《楚門的世界》20周年
How a Jim Carrey's movie became the most prescient film of the late '90s
金·凱瑞的電影如何成為90年代末最有先見之明的電影
By Zach Schonfeld
作者:扎克·斯科菲爾德
Peter weir keeps his webcam covered with tape these days.
最近,彼得·威爾用膠帶將其網絡攝像頭覆蓋。
He doesn't want anybody watching him.
他不想讓任何人監視他。
Can you blame him?
你能怪他嗎?
Weir, after all, directed The Truman Show,
畢竟,威爾執導了電影《楚門的世界》,
the incisive satire-drama from 1998
這是1998年的一部犀利的諷刺劇,
that seems startlingly prescient today.
在今天看來仍具有不可思議的先見之明。
Back then, the movie drew acclaim for its imaginative storyline and barbed commentary.
當時,這部電影因其富有想象力的故事情節和尖刻的評論而廣受好評。
Two decades later, it resembles a veiled warning,
二十年后,這部電影就像一個含蓄的警告,
both as an astute predictor of reality TV's enormous rise
既是真人秀節目大受歡迎的精確預測者,
and as a cultural forerunner to the age of digital surveillance.
又是數字監控時代的文化先驅。
So profoundly has the film invaded the pop cultural psyche
這部電影侵入流行文化靈魂如此之深,
that there is now a psychiatric delusion named after it.
以至于現在還有一種以它命名的精神病。
The film stars Jim Carrey as the happy-go-lucky insurance salesman Truman Burbank, a man whose every moment,
影明星金·凱瑞在電影中飾演無憂無慮的保險推銷員楚門·伯班克,
unbeknownst to him, has been broadcast on television,
在毫不知情的情況下,他無時不刻出現在電視直播上,
turning his life into a 24-hour reality show.
他的生活被打造成了24小時真人秀。
Millions have watched him grow up, go to school, fall in love, get married, eat, sleep, brush his teeth.
數百萬人看著楚門成長、上學、戀愛、結婚、吃飯、睡覺、刷牙。
Things get interesting when he begins to suspect he is the involuntary star of America's favorite TV series.
當楚門意識到自己在毫不知情的情況下成為美國最受歡迎電視節目里的明星時,事情開始變得有趣起來。
Twenty years ago, Truman's life of constant surveillance seemed like a flight of paranoia.
二十年前,楚門的生活一直受監視似乎是妄想。
After reading the original screenplay by Andrew Niccol,
威爾讀過安德魯·尼科爾的原劇本之后,
Weir thought "it was just wonderfully speculative fiction," the director tells Newsweek.
認為“這只是精彩的投機小說,”這位導演告訴《新聞周刊》。
"My main concern was credibility of it; there wasn't enough precedent."
“我主要關心可信度;根本沒有足夠的先例可參考。”
Some friends told him the plot stretched the limits of believability:
一些朋友告訴他情節已超出可信范圍。
"No one would watch a thing like that," they said.
“沒有人會看這樣的東西,”他們說。
"Who wants to watch reality?"
“誰想看現實?”
Answer: a lot of people.
答案是:很多人。
Reality TV wasn't entirely new in 1998.
1998年,真人秀已經算不得什么新鮮事物。
The first such show, Candid Camera, came on in 1948,
1948年,第一部真人秀《坦率的攝影機》開播,
and MTV's Real World began in 1992.
1992年,美國音樂電視網MTV的真人秀《真實世界》開播。
But it wasn't until the American Survivor debuted in 2000 that the genre became a mainstream obsession
但是直到2000年《幸存者》首次亮相,真人秀節目才火爆起來,成為主流
(the season finale drew more than 50 million viewers).
(《幸存者》最后一集收視人數達5000萬)。
For the next decade, reality TV would dominate prime-time television,
接下來的十年里,真人秀節目占據了電視的黃金時段,
giving one star, Donald Trump, a springboard to the White House.
并成為一位真人秀明星——唐納德·特朗普通往白宮的跳板。
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