Plato’s Allegory of the Cave as Represented in the Truman Show

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Plato’s Allegory of the Cave as represented in the Truman Show

Plato's allegory of the cave is a timeless and enlightened piece of work. It is a metaphor that discusses human beings and their perception of reality, portraying people as being ignorant beyond any information directly given to them. The allegory meditates upon the natures of both belief and knowledge, providing illumination to how they significantly affect human perception.

Plato's allegory creates a situation where prisoners are chained together in a cave to not look at what is behind them. Behind them is a fire, and in between the prisoners and the fire are objects casting shadows on the side of the wall, which the prisoners are looking at. The only things that the prisoners can see are the objects' shadows, and, thus, they believe them to be real. Plato goes on to create a situation where one of the prisoners is able to break free of his chains. Looking behind, he can see the objects and fire, and, therefore, he comes to the realization that the shadows are not real.

Furthermore, the prisoner escapes from the cave to discover a world that he was previously ignorant of. Initially, he is blinded as his eyes are not accustomed to the brighter light from the sun. However, his eyes soon adapt to sunlight, and he can marvel at the wonders of this new world. To this prisoner, the new world becomes more real than the shadows he saw in the cave. He returns to the cave to tell the chained prisoners of his discovery. However, now that he is accustomed to the bright light from the sun, he cannot see in the darkness of the cave. Seeing this, the chained prisoners consider him blind, and, therefore, they believe that leaving the cave would be harmful. They decide not to leave the cave so as to maintain their sight.

Various movie makers have been able to incorporate Plato's idea into their films. Even though the allegory is centuries old, its core ideas are still relevant today. Moviemakers use the allegory of the cave to portray plots where the main character is in the deep belief of a specified reality. Further down into the movie, a different truth is uncovered that is far different from their initial perception of reality. On being exposed to this new truth, the main character is never the same again.

A movie that gives a clear portrayal of Plato's allegory is The Truman Show. The movie's main character is Truman Burbank, who is unaware that he is living in a false reality. Unknown to him, individuals are filming his life and then broadcasting the footage to millions of households. However, one day a single event happens that forces him to question his entire reality, and, finally, he realizes that he has been living a lie. The event is quite simple, to be honest – on his way out from his house, a light falls from the sky – but he cannot stop thinking about it. The official explanation given through a radio broadcast is that an airplane shed its parts as it was