Preview

The Truman Show: Plato, Allegory Of The Cave

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
714 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Truman Show: Plato, Allegory Of The Cave
For this event paper, I decided to see a movie on the bottom floor of the J Standish Library at Siena College. I saw The Truman Show starring Jim Carrey who played Truman Burbank. The Truman Show is about a television show that has recorded the life of Truman ever since he was born. The television show is a worldwide phenomenon, the only catch is Truman does not know his whole life has been recorded. Every person in his life is an actor, and the producer of the show determines the fate of his life, from his marriage to Meryl to the faked death of his “father”. The life of Truman Burbank connects to the theme Voice and the story Plato, Allegory of the Cave because, in the end after discovering the truth of his life, Truman leaves the set and starts a new life in the real world on his own. I liked this event because it allowed me to get involved on …show more content…
In the cave lives chained prisoners who can not move or escape from where they stand. They do not know of the “real world” that exists outside of the cave because a wall separates these two worlds. Since the prisoners have never been set free they do not know the truth about “real life”. The prisoners in this story represents Truman Burbank because, all of his life he has been trapped inside of this “cave”. Since Truman has never discovered the truth about his fake, televised life, he does not know what the real world has to offer. In Plato, Allegory of the Cave, one of the prisoners finally has the chance to leave the cave and explore the real world. Once he does this, he realizes the life he has been living inside the cave is not realistic and he refuses to go back in the cave. This also connects to the situation Truman is put in because once Truman realizes the life he has been living is fake, he escapes to the real world. He leaves the “cave” he spent most of his life in to move on, challenge himself and enter a new

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The Allegory of the Cave is about a group of people who have lived in a cave since their childhood. These people not only live in this cave, but they are also chained and made to face a blank wall. Even their heads are shackled such that they cannot look behind them or at the sides. On the blank wall in front of them, a fire that is behind them projects shadows of objects that are passing behind them. When one of them is released to the outside world, the people who remain in the cave do not believe the version of the story concerning the reality of the shadows they have spent the whole of their lives watching and analyzing.…

    • 1275 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Peter Weir’s film ‘The Truman Show’ is about a corporation that has imprisoned Truman Burbank into an artificial world for the entertainment of an audience watching him on a television show. Even though Truman’s world of Seahaven is full of actors and artificial relationships, authenticity manages to creep into his life. These relationships range from people who barely feel a relation to Truman as a product such as Christof and the audience. Additionally there a people who feel a real connection to Truman such as Sylvia, this is made visible as the effects of her removal.…

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In studying all of the symbolism included, it becomes apparent that the Allegory of the Cave is a representation of the philosopher’s place in society, and the other prisoners reaction to the escaped prisoner returning is representing the reaction people have of philosophers, and becoming aware of the truth philosophers hold. The Allegory of the Cave illustrates book 5 and 6 for us by showing the effect education has on the human soul, and how education helps us move through the different parts of the divided line, then will eventually take him to the form of the…

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The allegory of the cave in Plato’s Republic is a metaphor meant to illustrate Plato’s views on knowledge but also strengthens his perception of the noble lie in society, an idea that is still very relevant today. It is designed to ask the fundamental question of: “What is the truth?” This is a clear reference Plato’s ideology that rests upon the sworn duty that Guardians make towards the state and it is hence emphasized by this analogy. The journey that one makes to be able to attain that superior state is full of hardships1(The Republic, 516, a) but it is meant to illustrate the route the Guardians take to attain the Philosopher-King status. It is what leads a man to enlightenment but also establishes a supreme duty for whoever discovers…

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Allegory of the Cave is a story that was written down by Plato, and told by Socrates many, many years ago. It tells of a cave containing prisoners who have been there since they were very young. Behind them is a fire that is burning, and between the fire and the prisoners is a road with a curtain-wall. Behind this curtain-wall are figures of wood and stone, including animals and men. Socrates asks if they had some form of freedom, such as being able to talk, or even being freed. Would they understand and be able to handle the outside world? To me, The Allegory of the Cave illustrates the fact that people sometimes do not understand reality for what it is.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Whereas, our argument shows that the power and capacity of learning exist in the soul…

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Allegory of the Cave is a dialog between Socrates and Gloucon in The Republic written by Plato. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Socrates depicts a long, dark cave with a small opening that allows a small amount of light to enter. Inside the cave there group of prisoners, who have been in the cave for their entire lives. The prisoners legs and necks are chained to the cave floor so they are unable to move and can only look forward at the cave wall. At the back of the cave there is a fire that they are never able to view. In between the prisoners and the fire there is a low wall with a path behind it, along which people carry pictures, puppets, and statues. These pictures, puppets and statues are all the prisoners are able to see, and the echoes of the puppeteers when they speak are all they are able to hear. Although the prisoners are chained they are still content because all they have ever known are the shadows. None of them have ever seen anything beyond the cave and have no desire to do so. However one prisoner wakes up to find that he is no longer chained to the floor, and is able to leave the cave. Once the prisoner is outside he realizes that the shadows are not real. The prisoner then decides to return to the cave, to free the other prisoners, however reentering the cave would make his eyes have to…

    • 1287 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The allegory of the cave applies to the way we live today as we are like the prisoners in the way that we pay attention to what we are being told in the news and on the T.V and we believe that the things we see are what life is like despite the fact that we are only being shown the things that the people in the media want us to see. Most people accept what they are being shown and believe that it is reality and accept it as the reality as that is the way they have lived for ages, like the prisoners in the cave who chose to ignore the escaped prisoner when he told them about the actual reality.…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    "The Allegory of the Cave", is a metaphor of our world. The cave symbolizes our ignorance. If we do not experience something personally, the situation must not exist. The way we pinpoint situations are based on our three levels of thinking. The first level would be our imagination. We could see a shadow of an apple and if we would not what an apple was, we would picture it as a ball or something familiar. The next level would be our senses. Once we could touch, feel and see but yet still have no experience we would still be easy to manipulate and mold. Our intellect is the third level. Our intellect is our ability to think, to face ideas and build our own opinions and views of the world around us. Our level is dependent on our upbringing, religion, culture, and environment. Along with experience, this is how we depict certain situations, however in no way does this mean our depictions are true.…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Allegory of the Cave

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Allegory of the Cave is a metaphor that can be seen to describe many aspects and situations in life that one had no control or choice over. The reason Plato uses many metaphors in his allegory is to think or ‘philosophize’ about the world around us because in fact our understanding of the world is very limited. This is due to the fact that we live in a world of shadows and not reality to whom very little is actually known about by everyone. The metaphors are seen to actually represent a society with all its people, truths, hidden meanings, problems, solutions etc… The meanings transferred in the allegory of the cave apply to philosophy because it shows the philosophers position in society. It gives the philosopher the opportunity to philosophize/think about what exists/reality and what does not exist in our surrounding environment. To society, the allegory of the cave contemplates many issues related to man in his society. Such issues include human’s ability to be ignorant or knowledgeable, free or imprisoned, stubborn, lazy, active, etc… by choosing either to or not to search for answers to many of the issues that arise continuously. Moreover, The Allegory of the Cave is about ignorance and learning because the men in the cave are ignorant or unaware of the outside world that exists except for the shadows that they saw passing by on the walls. The man who is freed engages in the process of learning from the moment he is released from the cave and is forced to adapt to the new conditions and situations that now surround him. In addition, the chains are used to symbolize the limited amount of information that a person has about reality. For whatever reason, this limited amount of information can be considered to be a type of ignorance. Last but not least, as humans in this world, many of us are really ignorant…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato's Allegory of the Cave

    • 3079 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Prompt: Define Plato 's “Allegory of the Cave”. What is the central message? Is he describing education alone? Where does politics come in?…

    • 3079 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato, Allegory Cave

    • 1133 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The first stage of the excerpt, which is characterized by chained and confined people, is a metaphor representing the infant and child ages of humans. Like the confined people, children are not allowed to wander freely outside of their home and must stay close to their parent's watchful eye. Those living in the underground den have their heads positioned in a way that they must not view a fire blazing behind them. The heads of the people only see the shadows cast by the fire and objects passing by behind them and they can only guess as to the actual physicality of the object. This also is very similar to children who are curious about objects around them. Although children do not understand complex objects, they do want to know the purpose and function of the object. The mentalities of the people in the cave and of children are 100% subjective and are trapped in their own ignorance: "To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images."(5) Totally emerged in isolation and without experience, those in the den have no idea as to what the true nature of the shadow is. Their only truth is the shadow and they cannot learn the real meaning behind the shadow unless set free.…

    • 1133 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Malcolm X

    • 1522 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The "Allegory of the Cave" by Plato represents an extended metaphor that is to contrast the way in which we perceive and believe in what is reality. The thesis behind his allegory is the basic tenets that all we perceive are imperfect "reflections" of the ultimate Forms, which subsequently represent truth and reality. In his story, Plato establishes a cave in which prisoners are chained down and forced to look upon the front wall of the cave. He starts with: “Behold! Human beings living in an underground cave, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the cave; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets”.…

    • 1522 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation”. This quote by Rabindranath Tagore reveals some of my perspective on what is important to focus on when examining your beliefs of philosophy. As explained in the Allegory of the Cave by Plato, some of reality is merely shadows; in Plato’s perspective, this puppet show view is created by the materialistic world. An ideal ‘real world’ is made up of ideas, thoughts, feelings and other nonmaterial beliefs. Inside the cave, one is blinded and is only seeing reflections and shadows of the real world; this is how most humans live today.…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ‘The Truman Show’ is a comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir. The film talks about a man - Truman Burbank who’s unaware of being in a reality television show for the whole of his life. The scene of Truman in the cellar is significant in the film because the audience is able to see the feelings deep inside of Truman and how it raises the tension. The camera shots and angles used in this scene illustrate Truman’s emotions perfectly. Meryl’s unreasonable clothing and voice elicits curiosity from the audience. The setting of the scene matches with the mystifying signs that Weir has left. All these elements were composed with the objective of assembling the idea in audience’s mind that something is about to happen.…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays