new world he finds himself in that fear is not even a consideration. Through a series of accidents and misunderstandings, Chance eventually finds himself in the centers of power. Presidents and the leaders of industry come to ask him advice thinking that his explanations about gardening are some kind of deep analogy for the economy or politics. By the end of the film the "powerful" are discussing Chance as the next presidential candidate. This film asks us the question: is our society so shallow that a simpleton could be mistaken for a leader? This film is a great statement on the modern world. I do think that we as a society make so many assumptions as to believe anything. In the end Chance wanders off into a forest and we see him "walk on water". Are we being led to believe that he is of so pure as to be Christ like or just lucky to have found an unseen sandbar? The film worked for me up until this point then I find myself being forced into considering some supernatural explanation.