Ray Richmond: Lessons from ‘The Truman Show,’ 25 years later

Ray Richmond
·7 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

I remember going to the movie theater in 1998 to see “The Truman Show” for the first time and being blown away. It was the scariest non-horror film I’d ever seen up to that point (and maybe still), showing us a world of utter consumerism and commodification and its horrific impact on a man who didn’t know he was born to literally be a reality show. It seemed inconceivable that something like what happens to Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) could really occur. This was, after all, the era before we started carrying around smartphones and mini computers in our pocket, before anything called Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and years before even MySpace came into being – and before we were all deputized as amateur filmmakers thanks to the still camera and video we keep with us and use to publish sometimes hourly.

Twenty-five years after its release in the summer of ’98, “The Truman Show” feels less like outrageous fantasy and more like prophetic masterpiece. Having just watched again this week, it’s clear to me just how much writer Andrew Niccol and director Peter Weir got right. In hindsight, their Oscar nominations weren’t just justified; it’s criminal that they lost. That said, it’s tough to quibble with who they lost to. In 1999, Steven Spielberg won the director prize for “Saving Private Ryan” – a no-brainer if ever there was one – and Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard the original screen trophy for “Shakespeare in Love.” But “Truman’s” brilliance has only become clearer a quarter-century on.

More from GoldDerby

SEE‘The Truman Show’ 25th anniversary: A ‘bracingly intelligent’ film that was ‘more than just entertainment’

For those unaware of the premise, it stars Carrey as Truman, a man who is completely unaware that his entire life is a reality TV show for everyone around the world to see. Legally adopted by a TV corporation at birth, he grows up in a town (Seahaven Island) that is in fact a giant television soundstage surrounded by 5,000 tiny cameras. His life is an elaborately wrought fiction seen around the world by millions, uninterrupted, 24 hours a day, presided over by a Svengali-like creator in the reclusive and devilish Christof (an Oscar-nominated performance from Ed Harris). Unknown to Truman, everyone in his life is an actor, from his wife Meryl (Laura Linney) to his best pal Marlon (Noah Emmerich) to his “mother” (Holland Taylor).

“Truman Show” was a hit with audiences and critics when it came out, earning $125 million in the United States and $264 million worldwide in its box office run. And it has lost not an ounce of its relevancy or potency. If the 5,000-camera gambit seemed outrageously excessive in ’98, we’re now an entire world of camera-toting citizens and every one of us is poised to be recorded and posted at any time, contingent on who we are and what we do. While Truman Burbank is trapped on an island (and inside a TV show) and is kept psychologically imprisoned by the constant reinforcement of his being death fearful of the water that surrounds the island – a brilliant conceit – the rest of us are locked in an age of relentless self-glorification and instant gratification.

It slowly dawns on Truman that something isn’t quite right, that there really is a conspiracy afoot in the increasingly weird events surrounding him. This includes a brief but intense stolen kiss moment with Lauren (Natascha McElhone), with whom he isn’t supposed to interact. She’s only a background player in the show, se, so her inserting herself in Truman’s life – however briefly – screws with the narrative. But that doesn’t stop the oblivious Truman from pining after her, and he doesn’t get why she disappeared (dragged away by her “father”) as quickly as she appeared.

Ingenious touches like this enliven this Owellian work of artistic excellence. It’s gripping, it’s funny, it’s smart, it’s frightening, it’s insightful, it’s gripping and, more than anything, it’s prescient. Oh my God, is it prescient. No, there’s no one that I know if who is specifically centering a reality show without their knowledge, but…well, wait a minute, actually… Remember the Amazon Freevee genre-flipping reality series “Jury Duty” earlier this year in which a regular guy signs up for what he thinks is a documentary about the inner-workings of the jury system and instead winds up centering a sitcom that everyone is in on but him? When you think about it, the real-life Ronald Gladden of “Jury Duty” is a lot like the ficttitious Truman Burbank. Neither had any idea they were the stars of their own show.

Now, one can certainly make the point that the “Jury Duty” producers bent over backward to make sure Gladden wasn’t humiliated and was in fact played up as the hero of the piece. And Gladden’s journey into unknowing stardom lasted just a few weeks before the curtain was pulled back to reveal the gambit. Yet there’s no denying the formats had genuine similarities.

“Truman Show” couldn’t know of the reality boom soon to come, announcing itself just two years later with the premieres of “Survivor” and “Big Brother” in the summer of 2000. Whatever purity those formats possessed would soon be undone by crass profit motives and the drive to entertain rather than enlighten. It’s not appreciably different from what goes down in “Truman Show” with every manipulation of poor Truman, driving our increasing outrage. It all takes on a sinister quality and seemed extreme at the time but would feel more like business as usual today.

The movie may not have been intended to be a warning, but – like the masterwork “Network” in 1976 – certainly plays that way today. What’s ever-apparent today in the world today is that taste and restraint have plummeted, to the point where much of what is supposed to be “reality” plays more like satire. There is less today of the carefully fabricated cheerfulness that we see emerging from and targeted to Truman, but the message is really the same: Truman doesn’t need to leave home to live a fulfilled life, and neither do you. Stay home and watch reality shows and your existence will be complete. That’s how ratings juggernauts are born.

In the film’s harrowing utopia, everything is done to ratchet up the comedy or drama and peddle merchandise. Product placement is at the heart of “Truman Show,” and it’s amusing to think that the filmmakers capitalized on that to make extra money as well. Irony piles atop irony. But the primary difference in today’s reality crop is that the participants are all eager to be a part of it, unlike poor Truman. They enthusiastically submit themselves to “90 Day Fiance” and “Love After Lockup” and “Too Hot to Handle” and “Married at First Sight” and “The Kardashians.”

My friend Erik, a longtime successful reality producer, has taken to lecture me when I express disbelief at his ability to attract contestants for his shows. “Don’t you get it? That’s the easiest part. The camera is the greatest lure ever created.” I finally believe him, but it’s still mind-boggling. As for “The Truman Show,” it was wise enough to see all of this coming and put it all into context. It turns out we’re all voyeurs just like the worldwide audience in the film, and we can’t get enough. But it isn’t something we ought to be proud of.

PREDICT the 2024 Oscar nominationsMake your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?

Best of GoldDerby

Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.