Plato Allegory of the Cave
Compare the film ‘the matrix’ with Plato’s allegory of the cave.
The Allegory of the Cave is one of Greek philosopher Plato’s most well known works. It is an extended allegory, where humans are depicted as being imprisoned by their bodies and what they perceive by sight only. In the allegory of the cave Plato wanted to show how true reality is not always what it seems. A group of prisoners were chained up in a cave since there childhood, each prisoner was chained to each other by their heads.The prisoners were forced to face a blank wall while they were in the cave. Behind the prisoners there was a fire however the prisoners could not see the fire but between the prisoners and the fire there would a be puppet show where people would walk, talk and carry objects to keep the prisoners amused. The prisoners perceive only shadows of the people and things passing on the walkway; the prisoners hear echoes of the talk coming from the shadows. They perceive the shadows and echoes as reality.
Whilst in the cave one prisoner is set free. He stands up and turns around and is forced to look at the fire, after the pain in his eyes from the fire he struggles to see anything. The prisoner is dragged out of the cave and into the world above. At first, the prisoner is so dazzled by the light that he can only look at shadows, then at reflections, then finally at the real objects like trees, flowers and houses. He sees that these are even more real than the shadows were, and that those were only copies of reality. The prisoner has now reached the cognitive stage of thought. He has caught his first glimpse of the most real thing, which is the Forms.
In the film The Matrix, the humans trapped in the Matrix are like the people in the cave. They see only what the machines want them to see, but they believe they see reality as it really is. They accept what their senses tell them all that exists. Neo suspects that this is all a lie, but he’s not sure how the Matrix works.
The Allegory of the Cave is one of Greek philosopher Plato’s most well known works. It is an extended allegory, where humans are depicted as being imprisoned by their bodies and what they perceive by sight only. In the allegory of the cave Plato wanted to show how true reality is not always what it seems. A group of prisoners were chained up in a cave since there childhood, each prisoner was chained to each other by their heads.The prisoners were forced to face a blank wall while they were in the cave. Behind the prisoners there was a fire however the prisoners could not see the fire but between the prisoners and the fire there would a be puppet show where people would walk, talk and carry objects to keep the prisoners amused. The prisoners perceive only shadows of the people and things passing on the walkway; the prisoners hear echoes of the talk coming from the shadows. They perceive the shadows and echoes as reality.
Whilst in the cave one prisoner is set free. He stands up and turns around and is forced to look at the fire, after the pain in his eyes from the fire he struggles to see anything. The prisoner is dragged out of the cave and into the world above. At first, the prisoner is so dazzled by the light that he can only look at shadows, then at reflections, then finally at the real objects like trees, flowers and houses. He sees that these are even more real than the shadows were, and that those were only copies of reality. The prisoner has now reached the cognitive stage of thought. He has caught his first glimpse of the most real thing, which is the Forms.
In the film The Matrix, the humans trapped in the Matrix are like the people in the cave. They see only what the machines want them to see, but they believe they see reality as it really is. They accept what their senses tell them all that exists. Neo suspects that this is all a lie, but he’s not sure how the Matrix works.