新闻周刊:《楚门的世界》20周年:未卜先知掀真人秀浪潮(1)（在线收听）

The Truman Show at 20

《楚门的世界》20周年

How a Jim Carrey's movie became the most prescient film of the late '90s

金·凯瑞的电影如何成为90年代末最有先见之明的电影

By Zach Schonfeld

作者：扎克·斯科菲尔德

Peter weir keeps his webcam covered with tape these days.

最近，彼得·威尔用胶带将其网络摄像头覆盖。

He doesn't want anybody watching him.

他不想让任何人监视他。

Can you blame him?

你能怪他吗？

Weir, after all, directed The Truman Show,

毕竟，威尔执导了电影《楚门的世界》，

the incisive satire-drama from 1998

这是1998年的一部犀利的讽刺剧，

that seems startlingly prescient today.

在今天看来仍具有不可思议的先见之明。

Back then, the movie drew acclaim for its imaginative storyline and barbed commentary.

当时，这部电影因其富有想象力的故事情节和尖刻的评论而广受好评。

Two decades later, it resembles a veiled warning,

二十年后，这部电影就像一个含蓄的警告，

both as an astute predictor of reality TV's enormous rise

既是真人秀节目大受欢迎的精确预测者，

and as a cultural forerunner to the age of digital surveillance.

又是数字监控时代的文化先驱。

So profoundly has the film invaded the pop cultural psyche

这部电影侵入流行文化灵魂如此之深，

that there is now a psychiatric delusion named after it.

以至于现在还有一种以它命名的精神病。

The film stars Jim Carrey as the happy-go-lucky insurance salesman Truman Burbank, a man whose every moment,

影明星金·凯瑞在电影中饰演无忧无虑的保险推销员楚门·伯班克，

unbeknownst to him, has been broadcast on television,

在毫不知情的情况下，他无时不刻出现在电视直播上，

turning his life into a 24-hour reality show.

他的生活被打造成了24小时真人秀。

Millions have watched him grow up, go to school, fall in love, get married, eat, sleep, brush his teeth.

数百万人看着楚门成长、上学、恋爱、结婚、吃饭、睡觉、刷牙。

Things get interesting when he begins to suspect he is the involuntary star of America's favorite TV series.

当楚门意识到自己在毫不知情的情况下成为美国最受欢迎电视节目里的明星时，事情开始变得有趣起来。

Twenty years ago, Truman's life of constant surveillance seemed like a flight of paranoia.

二十年前，楚门的生活一直受监视似乎是妄想。

After reading the original screenplay by Andrew Niccol,

威尔读过安德鲁·尼科尔的原剧本之后，

Weir thought "it was just wonderfully speculative fiction," the director tells Newsweek.

认为“这只是精彩的投机小说，”这位导演告诉《新闻周刊》。

"My main concern was credibility of it; there wasn't enough precedent."

“我主要关心可信度；根本没有足够的先例可参考。”

Some friends told him the plot stretched the limits of believability:

一些朋友告诉他情节已超出可信范围。

"No one would watch a thing like that," they said.

“没有人会看这样的东西，”他们说。

"Who wants to watch reality?"

“谁想看现实？”

Answer: a lot of people.

答案是：很多人。

Reality TV wasn't entirely new in 1998.

1998年，真人秀已经算不得什么新鲜事物。

The first such show, Candid Camera, came on in 1948,

1948年，第一部真人秀《坦率的摄影机》开播，

and MTV's Real World began in 1992.

1992年，美国音乐电视网MTV的真人秀《真实世界》开播。

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，真人秀节目才火爆起来，成为主流

(the season finale drew more than 50 million viewers).

（《幸存者》最后一集收视人数达5000万）。

For the next decade, reality TV would dominate prime-time television,

接下来的十年里，真人秀节目占据了电视的黄金时段，

giving one star, Donald Trump, a springboard to the White House.

并成为一位真人秀明星——唐纳德·特朗普通往白宫的跳板。