LWLies Presents

The Truman Show and The Rise of Unreality TV

Words by Leigh Singer

Double exposure image of a person wearing a police cap, surrounded by a collage of small photographs against a blurred cityscape background.
Double exposure image of a person wearing a police cap, surrounded by a collage of small photographs against a blurred cityscape background.
A new video essay offers an insightful reappraisal of Peter Weir’s eerily prophetic media satire.

When The Truman Show was released in June, 1998, it seemed a work of satirical science-fiction. Today, it’s more a cautionary tale, a sign of our media-saturated times. But to what extent was Peter Weir’s film prescient in its depiction of mass surveillance, reality television and the erosion of the gap between public and private life?

In this new video essay, Leigh Singer offers an insightful reappraisal of one of the definitive films of the 1990s, exploring many of the searching questions raised by this story of a man (played by a career-best Jim Carrey) who discovers his entire life is being lived out as a television show.

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