In Which We Accept the Reality of the World We Are Presented
Throughout this series we have come across movies about social alienation, the feeling of no control, angst at the post Cold War world order, and fear over how advancing technology has superseded our understanding of what is “real.” The success and quality of these films has been variable, ranging from trash to masterpiece, but they all struggled with the issues at hand in a fairly serious manner (with the possible exceptions of Mallrats and You’ve Got Mail). What makes The Truman Show special is that it grapples with all these themes in the framework of a lighthearted, family-friendly comedy. All of the concerns of Borges, Baudrillard, and Eco presented through the goofy grin of Jim Carrey.
So a quick recap of The Truman Show to orient ourselves. At some point in the near future (or alternative present) showrunner Christof (Ed Harris) decides to make a program that follows somebody’s life without them knowing they’re on TV. That somebody is Truman (Carrey) and he live an existence of contented idyll until a sense of wanderlust and discovery of inconsistencies in his life force him to reckon with the world he lives in. This means confronting the fake death of his fake father, falling out with his fake wife Meryl (Laura Linney), and the distrust of his fake friend Marlon (Noah Emmerich). All of this comes to a head when Truman decides to break free, overcoming the objections of Christof and entering the real world.
The accomplishment of The Truman Show comes from screenwriter Andrew Niccol and director Peter Weir’s understanding that the narrative becomes more poignant and affecting if you present it cleanly, quickly, and with care. The actual mechanics of the plot kick in during the first five minutes (when Truman discovers the stage light that fell from the sky) and never really relent from that moment. The story bounces from comedy to philosophy without ever breaking the tone of the piece, and even in the most outlandish moments Weir keeps things tamped down and human, always placing empathy with the people involved with the situation.
In this swirl of absurd slapstick and astute philosophy Carrey emerges as the perfect wounded heart lead for the both the movie and the show inside the movie. He’s both an actor in real life, and a character in the movie, who loves to put on a show: to gesticulate wildly and broadly present their emotions to the audience both seen (us in the real world) and unseen (the watchers in the movie). He still has all the affectations of Carrey’s star making performances of the 90’s, the rubbery face, funny voices, and exacting body movements, but couched in a new context that reorients the viewers to not just laugh at his antics but to feel actual pathos as well. Carrey is not diverting from what makes him a popular and successful actor, he’s shading in those elements with darker and more emotional tones.
The use of Carrey shows how smartly Weir controls his world to make this story work at the right tonal pitch. Lean too far into the comedy and it undercuts the pathos, back the emotional undercurrent too strongly and it might sink what is a briskly made movie. This consideration is lended to every frame of the film, never delving to deep into outright stylization or formalism, but always cueing the viewer in on the emotional tenor of the scene.
Notice when the camera acts like a diegetic camera, or a non-diegetic one, and how that emphasizes the falsity of the life size set. Or the humorous bit of zooming in the camera always does when a product placement is happening. Or how stagey the world feels without tipping over into overly obvious artificiality. This is a world that needs to be believable for one person, and Weir treats that aspect of the story with consideration. Weir lets the cascading revelations in Truman’s life further highlight the grotesque nature of what’s happening instead of pushing it on to the audience.
This careful, but breezy, craft is also put to good effect when dealing with the deeper and more resonant thematic material. The Truman Show casually blows through a whole swath of cultural thinking and philosophy without letting any single subject weigh it down. There are the ideas of post Cold War cultural hegemony in the United State: Seahaven as the idealized version of a 90s small town, free of outside threat but skeptical of the larger global world. There’s ideas about what constitutes “real” emotional entertainment, how the hiding of performance is the only way to get an honest reaction. The blurring of the public and private life becomes a main topic of debate and serves as on the film’s most lasting influences. In our contemporary society it’s hard not to see social media and live streaming as an extension of the world postulated here. A place where performative and mundane “reality” trumps the normal spectacle of big entertainment (the limits of this are arguable as Endgame tromps to the top of the box office list).
But in classical Millennial Malaise fashion it’s the concept of the manufactured reality that rings the most true. Christof wants to make a world more real and human than reality, to create an existence that will lay bare all of the emotions of life for the world to experience together. He wishes to be God and make the greatest story ever told. But like all creations, Truman rebels against his creator, because humanity cannot merely exist in a hermetic world, it has to have the opportunity to express itself beyond the bounds of prescribed reality. To push up against what’s possible and expected.
These ideas all culminate in one of the all time great scenes as Truman prepares to leave and Christof begs him to stay within the studio (a moment that weirdly presage both the steak sequence in The Matrix, and The Architect moment in The Matrix: Reloaded). Where a creator has to contend fully with what humanity is and what it can do. How in this moment of departure Christof has accomplished his task well beyond his wildest expectations. In this moment, with no script, no actors, and no preparation we have achieved emotional fulfillment and transcendence. Truman has become the representative of his name, finally a true man exiting the world of fantasy into the world of reality. It might not be better on the other side, but actual opportunity and possibility await. It’s important that Christof here does not come off as the villain, but instead a hurt creator grappling with his creation. This is what he wanted, a moment so true that it could never be pre-planned, but it will cost him everything that he has created. It will cost Truman his whole life as well, and in that moment both men realize that it is best to move on and let go, nothing can surpass this.
And so The Truman Show stands apart and directly in the time it was made. Carrey at the height of his popularity making a fun postmodern exercise that both predicts the future and spoke to the present. But it’s all so elegantly presented, the cogs never creak, and the impossible world never breaks. Because we, like the audience watching in the movie, need to see Truman transcend.
Odds and Ends
- Here’s the final scene in all of its glory.
- The one sour note at the end is the final shot of the two security guards changing the channel, it feels a touch too glib after the previously overwhelming emotional experience.
- Special shout outs to Emmerich and Linney who play hard to nail characters with an incredible amount of subtext. Is Marlon actually Truman’s friend, or merely a good actor? It’s hard to say, but whatever the answer the emotion is real.
- Weir is one of the the underrated filmmakers of the last forty years with a list of classics and greats under his belt (Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave, Gallipoli, Witness, Fearless, Dead Poets Society, and Master and Commander).
- Between this and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Carrey proved himself a true talent at getting emotional depth out of his usual acting tics, it’s too bad he doesn’t return to that pool more often.
As always, twitter, letterboxd, and I Chews You (the podcast about cooking and eating Pokemon).
Once again I’m up for a suggestion about next week’s movie. That went well last time, so have at it.