Max’s Drive-In Movie – The Truman Show

When I saw this 1998 movie I did with trepidation because of Jim Carrey. There is only so much of his comedy I can take at once but this was completely different. He did more of a serious turn in this movie and I must admit he was great. I’m not the world’s biggest Jim Carrey fan at all but this movie is brilliant.

Carey plays Truman Burbank, a man who unknowingly lives his entire life in a meticulously crafted, 24/7 reality TV show, with his every move broadcast to a global audience. I try to find themes in movies and this one explores themes of manipulation, personal freedom, commercialism, and the power of free will that wins out.

This movie was like looking into the future…a bleak near future. The  Kardashians and others followed showed “real life” (heavy sarcasm) and delivered Warhol’s 15-minute fame theory in the worst possible way. To be honest…I’m honestly amazed that this movie’s plot hasn’t been tried.

Truman Burbank lives a seemingly perfect life in Seahaven, a fictional island town somewhere that is mixed between the 1950s and the 1990s. He was unaware that his entire existence was being broadcast to millions around the world. Every person he interacts with, including his wife, best friend, and co-workers, is an actor playing a role. As Truman begins to notice inconsistencies and strange events like a stage light falling from the “sky” and his wife advertising products mid-conversation…he starts to question his reality.

The film builds towards a powerful climax as Truman embarks on a journey of self-discovery and challenges the artificial world he has been confined to, sailing across the set’s ocean (which he is scared of) in search of freedom. Funny, he wanted to see the world but didn’t know the world was watching him being born, his first step, his first kiss, his marriage, and his escape.

This is a SPOILER but the most poignant thing about the movie to me is when he decides to go to the real world and the show ends. All of those people who bought Truman merchandise and tuned in through the years applauded and said hmm… what’s on another channel? They moved on quickly without a thought or care…and hopefully, Truman did the same.

I have so many feelings about this movie. After I watched it for the first time I took a second look in the mirror and the consistent things in my life and thought hmm what if? And you know what? There IS something called The Truman Syndrome… Psychologists later identified a phenomenon called “The Truman Show Delusion” where individuals believe their lives are being staged and broadcast.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

34 thoughts on “Max’s Drive-In Movie – The Truman Show”

    1. I watched it again around a month ago and I forgot how good it was.
      I’ve thought the same to when I was younger…maybe that is why I connected with it…or that I was just dreaming real life….I thought about that also.

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  8. A drive in choice I’d pull in for! I could’ve almost written the same post for once… even though he’s Canadian, on the whole I am not a Jim Carrey fan, I don’t ‘get’ his humor to put it politely… but he was excellent in this one and it was a really entertaining yet thought-provoking film. I remember thinking back then ‘that was fun but SO unrealistic’ then fast forward maybe 5 years and you couldn’t get away from Kardashians-gone-wild and Rednecks-killing-ducks type shows that basically did exactly what the move suggested.

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    1. Yes! It was a a self-fulfilling prophecy of what was to come…although this was a whole lot more entertaining than the Kardashians. I admit after the movie I never shaved the same again lol.

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  10. A thought provoking film for sure. ‘And will today be the day Truman goes off script? Tune in to see what could be the final chapter!’ PS; I have always always always loathed that Krapdashian show.’ Banality at its best. Worst. Whatever.

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    1. Many of those reality shows suck to me. The fact is most have scripts or an idea they push to make it turn out a certain way…it’s everything but reality.

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      1. there are probably scripted sitcoms that are more ‘reality’ and have a greater chance of something being original rather than scripted than most of those shows

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  15. A very good movie from the magnificent Australian director Peter Weir.
    Apart from the psychological ‘Truman Syndrome’, one can also draw many parallels with Nick Bostrom’s ‘Simulation Argument’. That argument continues to floor me.

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