culturing myself with movies, a distraction (pt 3)

been a minute, i know. i watched the truman show a few months ago and meant to write about it, but time got away from me. i recently re-watched it to refresh myself and here i am.

i knew of the truman show's status as a sort of 'twilight zone' or 'black mirror'-esque film before i even sat down to watch it, purely because of the cultural impact and staying power it's attained. as such, i saw the twist coming before it was fully revealed, and i'm sure that because of that context, the overall experience was lessened for me in that way. with that in mind, i adored it! the relevant social commentary about parasocial relationships and the incessant human want to look in on other peoples' lives is a running theme throughout and it was refreshing how relevant it still felt to today. i normally don't like jim carrey (i find the over-the-top physical comedy and expressions he does grating), but i loved his performance in this as a naïve child-like adult who's had no exposure to real world struggles, culture or otherwise. it's especially heart wrenching around the midpoint of the movie when it's revealed that truman had fallen for a background actress that wasn't written into the script in a major way, and that he'd never moved on from it. seeing truman piece together the truth made the ending that much more bittersweet realizing that although he's finally free to live as he sees fit, he's ill-prepared for the real world and will never live a normal life because of his fame. i'm unsure of whether the movie wanted the audience to believe that he'd fade into obscurity upon escaping (given it premiered in 1998, before the boom of the internet and the information age), or if the idea was that it was meant to be bittersweet as i described, but i think that recontextualization with our current culture in mind is what makes the truman show stand the test of time. it's a movie that will continue to have relevance now and in the future because it can be re-analyzed with a new viewpoint and new context depending on the time period. 
final rating: 8/10