YMMV / Shattered Glass

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Stephen Glass: desperately insecure kid who makes up his stories because he needs the approval of his peers? Or complete narcissist who only cared about advancing his career and delighted in showing up his colleagues? The Real Life Stephen Glass says it was the former, the Real Life Chuck Lane believes the latter.
• Award Snub: Peter Sarsgaard's inspiring performance as Chuck Lane was unfortunately passed over come Oscar time.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The entire movie and the real-life case it was inspired by become this with the increased presence of fake news and misinformation in the media. There are more and more professionals like Stephen Glass than ever.
  • Glass was ultimately exposed by Forbes Media Tool, later known as Forbes.com. From the 2010s onwards, forbes.com has turned into a content farm with near zero vetting of its "contributors". In other words, the sort of place where someone like Glass would thrive.
• He Really Can Act: This film is the most commonly-cited vindication for Hayden Christensen as a legitimate actor, who received much mockery for his performances as Anakin Skywalker, and proved Life as a House wasn't a fluke.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Co-star Rosario Dawson would join Hayden Christensen in the Galaxy Far, Far Away when she signed on to play Ahsoka Tano (Anakin Skywalker's former student, no less!) in the second season of The Mandalorian. It would become full circle when it was confirmed in October 2021 that Christensen would reprise his role in the upcoming spinoff Ahsoka.
  • Speaking of Hayden Christensen's other role, a Vanity Fair article from 1998 describing the scandal labeled Glass as "the Darth Vader of Detail".
• Values Resonance: This 2003 movie maintains its relevance with the rise of fake news and misinformation, along with how it is a cause and consequence of lack of trust and reliability in journalism. Also, how political biases can- and often do- get in the way of truthful and honest reporting.

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